1997 Portuguese local elections

The Portuguese local elections of 1997 took place on 14 December. The elections consisted of three separate elections in the 305 Portuguese municipalities, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner is elected mayor, 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 4,200 parishes around the country.

1997 Portuguese local elections
14 December 1997
All 305 Portuguese municipalities and 4,260 Portuguese Parishes
All 2,021 local government councils
Turnout60.1% 3.3 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader António Guterres Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Carlos Carvalhas
Party PS PSD PCP
Alliance CDU
Last election 127 mayors, 40.2% 116 mayors, 33.7% 49 mayors, 12.8%
Popular vote 2,206,315[1] 1,886,242[2] 643,956
Percentage 41.3% 35.2% 12.0%
Swing 1.1 pp 1.5 pp 0.8 pp
Mayors 128[3] 127[4] 41
Mayors +/– 1 11 8
Councillors 879[5] 810[6] 236
Councillors +/– 57 4 10
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The Socialist Party (PS) maintained as the largest local political force, although only just, winning 128 cities, one more compared to 1993, and increasing their vote share to above 41%. In reality, PS and PSD basically tied in this elections, but the Socialists were able to hold on to big cities like Lisbon, Porto, Sintra and Coimbra.[7] On the other hand, the PS lost some cities to the PSD, particularly Vila Nova de Gaia and Figueira da Foz, the latter won by Pedro Santana Lopes, future Lisbon mayor and Prime Minister.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) made big gains, winning 11 cities and basically catching up with the Socialists. They also increased their share of vote to 35%. The PSD gained many cities from the PS, such as Bragança, Covilhã, Silves, Tavira and Alcobaça. Although the PSD didn't performed very strongly in the big urban centers, they performed extremely well in many medium and small cities across the country, but that same bad performance in the big urban centers, such as Lisbon and Porto, created criticisms to the leadership of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.[8]

The election was quite bad for Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU), as they continued their fall in local politics. The Communist/Green coalition lost 8 cities and decreased their vote share to 12%. The CDU lost many of their bastions to the PS, such as Cuba, Amadora, Vila Franca de Xira and Sesimbra. They also saw a decrease in number of councillors, although here the fall was soft, as they lost just 10 councillors compared to 1993.

The People's Party (PP) also continued its decline in local politics. The party only won 8 cities, a fall of 5 cities, and dropped its share of the vote to the lowest level till that time, 5.7%. They lost big cities like Aveiro to the PS and Vila Verde to the PSD. One surprise in the elections was the victory of the People's Monarchist Party (PPM) in Penalva do Castelo, Viseu district, over the People's Party.

Turnout in these elections dropped in comparison with the 1993 election, as 60.1% of the electorate cast a ballot.

Parties

The main political forces involved in the election were:

1 The PSD and the CDS–PP formed coalitions in some municipalities.
2 The PS formed a coalition with CDU and UDP in Lisbon.

Results

National summary of votes and seats
Most voted parties or coalitions in each Municipality. Municipalities won by:
■ - PSD: 127
■ - PS: 128
■ - CDU: 41
■ - CDS–PP: 8
■ - PPM: 1
 Summary of the 14 December 1997 Municipal Councils elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Councillors Mayors
# ± # ±
Socialist 2,041,30738.072.0869731271
Social Democratic 1,761,38332.850.9803312711
Democratic Unity Coalition 643,95612.010.823610418
People's 302,7635.652.8835285
PS / CDU / UDP 165,0083.080.810710
Social Democratic / People's 124,8592.33—7—0—
People's / Social Democratic 35,4950.66—4—0—
People's Democratic Union 21,0790.390.20000
Portuguese Workers' Communist 18,6740.350.10000
PSR / Politics XXI 9,1750.17—0—0—
Revolutionary Socialist 9,1260.17—0—0—
People's Monarchist 7,1290.130.15511
Politics XXI 6,9950.13—1—0—
Christian Democratic 4,3610.080.11100
National Solidarity 2,3010.040.50300
Earth 1,8840.040.42000
Democratic Renewal 1,4830.030.00000
Democratic Party of the Atlantic 5670.010.00000
Left Revolutionary Front 1200.00—0—0—
Total valid 5,157,665 96.18 0.4 — 2,021 6 305 0
Blank ballots 117,3602.190.3
Invalid ballots 87,5841.630.1
Total 5,362,609 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 8,922,18260.123.3
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

National summary of votes and seats
 Summary of the 14 December 1997 Municipal Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Mandates
# ±
Socialist 2,030,025 37.85 2.2 2,887 258
Social Democratic 1,633,778 30.46 3.4 2,579 92
Democratic Unity Coalition 668,896 12.47 0.6 798 5
People's 395,209 7.37 0.9 437 119
PS / CDU / UDP 163,411 3.05 0.7 30 6
Social Democratic / People's 124,472 2.32 — 22 —
People's / Social Democratic 42,321 0.79 — 13 —
People's Democratic Union 25,552 0.48 0.3 2 0
Portuguese Workers' Communist 12,309 0.23 0.0 1 0
PSR / Politics XXI 11,150 0.21 — 1 —
Revolutionary Socialist 8,850 0.16 0.0 1 1
Politics XXI 6,483 0.12 — 8 —
People's Monarchist 6,008 0.11 0.1 16 16
Christian Democratic 4,254 0.08 — 5 —
National Solidarity 3,940 0.07 0.4 0 16
Earth 1 844 0.03 0.4 5 6
Democratic Renewal 1,341 0.03 0.0 2 0.
Democratic Party of the Atlantic 576 0.01 — 0 —
Total valid 5,140,419 95.83 0.5 — 6,807 38
Blank ballots 135,7382.530.4
Invalid ballots 87,8001.640.0
Total 5,363,957 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 8,922,18260.123.3
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

National summary of votes and seats
 Summary of the 14 December 1997 Parish Assemblies elections results
Parties Votes % ±pp swing Candidacies Mandates Presidents
# ± # ±
Socialist 1,952,46836.562.013,6261,314
Social Democratic 1,615,10030.243.412,960719
Democratic Unity Coalition 661,25412.380.92,73116
People's 287,7245.392.41,840339
Social Democratic / People's 206,8393.87—561——
PS / CDU / UDP 169,8933.180.7408119
Independents 152,0552.850.61,594360
People's / Social Democratic 43,2670.81—77——
People's Democratic Union 16,1160.300.264
People's Monarchist 5,5010.100.18078
Portuguese Workers' Communist 4,5750.090.021
Earth 3,1620.060.2391
Christian Democratic 2 5980.05—8——
National Solidarity 2,0250.040.4610
Democratic Renewal 1 5490.030.097
Democratic Party of the Atlantic 3950.01—3——
Portuguese Party of Regions 3940.01—3——
Revolutionary Socialist 340.00—0——
Total valid 5,124,949 96.05 0.6 — 33,953 495
Blank ballots 119,7782.240.4
Invalid ballots 96,0141.800.1
Total 5,340,741 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 8,922,18259.863.3
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

See also

References
  1. Sum of votes between PS-only lists and lists with other parties.
  2. Sum of votes between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties.
  3. Number of municipalities won between PS-only lists and lists with other parties. PS-only lists: 127; PS-coalition lists: 1.
  4. Number of municipalities won between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties. PSD-only lists: 127; PSD-coalition lists: 0.
  5. Sum of councillors between PS-only lists and lists with other parties.
  6. Sum of councillors between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties.
  7. "As cores políticas que pintam o mapa do poder local de 1976 a 2013". Jornal de Negócios (in Portuguese). 2017.
  8. "A primeira vez em que os 10 foram notícia". Expresso newspaper (in Portuguese). 2016.
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