2005 Portuguese local elections

Local elections were held in Portugal on 9 October 2005. The election consisted of three separate elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities, the election for the Municipal Chambers, 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 Socialist Party may be considered the major defeated party of this election due to a slight loss of mandates. The Socialists did, however, achieve a better percentage of the vote in relation to the election of 2001.
On the right, the Social Democratic Party stole some municipalities from the Socialists, some of them in coalition with the People's Party that was reduced to only one municipality in stand-alone candidacies, Ponte de Lima, continuing its decline in comparison, for example, with the 36 mayors achieved in 1976.
On the left, the Unitary Democratic Coalition, led by the Communist Party, regained some of its former influence, taking 4 municipalities and several parishes from the Socialists in the districts of Beja, Évora and Setúbal and Leiria achieving a total of 32 mayors, and winning, for the first time, the election in Peniche. The Left Bloc kept the presidency of its single municipality, Salvaterra de Magos.
The election was also remarkable for the several victories of independent candidates, most of them former Socialist, Social Democratic and People's Party candidates who were expelled or given no confidence, because of corruption accusations, by their respective parties and, even so, became mayors. The best known were Valentim Loureiro in Gondomar, Fátima Felgueiras in Felgueiras and Isaltino Morais in [Oeiras Municipalities of Portugal|Municipality, Portugal|Oeiras].

Electoral system

All 308 municipalities are allocated a certain number of councilors to elect corresponding to the number of registered voters in a given municipality. Each party or coalition must present a list of candidates. The winner of the most voted list for the municipal council is automatically elected mayor, similar to first-past-the-post. The lists are closed and the seats in each municipality are apportioned according to the D'Hondt method. Unlike in national legislative elections, independent lists are allowed to run.

Parties

The main political forces involved in the election were:

Voter turnout

The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day.

Results

Municipal Councils

National summary of votes and seats

! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±pp swing
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Candidacies
! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Councillors
! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Mayors
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±

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.

Municipal Assemblies

National summary of votes and seats

! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±pp swing
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Candidacies
! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Mandates
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±

Parish Assemblies

National summary of votes and seats

! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±pp swing
! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Candidacies
! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Mandates
! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Presidents
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total
! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±

End notes

The source of the voting data is the

Further Notes:Democratic Unity Coalition is composed of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), "The Greens" (PEV) and the Democratic Intervention (ID).

The different coalitions between the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the People's Party (CDS–PP), the People's Monarchist Party (PPM) or the Earth Party (MPT) appear because each municipality has its own election.
The number of candidacies expresses the number of municipalities or parishes in which the party or coalition presented lists.
The number of mandates expresses the number of municipal deputies in the Municipal Assembly election and the number of parish deputies in the Parish Assembly election.
The turnout varies because one may choose not to vote for all the organs.