Portuguese local election, 1985

Portugal

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Politics and government of
Portugal

The Portuguese local election of 1985 took place on 15 December. This was the fourth local election in Portugal since the democratic revolution of 1974 introduced the concept of democratic local power.

The election consisted of three separate elections in the 305 Portuguese municipalities that existed at the time, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner is elected mayor, 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. This election was the first to grant a 4-years term, instead of the former 3 years. The number of members of the Municipal Assemblies and Parish Assemblies was greatly reduced in comparison with the former election.

For the first time, the Social Democratic Party achieved the majority of the voting by itself, since the coalition with the Democratic and Social Center, the Democratic Alliance, that achieved good results in 1979 and 1982 had been disbanded. Despite finishing second and losing almost 4% of the voting, the Socialist Party lost only 4 of the former 83 mayors plus the presidency achieved in coalition with the Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy.

The Democratic and Social Center, this time participating alone in every election, after the end of the Democratic Alliance, continued its electoral decline, gathering only 10% of the voting. Despite keeping the same number of mayors achieved in 1982, in the municipalities where it ran alone, 27, the party lost 49 presidencies achieved in coalition with the Social Democrats.

The Portuguese Communist Party and the Portuguese Democratic Movement, united in the United People Alliance, lost 1% of the voting in comparison with the election of 1982 and lost 8 mayors, gathering only 47 presidencies. However, despite losing only 1% of the voting in the elections to Municipal Assemblies, the coalition lost almost 700 assembly members, decreasing its representation to 1062 members due to the overall reduction of mandates.

The newly founded Democratic Renewal Party, achieved almost 5% of the voting and the presidency of 3 municipalities. In the elections to Municipal Assemblies it gathered almost 6% of the voting and 270 Assembly members, being the great surprise of the election.

Parties

The main political forces involved in the election were:

National summary of votes and seats

Municipal Councils

The first and the second most voted parties in each district
 Summary of the 15 December 1985 Municipal Councils elections results
Parties Votes % Candidacies Councillors Mayors
# ± # ±
PSD 1,633,247 34.19 819 Increase380 149 Increase61
PS 1,318,287 27.60 574 Decrease45 79 Decrease4
United People Alliance 935,897 19.59 303 Decrease13 47 Decrease8
Democratic and Social Centre 466,965 9.78 222 Increase37 27 Steady0
Democratic Renewal 224,161 4.69 49 — 3 —
People's Democratic Union 28,701 0.60 3 Steady0 0 Steady0
People's Monarchist Party 23,968 0.50 3 Decrease2 0 Decrease1
Workers' Communist Party 10,967 0.23 0 Steady0 0 Steady0
Christian Democratic Party 7,910 0.17 2 Steady0 0 Steady0
Workers Party of Socialist Unity 2,324 0.05 0 Steady0 0 Steady0
Total valid 4,631,497 96.97 — 1,975 Increase66 305 Steady0
Blank ballots 73,7841.54
Invalid ballots 71,1261.49
Total (turnout 63.02%) 4,776,407 100.00

Municipal Assemblies

The first and the second most voted parties in each district
 Summary of the 15 December 1985 Municipal Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % Candidacies Mandates
# ±
PSD 1,391,500 29.59 2,509 Increase361
PS 1,142,381 24.30 1,796 Decrease1,386
United People Alliance 953,935 20.29 1,056 Decrease707
Democratic and Social Centre 761,855 16.20 1,015 Increase12
Democratic Renewal 245,830 5.22 273 —
People's Democratic Union 31,899 0.68 14 Decrease7
People's Monarchist Party 15,949 0.34 7 Decrease21
Workers' Communist Party 6,396 0.14 0 Steady0
Christian Democratic Party 4,002 0.09 2 Steady0
Socialist League of the Workers 783 0.02 0 —
Workers Party of Socialist Unity 254 0.00 0 Steady0
Total valid 4,543,206 96.62 — 6,672 Decrease3,225
Blank ballots 88,9351.89
Invalid ballots 69,8541.48
Total (turnout 63.16%) 4,701,995 100.00

Parish Assemblies

The first and the second most voted parties in each district
 Summary of the 15 December 1985 Parish Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % Candidacies Mandates Presidents
# ± # ±
PSD 1,584,427 32.85 13,118 Increase3,619
PS 1,303,425 27.02 9,039 Decrease3,764
United People Alliance 993,767 20.60 3,676 Decrease1,321
Democratic and Social Centre 507,499 10.52 4,531 Decrease306
Democratic Renewal 164,345 3.41 726 — —
Independents 67,601 1.40 797 Decrease241
People's Democratic Union 28,572 0.59 26 Decrease4
Workers' Communist Party 4,153 0.09 0 Steady0
People's Monarchist Party 2,585 0.05 24 Decrease75
Christian Democratic Party 1,021 0.02 4 Increase4
Workers Party of Socialist Unity 792 0.02 0 Steady0
Total valid 4,658,187 96.67 — 31,941 — ' —
Blank ballots 84,7971.77
Invalid ballots 80,7661.67
Total (turnout 63.52%) 4,823,750 100.00

End notes

Further Notes:

References