Portuguese local election, 2009

Portuguese local elections, 2009

11 October 2009

All 308 Portuguese municipalities and 4,260 Portuguese Parishes All 2,078 local government councils   First party Second party Third party   Leader Manuela Ferreira Leite José Sócrates Jerónimo de Sousa Party PSD PS CDU Leader since 18 December 2007 Last election 158 mayors, 39.9% 109 mayors, 35.9% 32 mayors, 10.9% Popular vote 2,146,587 2,087,831 537,329 Percentage 38.8% 37.7% 9.7% Mayors 139 132 28 Mayors +/– 19 23 4 Councillors 873 921 174 Councillors +/– 38 68 29

Portugal

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Portugal

The Portuguese local election of 2009 took place on 11 October. The election consisted of three separate elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities, 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.

The election resulted almost in a tie between the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party, in which the Social Democrats lost almost 20 municipalities and also lost a considerable number of coucilours. The Socialists, despite losing in number of municipal chambers, were the party that most councilors elected, a situation that has not happened since 1993 when in these elections the PSD elected more councilors than the PS but the PS elected more mayors than the PSD. The Socialists won also a decisive victory in Lisbon where the incumbent mayor, António Costa, defeated the former mayor and Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes by a considerable margin.

The Social Democratic Party lost some municipalities to the Socialists, but they did hold on municipalities like Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Sintra and Coimbra. The People's Party won only one municipality, Ponte de Lima, continuing its decline in comparison, for example, with the 36 mayors achieved in 1976.

On the left, the Democratic Unitarian Coalition, led by the Communist Party, obtained their worst result in history, winning less than 10% of the vote and losing 4 municipalities including Beja and Évora. The Left Bloc kept the presidency of its single municipality, Salvaterra de Magos.

The election was again marked by several victories of independent candidates, most of them former Socialist, Social Democratic candidates who were expelled or given no confidence by their respective parties and, even so, became mayors. The best known were Valentim Loureiro in Gondomar and Isaltino Morais in Oeiras. Fátima Felgueiras, independent candidate in Felgueiras, suffered a surprised defeat by the Social Democratic candidate after winning the election in 2005 with more than 47% of the vote.

Turnout in these election was the lowest in local election, as only 59% of the electorate cast a ballot, although the number of ballots cast in the election was the highest ever in local elections.

Parties

The main political forces involved in the election were:

• Left Bloc (BE)
• People's Party (CDS–PP) (only in some municipalities)¹
• Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU)
• Socialist Party (PS)
• Social Democratic Party (PSD) (only in some municipalities)¹

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

National summary of votes and seats

Municipal Councils

 Summary of the 11 October 2009 Municipal Councils elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Councillors		Mayors
						#	±	#	±
	PS	2,087,831	37.72	1.8		921	29	132	23
	PSD	1,271,410	22.97	5.3		666	76	117	21
	Social Democratic / People's Party	540,053	9.76	1.2		157	21	19	1
	CDU	537,329	9.71	1.2		174	29	28	4
	Independents	222,494	4.02	1.6		67	31	7	0
	CDS–PP	170,772	3.09	0.0		31	1	1	0
	BE	164,396	2.97	0.0		9	2	1	0
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM	163,966	2.96	—		22	—	1	—
	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM	99,811	1.80	0.1		17	2	1	0
	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT	69,638	1.26	0.1		9	2	1	0
	Workers' Communist Party	14,242	0.26	0.0		0	0	0	0
	Earth Party	11,196	0.20	0.2		2	2	0	0
	New Democracy	6,882	0.12	0.1		1	0.1	0	0
	Hope for Portugal Movement	1,953	0.04	—		0	—	0	—
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT	1,709	0.03	0.0		2	0	0	0
	People's Monarchist Party	1,466	0.03	0.0		0	0	0	0
	Merit and Society Movement	1,437	0.03	—		0	—	0	—
	National Renovator Party	1,204	0.02	0.0		0	0	0	0
	Portuguese Labour Party	758	0.01	—		0	—	0	—
	People's Party / Earth Party	165	0.00	—		0	—	0	—
	People's Party / PPM	156	0.00	—		0	—	0	—
Total valid		5,371,842	97.05	1.3	—	2,078	32	308	0
Blank ballots		94,862	1.71	0.9
Invalid ballots		68,400	1.24	0.5
Total (turnout 59.03%)		5,535,104	100.00	1.9
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições, Autárquicas 2009 Resultados Oficiais

Municipal Assemblies

 Summary of the 11 October 2009 Municipal Assemblies elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Mandates
						#	±
	PS	2,031,783	36.70	1.0		2,855	61
	PSD	1,226,358	22.15	4.8		2,124	292
	CDU	586,118	10.59	1.1		651	71
	Social Democratic / People's Party	518,198	9.61	1.1		522	115
	BE	229,414	4.14	0.2		139	25
	Independents	215,794	3.90	1.8		224	103
	CDS–PP	195,823	3.54	0.2		253	63
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM	162,092	2.93	—		65	—
	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM	98,349	1.78	0.1		60	13
	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT	63,584	1.15	0.1		22	5
	Workers' Communist Party	7,432	0.13	0.1		0	1
	New Democracy	7,347	0.13	0.1		5	4
	Hope for Portugal Movement	4,906	0.09	—		0	—
	National Renovator Party	1,741	0.03	—		0	—
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT	1,627	0.03	0.0		6	0
	Merit and Society Movement	1,591	0.03	—		0	—
	People's Monarchist Party	1,300	0.02	0.0		5	0
	Portuguese Labour Party	828	0.01	—		0	—
	People's Party / Earth Party	257	0.00	—		0	—
	People's Party / PPM	205	0.00	—		1	—
Total valid		5,354,747	96.73	1.3	—	6,946	60
Blank ballots		110,888	2.00	0.9
Invalid ballots		70,047	1.27	0.4
Total (turnout 59.04%)		5,535,682	100.00	1.9
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições, Autárquicas 2009 Resultados Oficiais

Parish Assemblies

 Summary of the 11 October 2009 Parish Assemblies elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Mandates		Presidents
						#	±	#	±
	PS	2,003,533	36.27	0.8		13,736	253	1,577	59
	PSD	1,238,620	22.43	4.2		11,113	1,338	1,530	193
	CDU	606,136	10.97	1.1		2,266	289	213	31
	Social Democratic / People's Party	508,043	9.20	1.6		2,911	847	312	93
	Independents	338,003	6.12	1.6		2,673	473	332	40
	BE	163,423	2.96	0.3		235	6	4	1
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT / PPM	161,398	2.92	—		384	—	31	—
	CDS–PP	128,443	2.33	0.4		693	129	53	12
	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM	96,936	1.76	0.2		405	0	36	2
	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT	62,228	1.13	0.7		168	48	15	4
	Earth Party	8,400	0.15	0.1		47	24	2	1
	Workers' Communist Party	3,368	0.06	0.0		0	0	0	0
	Merit and Society Movement	1,803	0.03	—		0	—	0	—
	New Democracy	1,658	0.03	0.1		3	3	0	0
	PSD / CDS–PP / MPT	1,532	0.03	0.0		29	3	2	0
	People's Monarchist Party	716	0.01	0.1		3	3	0	0
	People's Party / Earth Party	542	0.01	—		3	—	0	—
	Portuguese Labour Party	336	0.01	—		0	—	0	—
	National Renovator Party	280	0.00	0.0		0	0	0	0
	People's Party / PPM	152	0.00	—		3	—	0	—
Total valid		5,325,550	96.41	1.1	—	34,672	—	4,107	—
Blank ballots		116,243	2.10	0.7
Invalid ballots		81,523	1.48	0.4
Total (turnout 59.00%)		5,523,316	100.00	1.9
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições, Autárquicas 2009 Resultados Oficiais

See also

• Politics of Portugal
• List of political parties in Portugal
• Elections in Portugal

References

External links

• Official site Autárquicas 2009
• Official results site, Portuguese Justice Ministry
• Portuguese Electoral Commission

Elections and referendums in Portugal Parliamentary elections 1820 1822 1826 1834 1836 (Jul) 1836 (Nov) 1838 1840 1842 1845 1847 1851 1852 1856 1858 1860 1861 1864 1865 1868 1869 1870 (Mar) 1870 (Sep) 1871 1874 1878 1879 1881 1884 1887 1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1897 1899 1900 1901 1904 1905 1906 (Apr) 1906 (Aug) 1908 1910 1911* 1915 1918 1919 1921 1922 1925 1934 1938 1942 1945 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1975* 1976 1979 1980 1983 1985 1987 1991 1995 1999 2002 2005 2009 2011 2015 Presidential elections 1911** 1915 (May)** 1915 (Aug)** 1918 (Apr) 1918 (Dec)** 1919** 1923** 1925** 1928 1935 1942 1949 1951 1958 1965** 1972** 1976 1980 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 Local elections 1976 1979 1982 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 European elections 1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 Referendums 1933 1998 (Jun) 1998 (Nov) 2007 * Constituent Assembly   ** Indirect elections See also: Elections in Azores Madeira