Local elections were held in Portugal on 11 October 2009. The elections consisted of three separate elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner is automatically elected president, 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. The elections took place just two weeks after the 2009 legislative election.
The elections 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 councilors. 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 clear margin, 44 to 39 percent.
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 percent 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, due to corruption accusations, and were still re-elected as mayors. The best known were Valentim Loureiro in Gondomar and Isaltino Morais in Oeiras. On the other hand, 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 percent of the vote.
Turnout in these election was the lowest in local election, as only 59 percent 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:
1 The PSD and the CDS–PP also formed coalitions in several municipalities with the Earth Party (MPT) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM).
Voter turnout.
The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day.
Results.
Municipal Councils.
City control.
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.
References.
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