2013 Portuguese local elections

The Portuguese local elections of 2013 took place on 29 September. The elections consisted of three types of elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities, namely the elections for the Municipal Chambers, whose winners are elected mayors, the elections for the Municipal Assemblies, as well as the elections for the lower-level Parish Assemblies, whose winners are elected parish presidents. The latter were held separately in the more than 3,000 parishes around the country. The number of parishes had been reduced by over 1000 due to a local government reform undertaken by the Government led by Pedro Passos Coelho.

2013 Portuguese local elections

29 September 2013
All 308 Portuguese municipalities and 3,092[1] Portuguese Parishes All 2,086 local government councils
Opinion polls
Turnout	52.6% 6.4 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader António José Seguro Pedro Passos Coelho Jerónimo de Sousa Party PS PSD PCP Alliance CDU Last election 132 mayors, 37.7% 139 mayors, 38.7% 28 mayors, 9.8% Popular vote 1,835,288[2] 1,570,601[3] 552,690 Percentage 36.7% 31.4% 11.1% Swing 1.0 pp 7.3 pp 1.3 pp Mayors 150[4] 106[5] 34 Mayors +/– 18 33 6 Councillors 929[6] 770[7] 213 Councillors +/– 8 103[8] 39

The process of submitting candidacies for these elections was marked by differences in the interpretation of the pertinent electoral law. This law prohibits a candidate, after having served for three terms, to run for Mayor, Municipal Assemblies or Parish Assemblies. But the law does not explicitly state whether it prohibits reelection only for the same municipality or parish, or for the same position in any municipality or parish. Candidates affected by this issue included Luís Filipe Menezes (PSD), running in Porto, and Fernando Seara (PSD/CDS–PP), who was standing in Lisbon.

This controversy ended on 5 September 2013 with the decision of the Constitutional Court allowing mayoral candidates that had already served three consecutive mandates to run for election in a different municipality.[9] With the term limit law, 52% of incumbent mayors, 160 to be precise, were barred from running for another term.[10]

The Socialist Party (PS) won the largest number of municipal chambers in its history surpassing its previous best result in 2009. It also won the largest number of mayorships of any party in the history of Portugal.[11] The PS also reconquered Coimbra and won in two large strongholds of the Social Democratic Party, Vila Real and Funchal.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) was the biggest loser of these elections, as it lost almost a third of the municipalities that it had held. However, the PSD did gain several traditionally Socialist bastions like Braga and Guarda. The communist Democratic Unity Coalition won in the cities of Loures, Beja and Évora.

The election was also marked by the strong electoral performances of various independent groups, which won several chambers. The most significant was the victory of independent Rui Moreira in Porto, who was supported by CDS-PP. The Democratic Unity Coalition increased its number of municipal chambers as well as its number of councilors by winning several chambers previously held by the Socialists, including winning back their historical stronghold of Loures. However, despite increasing their overall number of mayors, they also lost three chambers they won in 2009 to the Socialists; Chamusca, Crato, and Nisa. In Chamusca they had held the mayorship since 1979.

The People's Party (CDS-PP) broke a cycle of decline in local elections and won five municipalities, four more than in 2009. The Left Bloc suffered a heavy defeat, losing the only chamber they had, and electing fewer councillors than in 2009.

The turnout in these elections was the lowest ever, with 52.6% of voters casting their ballot.