2017 Portuguese local elections

← 2013 1 October 2017 2021 →
All 308 Portuguese municipalities and 3,092[1] Portuguese Parishes All 2,074 local government councils
Opinion polls
Turnout	55.0% 2.4 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader António Costa Pedro Passos Coelho Jerónimo de Sousa Party PS PSD PCP Alliance CDU Last election 150 mayors, 36.7% 106 mayors, 31.4% 34 mayors, 11.1% Popular vote 2,003,914[2] 1,569,424[3] 489,189 Percentage 38.7% 30.3% 9.5% Swing 2.0 pp 1.1 pp 1.6 pp Mayors 160[4] 98[5] 24 Mayors +/– 10 8 10 Councillors 963[6] 729[7] 171 Councillors +/– 34 41 42

The Portuguese local elections of 2017 were held on October 1, 2017. The elections consisted of three separate elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner was elected mayor, another election for the Municipal Assembly, as well an election for the lower-level Parish Assembly, whose winner was elected parish president. This last election was held in the more than 3,000 parishes around the country. In the 2017 election, 13.3% of incumbent mayors, 41 to be precise, were barred from running for another term.^[8]

The Socialist Party (PS) was the big winner of the elections consolidating their position as the largest local party in Portugal. The PS won 160 mayors, 10 more than in 2013, and more than 38% of the votes. The Socialists maintained control in cities like Lisbon, although here they lost their majority, Funchal and Coimbra, at the same time they gained some strong PSD bastions like Chaves or Mirandela. Nonetheless, the PS lost one of their bastions, Vila do Conde, to an independent. The strong nationwide results for the PS helped to legitimize António Costa's position as Prime Minister after his loss in the 2015 general elections. It was also the first time since 1985, that the party in government clearly won a nationwide local election.^[9]

The Social Democrats (PSD), aside from CDU, were one of the big losers of the elections. They lost 8 cities in comparison to 2013, although, in term of votes won, they got basically the same number compared to 2013. The PSD achieved very bad results in Lisbon and Porto, polling third and below 15% of the votes. The worse than expected results led Pedro Passos Coelho to question, on election night, if he had the political ground to continue as leader of the party. Two days later, on October 3, Passos Coelho announced he would not stand for another term as PSD leader.^[10]

The CDU was also one of the big losers of the election. The Communist-Green alliance achieved their worst results in history losing 10 cities, 9 to the PS and 1 to an independent, and polling below 10% of the votes. The CDU lost strong bastions in Setúbal district like Almada and Barreiro and wasn't able to hold on to Beja.

The CDS-People's Party achieved very surprising results, especially in Lisbon. Assunção Cristas, CDS leader and candidate for Lisbon mayor, polled 2nd place and won 21% of the votes, 10 points ahead of the PSD. In the country as a whole, the CDS was able to gain one municipality from the PSD, Oliveira do Bairro, and was able to maintain the other 5 cities they won in 2013.

Independent Movements also increased their scores compared to 2013. A total 17 independent candidates gained or maintained control in their respective cities, especially Rui Moreira, mayor of Porto, as he was able to win re-election with a majority. Smaller parties also made gains: Livre, in coalition with the PS, gained Felgueiras from the PSD, We, the Citizens! won Oliveira de Frades from a PSD/CDS coalition and JPP maintained control of Santa Cruz in the Madeira islands.

Turnout in these elections increased compared with four years ago, with 55.0% of voters casting a ballot.

Electoral system

Official logo of the election.

Ballots for the 2017 local elections in Castro Verde.

All 308 municipalities are allocated a certain number of councilors to elect corresponding to the number of registered voters in a given municipality. Each party or coalition must present a list of candidates. The lists are closed and the seats in each municipality are apportioned according to the D'Hondt method. Unlike in national legislative elections, independent lists are allowed to run.

Council seats and Parish assembly seats are distributed as follows:

• For parishes with more than 30,000 voters, the number of seats mentioned above is increased in one per 10,000 voters beyond that number (if, by applying this rule the result is even, the number of seats is increased in one more.

Parties

The main political forces that contested the election were:

• Left Bloc (BE)
• People's Party (CDS–PP) (only in some municipalities)¹
• Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
• Together for the People (JPP)
• People–Animals–Nature (PAN)
• Socialist Party (PS)
• Social Democratic Party (PSD) (only in some municipalities)¹

¹ The PSD and the CDS–PP also formed coalitions in several municipalities with the Earth Party (MPT) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM).

Opinion polls

Voter turnout

The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day.

Turnout	Time
	12:00			16:00			19:00
	2013	2017	±	2013	2017	±	2013	2017	±
Total	19.44%	22.05%	2.61 pp	43.43%	44.39%	0.96 pp	52.60%	54.96%	2.36 pp
Sources[12][13]

Results

Municipal Councils

National summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 1 October 2017 Municipal Councils elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Councillors		Mayors
						Total	±	Total	±
	Socialist	1,956,682	37.82	1.5	296	952	29	159	10
	Social Democratic	831,555	16.07	0.6	190	493	38	79	7
	Unitary Democratic Coalition	489,083	9.45	1.6	303	171	42	24	10
	Social Democratic / People's	454,222	8.78	1.2	73	169	15	16	0
	Independents	351,352	6.79	0.1	87	130	18	17	4
	Left Bloc	170,040	3.29	0.9	124	12	4	0	0
	People's	134,257	2.60	0.4	113	41	6	6	1
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM	88,541	1.71	1.2	11	23	9	1	0
	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM	75,192	1.45	0.4	4	15	6	2	0
	CDS–PP / MPT / PPM	57,570	1.11	0.9	13	4	3	0	0
	People–Animals–Nature	55,921	1.08	0.8	31	0	0	0	0
	PSD / PPM	46,822	0.91	0.4	4	8	13	0	1
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM / PPV-CDC	36,452	0.70	—	1	5	—	0	—
	Socialist / Together for the People	23,634	0.46	—	1	5	—	0	—
	PS / BE / JPP / PDR / NC	23.577	0.46	0.1	1	6	1	1	0
	Social Democratic / Earth	19,556	0.38	0.4	4	5	2	0	0
	LIVRE / Socialist	16,409	0.32	—	1	5	—	1	—
	Together for the People	14,818	0.29	—	5	6	—	1	—
	We, the Citizens!	12,497	0.24	—	12	5	—	1	—
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	12,387	0.24	0.3	18	0	0	0	0
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT	12,128	0.23	1.8	6	7	4	0	0
	People's / People's Monarchist	10,286	0.20	—	12	4	—	0	—
	Labour	5,681	0.11	0.1	26	0	0	0	0
	CDS–PP / PSD/ MPT / PPM	4,862	0.09	—	1	2	—	0	—
	National Renovator	4,744	0.09	0.0	13	0	0	0	0
	PDR / Together for the People	3,643	0.07	—	4	0	—	0	—
	Earth	3,370	0.07	0.0	13	0	2	0	0
	Social Democratic / We, the Citizens!	2,948	0.06	—	1	2	—	0	—
	Democratic Republican	2,793	0.05	—	10	0	—	0	—
	People's / We, the Citizens!	2,547	0.05	—	2	0	—	0	—
	People's / Social Democratic	2,287	0.04	0.1	4	2	2	0	0
	Earth / PPV-CDC	2,258	0.04	—	1	0	—	0	—
	PSD / PPM / MPT	1,958	0.04	0.9	1	2	5	0	0
	People's / Earth	1,568	0.03	0.1	4	0	0	0	0
	PPM / PURP	1,330	0.03	—	1	0	—	0	—
	LIVRE	1,008	0.02	—	3	0	—	0	—
	Socialist Alternative Movement	943	0.02	—	1	0	—	0	—
	United Party of Retirees and Pensioners	760	0.02	—	2	0	—	0	—
	CDS–PP / NC / PPM	661	0.01	—	2	0	—	0	—
	PPV-CDC / PPM	470	0.01	—	1	0	—	0	—
	PPM	364	0.01	0.0	2	0	0	0	0
	Citizenship and Christian Democracy	186	0.00	—	1	0	—	0	—
	CDS–PP / PSD / PPM	146	0.00	—	1	0	—	0	—
Total valid		4,937,508	95.45	2.3	—	2,074	12	308	0
Blank ballots		135,785	2.62	1.3
Invalid ballots		99,734	1.93	1.0
Total		5,173,027	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,411,442	54.96	2.4
Source: Autárquicas 2017 Resultados Oficiais RTP Autárquicas 2017

Municipality map

City control

The following table lists party control in all district capitals, as well as in municipalities above 100,000 inhabitants. Population estimates from 2017.^[14]

Municipal Assemblies

National summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 1 October 2017 Municipal Assemblies elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Mandates
						Total	±
	Socialist	1,883,679	36.42	1.5	297	2,731	72
	Social Democratic	818,680	15.83	0.5	188	1,491	97
	Unitary Democratic Coalition	519,831	10.05	1.9	301	619	128
	Social Democratic / People's	454,186	8.78	1.3	73	539	46
	Independents	333,558	6.45	0.0	74	396	44
	Left Bloc	216,308	4.18	1.0	127	125	25
	People's	138,782	2.68	0.5	99	184	40
	PSD/ CDS–PP / MPT / PPM	86,701	1.68	1.2	11	73	36
	People–Animals–Nature	73,600	1.42	0.9	32	26	19
	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM	71,028	1.37	0.4	4	42	30
	CDS–PP / MPT / PPM	49,210	0.95	0.8	13	16	7
	PSD / PPM	48,620	0.94	0.3	4	26	16
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM / PPV-CDC	35,365	0.68	—	1	19	—
	Socialist / Together for the People	22,295	0.43	—	1	13	—
	PS / BE / JPP / PDR / NC	21,693	0.43	0.0	1	15	1
	Social Democratic / Earth	21,019	0.42	0.4	4	19	11
	LIVRE / Socialist	16,096	0.31	—	1	14	—
	Together for the People	14,488	0.28	—	5	17	—
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT	13,224	0.26	1.9	6	24	18
	We, the Citizens!	12,123	0.23	—	10	15	—
	People's / People's Monarchist	10,600	0.20	—	11	15	—
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	8,915	0.17	0.1	11	0	2
	Labour	5,834	0.11	0.0	22	1	2
	CDS–PP / PSD/ MPT / PPM	4,960	0.10	—	1	6	—
	Earth	4,916	0.10	0.0	12	1	10
	PDR / Together for the People	4,390	0.08	—	4	1	—
	National Renovator	4,254	0.08	0.0	8	0	0
	Democratic Republican	3,738	0.07	—	9	1	—
	Social Democratic / We, the Citizens!	2,989	0.06	—	1	6	—
	People's / We, the Citizens!	2,758	0.05	—	2	3	—
	Earth / PPV-CDC	2,387	0.05	—	1	1	—
	People's / Social Democratic	2,217	0.04	0.1	4	6	11
	PSD / MPT / PPM	1,901	0.04	0.4	1	5	6
	People's Party / Earth Party	1,459	0.03	0.1	4	2	1
	PPM / PURP	1,417	0.03	—	1	0	—
	United Party of Retirees and Pensioners	892	0.02	—	2	0	—
	LIVRE	874	0.02	—	2	0	—
	CDS–PP / NC / PPM	630	0.01	—	2	2	—
	PPM	289	0.01	0.0	1	0	2
	CDS–PP / PSD / PPM	168	0.00	—	1	0	—
	People's Monarchist / People's	121	0.00	—	1	7	—
Total valid		4,916,195	95.04	2.4	—	6,461	26
Blank ballots		152,040	2.94	1.3
Invalid ballots		104,500	2.02	1.1
Total		5,172,735	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,411,442	54.96	2.4
Source: Autárquicas 2017 Resultados Oficiais RTP Autárquicas 2017

Parish Assemblies

National summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 1 October 2017 Parish Assemblies elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Mandates		Presidents
						Total	±	Total	±
	Socialist	1,874,590	36.25	1.6	2,518	10,617	221	1,295	13
	Social Democratic	809,802	15.66	0.7	1,638	6,629	298	824	88
	Unitary Democratic Coalition	529,819	10.24	1.7	1,799	1,665	308	139	31
	Independents	504,028	9.75	0.2	850	3,365	387	402	60
	Social Democratic / People's	441,927	8.55	1.3	693	2,486	390	270	48
	Left Bloc	169,580	3.28	1.0	454	213	75	0	0
	People's	122,785	2.37	0.4	506	628	97	54	4
	PSD/ CDS–PP / MPT / PPM	89,058	1.72	1.3	70	238	150	11	8
	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM	63,515	1.23	0.4	56	250	200	28	16
	PSD / PPM	52,697	1.02	0.1	45	164	87	14	7
	CDS–PP / MPT / PPM	41,192	0.80	0.6	80	77	65	0	0
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM / PPV-CDC	32,414	0.63	—	44	166	—	12	—
	Socialist / Together for the People	23,129	0.45	—	10	52	—	2	—
	PS / BE / JPP / PDR / NC	20,428	0.40	0.0	10	58	5	5	0
	Social Democratic / Earth	15,486	0.30	0.3	20	52	25	1	0
	Together for the People	13,747	0.27	—	18	45	—	5	—
	People–Animals–Nature	13,356	0.26	0.2	26	6	5	0	0
	LIVRE / Socialist	13,216	0.26	—	11	54	—	7	—
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT	12,442	0.24	2.0	26	57	265	5	13
	We, the Citizens!	9,090	0.18	—	28	42	—	3	—
	People's / People's Monarchist	8,624	0.17	—	41	47	—	3	—
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	5,059	0.10	0.1	24	0	2	0	0
	CDS–PP / PSD/ MPT / PPM	4,523	0.09	—	3	9	—	0	—
	PDR / Together for the People	4,476	0.07	—	22	1	—	0	—
	People's Party / Social Democratic	4,223	0.08	0.0	10	25	38	2	3
	Earth	4,072	0.08	0.0	29	7	11	0	0
	Labour	3,813	0.07	0.0	64	0	1	0	0
	People's / We, the Citizens!	3,056	0.06	—	17	19	—	1	—
	Social Democratic / We, the Citizens!	2,653	0.05	—	6	14	—	0	—
	Earth / PPV-CDC	2,132	0.04	—	10	0	—	0	—
	Democratic Republican	1,903	0.04	—	21	4	—	0	—
	PSD / MPT / PPM	1,739	0.03	0.2	5	12	27	0	2
	National Renovator	1,685	0.03	0.0	20	0	0	0	0
	People's Party / Earth Party	1,181	0.02	0.0	12	2	2	0	0
	PPM / PURP	668	0.01	—	3	0	—	0	—
	CDS–PP / NC / PPM	626	0.01	—	15	9	—	0	—
	LIVRE	457	0.01	—	7	2	—	0	—
	United Party of Retirees and Pensioners	271	0.01	—	4	0	—	0	—
	PPM	262	0.01	0.0	4	1	10	0	0
	Socialist Alternative Movement	202	0.00	—	1	0	—	0	—
Total valid		4,903,926	92.99	1.8	—	27,005	162	3,083	2
Blank ballots		152,337	2.95	0.9
Invalid ballots		115,317	2.23	0.9
Total		5,171,580	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		9,410,569	54.95	2.4
Source: Autárquicas 2017 Resultados Oficiais RTP Autárquicas 2017