1976 Portuguese local elections

The Portuguese local elections of 1976 took place on 12 December. They were the first local elections in Portugal. The democratic revolution of 1974 introduced the concept of democratic local power, that should be exerted by the citizens in their towns and cities.

1976 Portuguese local elections
12 December 1976
All 304 Portuguese municipalities and 4,260 Portuguese Parishes
All 1,908 local government councils
Turnout64.7%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Mário Soares Francisco Sá Carneiro
Party PS PSD
Popular vote 1,377,684 1,014,092
Percentage 33.0% 24.3%
Mayors 115 115
Councillors 691 624
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Álvaro Cunhal Diogo Freitas do Amaral
Party PCP CDS
Alliance FEPU
Popular vote 720,499 693,766
Percentage 17.3% 16.6%
Mayors 37 36
Councillors 268 317
This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Portugal
Portugal

The elections were meant to elect for the first time the administration of the about 300 municipalities of the country and of the about 4000 parishes that composed those 300 municipalities. They consisted of three elections in each of the municipalities; the election for the municipal chamber, the election for the municipal assembly and the lower-level election for the parish assembly.

The Socialist Party gathered the majority of the voting and mandates, beating the Social Democratic Party, although both parties tied in number of elected mayors, 115. The Communists led coalition, the Electoral Front United People, dominated the election in the South of the country. The right-wing Democratic Social Center achieved its best result ever in local elections.

Turnout in these elections was quite low, as 64.7% of the electorate cast a ballot, compared with the 83.5% turnout rate of the 1976 general elections in April.

Parties

The main political forces involved in the election:

Results

National summary of votes and seats
Most voted parties or coalitions in each Municipality.
Municipalities won by:
■ - PS: 115
■ - PSD: 115
■ - FEPU: 37
■ - CDS: 36
■ - PPM: 1
 Summary of the 12 December 1976 Municipal Councils elections results
Parties Votes % Candidacies Councillors Mayors
# #
Socialist 1,377,684 33.01 691 115
Social Democratic 1,014,092 24.30 624 115
Electoral Front United People 720,499 17.26 268 37
Democratic and Social Centre 693,766 16.62 317 36
GDUPs 103,784 2.49 5 0
Portuguese Workers' Communist 27,505 0.59 0 0
PCP(m-l) 15,267 0.37 0 0
People's Monarchist 7,528 0.18 3 1
Internationalist Communist League 3,464 0.08 0 0
Workers' Revolutionary 273 0.00 0 0
United People Alliance 123 0.00 0 0
Total valid 3,995,905 96.40 — 1,908 304
Blank ballots 89,0732.13
Invalid ballots 88,7832.13
Total 4,173,761 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 6,454,99064.66

National summary of votes and seats
 Summary of the 12 December 1976 Municipal Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % Candidacies Mandates
#
Socialist 1,392,181 33.39 1,698
Social Democratic 1,022,168 24.52 1,658
Electoral Front United People 756,856 18.15 679
Democratic and Social Centre 685,574 16.44 1,053
GDUPs 100,872 2.42 43
PCP(m-l) 5,363 0.13 2
Portuguese Workers' Communist 5,214 0.13 0
People's Monarchist 3,695 0.09 2
Workers' Revolutionary 2,634 0.06 0
Christian Democratic 970 0.02 0
Total valid 3,975,596 95.36 — 5,135
Blank ballots 104,1852.50
Invalid ballots 89,2412.26
Total 4,169,022 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 6,453,78364.60

National summary of votes and seats
 Summary of the 12 December 1976 Parish Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % Candidacies Mandates Presidents
# #
Socialist 1,339,460 32.69 8,345
Social Democratic 996,972 24.33 9,076
Electoral Front United People 629,812 15.37 2,291
Democratic and Social Centre 617,690 15.07 5,077
Independents 162,367 3.96 1,230
GDUPs 93,967 2.29 99
Portuguese Workers' Communist 13,721 0.33 2
People's Monarchist 1,788 0.04 12
PCP(m-l) 1,666 0.04 3
Internationalist Communist League 71 0.00 0
Total valid 3,915,120 95.55 — 26,135 '
Blank ballots 88,9852.17
Invalid ballots 93,4612.28
Total 4,097,566 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 6,246,59465.60

Maps
  • The first and the second most voted parties in Municipal Councils in each district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
  • The first and the second most voted parties in Municipal Assemblies in seach district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
  • The first and the second most voted parties in Parish Assemblies in seach district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)

Notes

Further Notes:

  • Electoral Front United People (FEPU) was composed by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), the Portuguese Democratic Movement (MDP/CDE) and the People's Socialist Front (FSP).
  • 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.

See also

References

    Comissão Nacional de Eleições

    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.