2005 Portuguese local elections

Local elections were held in Portugal on 9 October 2005. The election consisted of three separate elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner is automatically elected mayor, similar to first-past-the-post (FPTP), another election for the Municipal Assembly and a last one for the lower-level Parish Assembly, whose winner is elected parish president. This last was held separately in the more than 4,000 parishes around the country.

2005 Portuguese local elections

← 2001 9 October 2005 2009 →

All 308 Portuguese municipalities and 4,260 Portuguese Parishes
All 2,046 local government councils
Turnout60.9% Increase 0.8 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Luis Marques Mendes - EPP Summit 16 June 2005 (36).jpg
José Socrates cropped from Dmitry Medvedev in Portugal 20 November 2010-2 (cropped).png
Jerónimo de Sousa 2007b (cropped).jpg
Leader Luís Marques Mendes José Sócrates Jerónimo de Sousa
Party PSD PS PCP
Alliance CDU
Last election 159 mayors, 41.2% 113 mayors, 37.1% 28 mayors, 10.6%
Popular vote 2,150,710 1,933,041 589,384
Percentage 39.9% 35.9% 10.9%
Swing Decrease 1.3 pp Decrease 1.2 pp Increase 0.3 pp
Mayors 158 109 32
Mayors +/– Decrease 1 Decrease 4 Increase 4
Councillors 911 853 203
Councillors +/– Increase 5 Increase 3 Increase 4

The Socialist Party may be considered the major defeated party of this election due to a slight loss of mandates. The Socialists did, however, achieve a better percentage of the vote in relation to the election of 2001.

On the right, the Social Democratic Party stole some municipalities from the Socialists, some of them in coalition with the People's Party that was reduced to only one municipality in stand-alone candidacies, Ponte de Lima, continuing its decline in comparison, for example, with the 36 mayors achieved in 1976.

On the left, the Unitary Democratic Coalition, led by the Communist Party, regained some of its former influence, taking 4 municipalities and several parishes from the Socialists in the districts of Beja, Évora and Setúbal and Leiria achieving a total of 32 mayors, and winning, for the first time, the election in Peniche. The Left Bloc kept the presidency of its single municipality, Salvaterra de Magos.

The election was also remarkable for the several victories of independent candidates, most of them former Socialist, Social Democratic and People's Party candidates who were expelled or given no confidence, because of corruption accusations, by their respective parties and, even so, became mayors. The best known were Valentim Loureiro in Gondomar, Fátima Felgueiras in Felgueiras and Isaltino Morais in Oeiras.

Parties

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Official logo of the election.

The main political forces involved in the election were:

Results

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Municipal Councils

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National summary of votes and seats

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Summary of the 9 October 2005 Municipal Councils elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Councillors Mayors
Total ± Total ±
Socialist 1,933,041 35.87  1.8 307 853  24 109  4
Social Democratic 1,523,526 28.27  0.1 245 742  32 138  4
Democratic Unity Coalition 589,384 10.94  0.3 301 203  4 32  4
Social Democratic / People's 462,199 8.58  0.4 42 131  17 18  3
People's 165,192 3.07  0.6 185 30  9 1  2
Left Bloc 158,953 2.95  1.8 111 7  1 1  0
Independents 133,380 2.47  0.9 27 45  14 7  4
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM 91,455 1.70  0.4 12 20  10 1  0
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT 71,153 1.32 3 11 1
Portuguese Workers' Communist 15,421 0.29  0.0 19 0  0 0  0
Humanist 5,096 0.09  0.0 13 0  0 0  0
New Democracy 2,045 0.04 4 0 0
National Renovator 1,759 0.03  0.0 5 0  0 0  0
PSD / CDS–PP / MPT 1,670 0.03 1 2 0
Earth 1,582 0.03  0.2 4 0  4 0  1
PSD / PPM 707 0.01  2.5 1 0  8 0  1
PND / PPM 439 0.01 1 0 0
National Solidarity 244 0.00 1 0 0
People's / Social Democratic 109 0.00  0.2 1 0  6 0  0
CDS–PP / PSD / PPM 11 0.00 1 0 0
Total valid 5,159,104 95.73  0.6 2,046  2 308  0
Blank ballots 139,012 2.58  0.4
Invalid ballots 90,919 1.69  0.2
Total 5,389,035 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 8,843,875 60.94  0.8

Municipality map

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Most voted parties or coalitions in each Municipality. Municipalities won by:
- PSD: 138
- PS: 109
- CDU: 32
- BE: 1
- CDS–PP: 1
- PSD coalitions: 20
- Independents: 7

City control

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The following table lists party control in all district capitals, highlighted in bold, as well as in municipalities above 100,000 inhabitants. Population estimates from the 2001 Census.[1]

Municipality Population Previous control New control
Almada 160,825 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Amadora 175,872 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Aveiro 73,335 Socialist Party (PS) PSD / CDS–PP
Barcelos 122,096 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Beja 35,762 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Braga 169,192 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Bragança 34,750 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Cascais 170,683 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP
Castelo Branco 55,708 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Coimbra 148,443 PSD / CDS–PP / PPM PSD / CDS–PP / PPM
Évora 56,519 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Faro 58,051 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Socialist Party (PS)
Funchal 103,961 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Gondomar 159,096 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Independent (IND)
Guarda 43,822 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Guimarães 159,576 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Leiria 119,847 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Lisbon 564,657 PSD / PPM Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Loures 199,059 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Maia 120,111 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP
Matosinhos 167,026 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Odivelas 133,847 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Oeiras 162,128 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Independent (IND)
Ponta Delgada 65,854 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Portalegre 25,980 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Porto 263,131 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP
Santarém 63,563 Socialist Party (PS) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Santa Maria da Feira 135,964 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Seixal 150,271 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Setúbal 113,934 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Sintra 363,749 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT
Viana do Castelo 88,631 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Vila Franca de Xira 122,908 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS)
Vila Nova de Famalicão 127,567 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP
Vila Nova de Gaia 288,749 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP
Vila Real 49,957 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Viseu 93,501 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)

Municipal Assemblies

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National summary of votes and seats

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Summary of the 9 October 2005 Municipal Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Mandates
Total ±
Socialist 1,923,468 35.68  1.7 307 2,794  73
Social Democratic 1,454,256 26.98  0.2 245 2,416  52
Democratic Unity Coalition 628,881 11.67  0.6 301 722  13
Social Democratic / People's 454,972 8.44  0.9 41 407  20
Left Bloc 212,652 3.95  2.4 115 114  86
People's 175,927 3.26  1.0 162 190  63
Independents 115,999 2.15  1.0 25 121  28
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM 90,670 1.68  0.5 13 73  33
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT 66,190 1.23 3 27
Portuguese Workers' Communist 8,620 0.16  0.0 9 1  0
People's / Social Democratic 2,768 0.05  0.0 2 6  13
PSD / CDS–PP / MPT 1,641 0.03 1 6
Earth 1,590 0.03  0.2 1 0  18
New Democracy 1,590 0.03 2 1
People's Monarchist 1,011 0.02  0.0 6 5  5
PND / PPM 831 0.02 1 0
PSD / PPM 760 0.01  2.4 1 2  21
Humanist 200 0.00  0.0 2 0  0
CDS–PP / PSD / PPM 8 0.00 1 0
Total valid 5,161,181 95.72  0.3 6,885  9
Blank ballots 138,424 2.57  0.1
Invalid ballots 92,140 1.71  0.2
Total 5,391,745 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 8,847,385 60.94  0.8

Parish Assemblies

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National summary of votes and seats

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Summary of the 9 October 2005 Parish Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Mandates Presidents
Total ± Total ±
Socialist 1,903,166 35.37  1.5 3,711 13,460  265 1,518  5
Social Democratic 1,433,256 26.64  0.1 3,065 12,447  299 1,723  74
Democratic Unity Coalition 648,622 12.05  0.9 2,239 2,576  110 244  12
Social Democratic / People's 411,633 7.65  0.6 529 2,065  59 219  4
Independents 245,659 4.57  0.2 568 2,201  206 292  19
Left Bloc 146,898 2.73  1.6 448 229  183 3  3
People's 144,575 2.69  0.9 1,043 826  144 65  14
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT 95,175 1.77 45 216 19
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM 84,398 1.57  0.7 125 400  98 34  2
Portuguese Workers' Communist 3,635 0.07  0.0 28 0  1 0  0
New Democracy 3,184 0.06 16 7 0
Earth 3,100 0.06  0.1 7 23  97 3  15
PSD / CDS–PP / MPT 1,756 0.03 12 32 3
People's / Social Democratic 1,448 0.03  0.1 2 10  57 2  6
Humanist 824 0.02  0.0 10 0  0 0  0
PSD / PPM 807 0.02  2.3 5 6  259 0  18
National Solidarity 72 0.00 5 0 0
National Renovator 38 0.00 1 0 0
People's Monarchist 27 0.00  0.0 1 0  1 0  0
Total valid 5,130,086 95.31  0.7 34,498 4,125
Blank ballots 151,527 2.82  0.5
Invalid ballots 101,067 1.88  0.2
Total 5,382,680 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 8,832,693 60.94  0.9

Maps

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End notes

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Further Notes:

References

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  1. ^ "Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Recenseamentos Gerais da População)". www.ine.pt (in Portuguese). Statistics Portugal. Retrieved 17 July 2021.