2021 Portuguese local elections

2021 Portuguese local elections

← 2017 26 September 2021 2025 →
All 308 Portuguese municipalities and 3,092[1] Portuguese Parishes All 2,064 local government councils
Opinion polls
Turnout	53.6% 1.3 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader António Costa Rui Rio Jerónimo de Sousa Party PS PSD PCP Alliance CDU Last election 160 mayors, 38.7% 98 mayors, 30.3% 24 mayors, 9.5% Popular vote 1,854,960[a] 1,606,392[b] 410,666 Percentage 37.1% 32.1% 8.2% Swing 1.6 pp 1.8 pp 1.3 pp Mayors 148[c] 114[d] 19 Mayors +/– 12 16 5 Councillors 909[e] 793[f] 148 Councillors +/– 54 64 23

Local elections in Portugal were held on 26 September 2021.^[2] The election consisted of three separate elections in the 308 Portuguese municipalities: the election for the Municipal Chamber (the executive branch of the municipality), whose winner is automatically elected mayor, similar to first-past-the-post (FPTP); another election for the Municipal Assembly (the deliberative branch of the municipality); and an election for the Parish Assembly (the deliberative branch of the lower-level parish), whose winner is elected parish president. This last one was held separately in the more than 3,000 parishes around the country. In the 2021 election, 12.3 percent of incumbent mayors, 38 to be precise, were barred from running for another term: 23 from the PS, 11 from the PSD, 3 from CDU and one from the CDS–PP.^[3]

The elections happened during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. Because of that, there was a proposal by the Social Democratic Party to postpone the elections for two months and hold the election between 22 November and 14 December 2021.^[4] This proposal was rejected by Parliament and the election was to be held in the normal period set by the election law, between 22 September and 14 October.^[5] On 1 July 2021, the government announced the election date for 26 September 2021.^[2]

The Socialist Party (PS) retained their status as the largest party in local councils, but lost a lot of votes across the country and especially in some big urban centers. The PS lost Coimbra, Funchal and Barcelos to the PSD, and suffered a massive upset in Lisbon, where the PS incumbent mayor Fernando Medina was defeated by the PSD/CDS coalition candidate Carlos Moedas.^[6] The PS losses across the country and the upset defeat in Lisbon were labeled as a "yellow card" to António Costa's government.^[7]

Despite not winning the most cities in the country as a whole, the Social Democrats (PSD) were considered the big winners of the elections by winning several cities from the Socialists, narrowing the gap nationwide between them and the PS, and for winning back several urban centers, mainly the upset victory in Lisbon.^[8] The party also performed very well in the South, gaining ground in the Alentejo region by winning four cities in Évora district and winning Portalegre from an Independent.^[9] In the Azores and Madeira regions, the party also made gains but lost some cities like Batalha and Guarda to independent movements. With these results, Rui Rio's position in the PSD leadership was strengthened.^[10]

The Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) saw another decline and achieved their worst result to date, just 19 mayors and 8 percent of the votes. The coalition was able to hold on to Évora and Setúbal, albeit by slim margins, but lost big suburban cities like Loures and Moita. In the Alentejo region the coalition lost cities to both PS and PSD, of note the losses of both Montemor-o-Novo and Mora, two Communist bastions since 1976, to the PS.^[11] Jerónimo de Sousa, CDU leader, recognized that the results "fell short of the goals" of the coalition.^[12]

Independent movements made gains in the elections by winning Guarda from the PSD, and Elvas and Mealhada from the PS. In Porto, mayor Rui Moreira was reelected for a third term but lost his majority. In Figueira da Foz, former prime minister and PSD leader Pedro Santana Lopes made a dramatic comeback, running as an independent, by gaining the city from the PS.^[13] The Left Bloc suffered losses by winning just 5 councillors across the country, a drop compared with the 12 councillors they won in 2017, but the party was able to win a councillor in Porto city for the first time.^[14] CHEGA was able to win several councillors across the country, a total of 19, and polled 4 percent of the votes. André Ventura said that the results "weren't a total victory", as the party failed its goal of being the 3rd largest political force.^[15] The Liberals (IL) did not win any councillors and polled just 1.3 percent of the votes. Together for the People (JPP) were able to hold on to Santa Cruz in the Madeira islands, while We, the Citizens! (NC) lost their sole city to the PSD.^[16]

Turnout in these elections decreased compared to four years ago, with just 53.6 percent of voters casting a ballot.

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