Portuguese local elections, 2001

Portuguese local elections, 2001
Portugal
16 December 2001

All 308 Portuguese municipalities and 4,260 Portuguese Parishes
All 2,044 local government councils

  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader José Manuel Barroso António Guterres Carlos Carvalhas
Party PSD PS CDU
Last election 127 mayors, 35.8% 128 mayors, 41.3% 41 mayors, 12.0%
Popular vote 2,167,587 1,948,520 557,481
Percentage 41.2% 37.1% 10.6%
Swing Increase 5.4 pp Decrease 4.2 pp Decrease 1.4 pp
Mayors 159 113 28
Mayors +/– Increase 32 Decrease 15 Decrease 13
Councillors 912 852 199
Councillors +/– Increase 98 Decrease 27 Decrease 37
Portugal

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

The Portuguese local elections of 2001 took place on 16 December. The elections 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 4,200 parishes around the country.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) won the elections by a landslide, defying polls in many cities across the country in particular the three main cities, Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra. The victory of the PSD in these local election was the first since 1985, the last time the PSD won more mayors than the Socialists, although in 1997, the PS and PSD basically tied in number of elected mayors. The PSD won 11 of the 20 district capitals mainly Lisbon, won by Pedro Santana Lopes, and Porto, won by Rui Rio, plus many suburban cities like Sintra, Cascais, Vila Nova de Famalicão and Penafiel swung to the Social Democrats.

The Socialist Party (PS) was the biggest loser of these elections. After 6 years in power governing without an absolute majority and adding to this a bad economy, the PS's hopes of maintaining the largest number of mayors were slashed. The defeat was worse than expected because of loses in the main cities of Lisbon and Porto, where polls showed the PS with a solid lead. Because of the bad results of the party and a prospect of political instability, Prime Minister António Guterres resigned on election night statting that the country should not fall in "a political swamp".

The election was also very bad for Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU) in which they achieved their worst result in local elections till that date. The Communist-Green alliance lost 13 mayoral races plus 37 councillors and lost big cities like Évora and Loures to the PS. The People's Party also had a poor showing losing 5 cities, although this time they celebrated more coalitions with the PSD. On the other hands, the election returns were quite good for other smaller parties: the Left Bloc (BE) won 1 city (Salvaterra de Magos) from CDU and the Earth Party won Celorico da Beira from the PS. Independent movements were also allowed to run in these elections for the first time and won 3 cities.

Turnout in these elections remained unchanged in comparison with the 1997 election, as 60.1% of the electorate cast a ballot.

Parties

The main political forces involved in the election were:

1 The PSD and the CDS–PP formed coalitions in several municipalities. In some municipalities the PSD or CDS–PP formerd also coaltions with PPM.
2 The PS formed also some coalitions with the CDS–PP and a coalition with CDU in Lisbon.

National summary of votes and seats

Municipal Councils

Most voted parties or coalitions in each Municipality. Municipality won by
- PSD: 142
- PS: 113
- CDU: 28
- BE: 1
- CDS–PP: 3
- PSD coalitions: 17
- MPT: 1
- Independents: 3
 Summary of the 16 December 2001 Municipal Councils elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Councillors Mayors
# ± # ±
Socialist 1,792,69034.12Decrease4.0295829Decrease40113Decrease14
Social Democratic 1,488,89728.22Decrease4.5263774Decrease29142Increase15
Democratic Unity Coalition 557,48110.61Decrease1.4300199Decrease3728Decrease13
Social Democratic / People's Party 472,5818.99Increase6.038114Increase10315Increase15
People's 195,1983.72Decrease1.919539Decrease443Decrease5
Social Democratic / PPM 131,1352.50181
Socialist / Democratic Unity Coalition 130,2792.48Decrease0.618Decrease20Decrease1
Independents 84,0101.6022313
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM 67,094 1.282101
Left Bloc 61,7891.187061
Socialist / People's Party 25,5510.497150
Workers' Communist Party 17,5410.33Decrease0.0220Steady00Steady0
Earth Party 12,5680.24Increase0.2194Increase21Increase1
People's Party / Social Democratic 7,8800.15360
People's Democratic Union 5,3180.10Decrease0.3110Steady00Steady0
People's Party / PPM 4,2890.08310
Humanist Party 3,0190.06700
People's Party / Socialist 2,0100.04120
National Renovator Party 8770.02200
People's Monarchist Party 2940.01Decrease0.110Decrease50Decrease1
Total valid 5,061,297 96.33 Increase0.2 2,044 Increase21 308 Increase3
Blank ballots 114,8342.19Steady0.0
Invalid ballots 78,0491.49Decrease0.1
Total (turnout 60.12%) 5,254,180 100.00 Increase0.0
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Municipal Assemblies

 Summary of the 16 December 2001 Municipal Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Mandates
# ±
Socialist 1,788,089 34.03 Decrease3.8 2,721 Decrease166
Social Democratic 1,430,532 27.23 Decrease3.2 2,468 Decrease111
Democratic Unity Coalition 585,426 11.14 Decrease1.3 709 Decrease89
Social Democratic / People's Party 486,936 9.27 Increase6.2 427 Increase392
People's 226,774 4.32 Decrease3.1 253 Decrease184
Socialist / Democratic Unity Coalition 129,852 2.47 Decrease0.6 24 Decrease6
Social Democratic / PPM 124,457 2.37 23
Left Bloc 80,520 1.53 28
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM 64,430 1.23 40
Independents 60,919 1.16 93
Socialist / People's Party 26,174 0.50 40
Earth Party 12,694 0.24 Increase0.1 18 Increase13
Workers' Communist Party 7,863 0.15 Decrease0.1 1 Steady0
People's Party / Social Democratic 6,943 0.13 19
People's Democratic Union 5,800 0.11 Decrease0.4 2 Steady0
CDS–PP / PPM 4,425 0.08 3
People's Party / Socialist 2,302 0.04 7
National Renovator Party 779 0.01 0
People's Monarchist Party 436 0.01 Decrease0.1 0 Decrease16
Humanist Party 155 0.00 0
Total valid 5,045,506 96.02 Increase0.2 6,876 Increase69
Blank ballots 130,3592.48Decrease0.1
Invalid ballots 78,5781.50Decrease0.1
Total (turnout 60.13%) 5,254,443 100.00 Increase0.0
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Parish Assemblies

 Summary of the 16 December 2001 Parish Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Mandates Presidents
# ± # ±
Socialist 1,775,53133.85Decrease2.73,57813,195Decrease4351,523
Social Democratic 1,392,01926.54Decrease3.73,073 12,148Decrease8121,649
Democratic Unity Coalition 586,84411.19Decrease1.22,139 2,466Decrease265232
Social Democratic / People's Party 431,0028.22Increase3.55442,124Increase1,486215
Independents 232,861 4.44Increase1.6696 2,407Increase813311
People's 189,8383.62Decrease1.81,090 970Decrease87079
Socialist / Democratic Unity Coalition 132,9182.53Decrease0.753309Decrease9935
Social Democratic / PPM 121,2592.315326518
PSD / CDS–PP / PPM 60,295 1.158230232
Left Bloc 57,3611.09286466
Socialist / People's Party 25,583 0.49351122
Earth Party 8,626 0.16Increase0.156120Increase8118
People's Party / Social Democratic 6,9660.1318678
People's Democratic Union 5,2990.10Decrease0.2497Increase10
Workers' Communist Party 4,9610.09Steady0.0271Decrease10
People's Party / PPM 4,714 0.093640
People's Party / Socialist 2,326 0.048251
Humanist Party 2200.00200
People's Monarchist Party 980.00Decrease0.111Decrease790
Total valid 5,038,721 96.05 Increase0.1 34,569 Increase616 4,129
Blank ballots 120,6652.30Increase0.1
Invalid ballots 86,4091.65Decrease0.2
Total (turnout 60.03%) 5,245,795 100.00 Increase0.2
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições Autárquicas 2001

See also

References

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