1997 Portuguese local elections

none 1997 Portuguese local elections Portugal parliamentary 1993 Portuguese local elections 1993 2001 Portuguese local elections 2001 All 305 Portuguese municipalities and 4,260 Portuguese ParishesAll 2,021 local government councils 14 December 1997 60.1% 3.3 pp Mayors Mayors +/– Councillors Councillors +/– Марселу Ребелу де Соуза (36674108876).jpg 150 110 150 5 17 Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Social Democratic Party (Portugal) 116 mayors, 33.7% 1,886,242Sum of votes between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties. 35.2% 1.5 pp 127Number of municipalities won between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties. PSD-only lists: 127; PSD-coalition lists: 0. 11 810Sum of councillors between PSD-only lists and lists with other parties. 3 Guterres EP 2000 (cropped).jpg 130 110 150 0 10 António Guterres Socialist Party (Portugal) 127 mayors, 40.2% 2,206,315Sum of votes between PS-only lists and lists with other parties. 41.2% 1.1 pp 128Number of municipalities won between PS-only lists and lists with other parties. PS-only lists: 127; PS-coalition lists: 1. 1 879Sum of councillors between PS-only lists and lists with other parties. 57 EP President meets with the Secretary General of the Portuguese Communist Party (cropped).jpg 130 110 150 5 10 FF0000 Carlos Carvalhas PCP CDU 49 mayors, 12.8% 643,956 12.0% 0.8 pp 41 8 236 10 Manuel Monteiro 1994.jpg 110 110 150 0 0 Manuel Monteiro CDS 13 mayors, 8.4% 302,763Sum of votes between CDS-only lists and lists with other parties. 6.3% 2.1 pp 8 5 87Sum of councillors between CDS-only lists and lists with other parties. 46 Local elections were held in Portugal on 14 December 1997. The elections consisted of three separate elections in the 305 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 4,200 parishes around the country. The Socialist Party (PS) remained the largest local political force, although only just, winning 128 cities, one more compared to 1993, and increasing their vote share to above 41 percent. 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.Jornal de Negócios 2017 As cores políticas que pintam o mapa do poder local de 1976 a 2013 https://www.jornaldenegocios.pt/economia/politica/eleicoes/detalhe/as-cores-politicas-que-pintam-o-mapa-do-poder-local-de-1976-a-2013 pt On the other hand, the PS lost some important 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 some gains, winning 11 cities and basically catching up with the Socialists. They also increased their vote share to 35 percent. 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 this same poor performance in large urban centers, such as Lisbon and Porto, generated criticism towards the leadership of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.Expresso newspaper 2016 A primeira vez em que os 10 foram notícia https://expresso.sapo.pt/presidenciais2016/2016-01-21-A-primeira-vez-em-que-os-10-foram-noticia pt 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 percent. 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 softer, as they lost just 10 councillors compared to 1993. The People's Party (CDS–PP) also continued its decline in local politics. The party only won 8 cities, a fall of 5 cities, and dropped in vote share to the lowest level till that time, 5.7 percent. They lost 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 percent of the electorate cast a ballot. Background Electoral system All 305 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 (FPTP). The lists are closed and the seats in each municipality are apportioned according to the D'Hondt method.Eleição dos titulares dos órgãos das autarquias locais. Diário da República (in Portuguese.) Retrieved 17 July 2025. By-elections (1993–1997) During the normal four-year term of local governments, one municipal council by-election was held in the municipality of Albufeira on 21 January 1996, adding to this, fifteen parishes also held a by-election for parish assemblies.Comissão Nacional de Eleições Eleições / Referendos https://www.cne.pt/content/eleicoes-referendos 10 March 2026 pt +City control in by-elections (1993–1997)Date Municipality Population Previous control New control21 January 1996Albufeira20,949Socialist Party (PS)Socialist Party (PS) Parties The main political forces involved in the election were: CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP) (only in some municipalities)1, Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)2 Socialist Party (PS)2 Social Democratic Party (PSD) (only in some municipalities)1 People's Monarchist Party (PPM) 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 Municipal Councils National summary of votes and seats Summary of the 14 December 1997 Municipal Councils elections results |- ! 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" ! 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"|± |- | Socialist Party (Portugal) Socialist |2,041,307||38.07||2.0||303||869||74||127||1 |- | Social Democratic Party (Portugal) Social Democratic |1,761,383||32.85||0.9||293||803||4||127||11 |- | Democratic Unity Coalition Democratic Unity Coalition |643,956||12.01||0.8||300||236||10||41||8 |- | CDS – People's Party People's |302,763||5.65||2.8||252||83||50||8||5 |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF66FF align="center" | |align=left|PS / CDU / UDP |165,008||3.08||0.8||1||10||7||1||0 |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|Social Democratic / People's |124,859||2.33||—||1||7||—||0||— |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" | |align=left|People's / Social Democratic |35,495||0.66||—||1||4||—||0||— |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=Popular Democratic Union (Portugal) align="center" | |align=left|Popular Democratic Union |21,079||0.39||0.2||46||0||0||0||0 |- | Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers / Reorganizative Movement of the Party of the Proletariat Portuguese Workers' Communist |18,674||0.35||0.1||22||0||0||0||0 |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=Revolutionary Socialist Party (Portugal) align="center" | |align=left|PSR / Politics XXI |9,175||0.17||—||2||0||—||0||— |- | Revolutionary Socialist Party (Portugal) Revolutionary Socialist |9,126||0.17||—||16||0||—||0||— |- | People's Monarchist Party (Portugal) People's Monarchist |7,129||0.13||0.1||5||5||5||1||1 |- | Politics XXI purple Politics XXI |6,995||0.13||—||1||1||—||0||— |- | Christian Democratic Party (Portugal) darkolivegreen Christian Democratic |4,361||0.08||0.1||3||1||1||0||0 |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#000080 align="center" | |align=left|National Solidarity |2,301||0.04||0.5||12||0||3||0||0 |- | Earth Party |1,884||0.04||0.4||1||2||0||0||0 |- | Democratic Renewal Party (Portugal) Democratic Renewal |1,483||0.03||0.0||2||0||0||0||0 |- | Democratic Party of the Atlantic |567||0.01||0.0||1||0||0||0||0 |- | Left Revolutionary Front (Portugal) darkred Left Revolutionary Front |120||0.00||—||1||0||—||0||— |- |colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid |width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,157,665 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|96.18 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.4 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|— |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|2,021 |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|10 |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|305 |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0 |- |colspan=2|Blank ballots |117,360||2.19||0.3||colspan=6 rowspan=4| |- |colspan=2|Invalid ballots |87,584||1.63||0.0 |- |colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total |width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,362,609 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |- |colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout ||8,922,182||60.10||3.3 |- | colspan=11 align=left | Source:Resultados Eleitorais SGMAI https://www.sg.mai.gov.pt/AdministracaoEleitoral/Resultadoseleitorais/Paginas/default.aspx 11 May 2026 Ministry of Home Affairs pt Eleições Autárquicas 2005 – Atlas Eleitoral https://www.sg.mai.gov.pt/AdministracaoEleitoral/Publicacoes/SociologiaEleitoral/Documents/ATLAS_AUTARQUICAS_2005.pdf 11 May 2026 2007 Ministry of Home Affairs pt |} Municipality map thumb|center|270px|Most voted parties or coalitions in each Municipality. Municipalities won by:■ - PSD: 127 ■ - PS: 128 ■ - CDU: 41 ■ - CDS–PP: 8 ■ - PPM: 1 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 1991 Census.https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_publicacoes Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Recenseamentos Gerais da População) www.ine.pt Statistics Portugal pt 17 July 2021 Municipality Population Previous controlhttps://www.cne.pt/sites/default/files/dl/ce_al1993.pdf Presidentes das Câmaras Municipais Eleitos 1993 www.cne.pt Comissão Nacional de Eleições pt 11 May 2026 New controlhttps://www.cne.pt/sites/default/files/dl/ce_al1997_0.pdf Presidentes das Câmaras Municipais Eleitos 1997 www.cne.pt Comissão Nacional de Eleições pt 11 May 2026 Almada 151,783 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Amadora 181,774 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Socialist Party (PS) Aveiro 66,444 CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP) Socialist Party (PS) Barcelos 111,733 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Beja 35,827 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Braga 141,256 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Bragança 33,055 Socialist Party (PS) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Cascais 153,294 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Castelo Branco 54,310 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Socialist Party (PS) Coimbra 139,052 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Évora 53,754 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Faro 50,761 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Funchal 115,403 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Gondomar 143,178 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Guarda 38,765 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Guimarães 157,589 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Leiria 102,762 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Lisbon (details) 663,394 PS / CDU / UDP PS / CDU / UDP Loures 322,158 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Matosinhos 151,682 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Oeiras 151,342 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Ponta Delgada 61,989 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Portalegre 26,111 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Socialist Party (PS) Porto 302,472 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Santarém 62,621 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Santa Maria da Feira 135,964 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Santo Tirso 102,593 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Seixal 116,912 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Setúbal 103,634 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Sintra 260,951 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Viana do Castelo 83,095 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Vila Franca de Xira 103,571 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Socialist Party (PS) Vila Nova de Famalicão 114,338 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Vila Nova de Gaia 248,565 Socialist Party (PS) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Vila Real 46,300 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Viseu 83,601 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Municipal Assemblies National summary of votes and seats Summary of the 14 December 1997 Municipal Assemblies elections results |- ! 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" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|± |- | Socialist Party (Portugal) Socialist |align=right|2,030,025 |align=right|37.85 |align=right|2.2 |align=right| |align=right|2,887 |align=right|246 |- | Social Democratic Party (Portugal) Social Democratic |align=right|1,633,778 |align=right|30.46 |align=right|3.4 |align=right| |align=right|2,579 |align=right|102 |- | Democratic Unity Coalition Democratic Unity Coalition |align=right|668,896 |align=right|12.47 |align=right|0.6 |align=right| |align=right|798 |align=right|5 |- | CDS – People's Party People's |align=right|395,209 |align=right|7.37 |align=right|0.9 |align=right| |align=right|437 |align=right|120 |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF66FF align="center" | |align=left|PS / CDU / UDP |align=right|163,411 |align=right|3.05 |align=right|0.7 |align=right| |align=right|30 |align=right|2 |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|Social Democratic / People's |align=right|124,472 |align=right|2.32 |align=right|— |align=right| |align=right|22 |align=right|— |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" | |align=left|People's / Social Democratic |align=right|42,321 |align=right|0.79 |align=right|— |align=right| |align=right|13 |align=right|— |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=Popular Democratic Union (Portugal) align="center" | |align=left|Popular Democratic Union |align=right|25,552 |align=right|0.48 |align=right|0.3 |align=right| |align=right|2 |align=right|0 |- | Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers / Reorganizative Movement of the Party of the Proletariat Portuguese Workers' Communist |align=right|12,309 |align=right|0.23 |align=right|0.0 |align=right| |align=right|1 |align=right|0 |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=Revolutionary Socialist Party (Portugal) align="center" | |align=left|PSR / Politics XXI |align=right|11,150 |align=right|0.21 |align=right|— |align=right| |align=right|1 |align=right|— |- | Revolutionary Socialist Party (Portugal) Revolutionary Socialist |align=right|8,850 |align=right|0.16 |align=right|0.0 |align=right| |align=right|1 |align=right|1 |- | Politics XXI purple Politics XXI |align=right|6,483 |align=right| 0.12 |align=right|— |align=right| |align=right|8 |align=right|— |- | People's Monarchist Party (Portugal) People's Monarchist |align=right|6,008 |align=right|0.11 |align=right| 0.1 |align=right| |align=right| 16 |align=right| 16 |- | Christian Democratic Party (Portugal) Christian Democratic |align=right| 4,254 |align=right| 0.08 |align=right|— |align=right| |align=right|5 |align=right|— |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#000080 align="center" | |align=left|National Solidarity |align=right|3,940 |align=right|0.07 |align=right|0.4 |align=right| |align=right|0 |align=right|16 |- | Earth Party |align=right|1,844 |align=right|0.03 |align=right|0.4 |align=right| |align=right|5 |align=right|6 |- | Democratic Renewal Party (Portugal) Democratic Renewal |align=right| 1,341 |align=right| 0.03 |align=right|0.0 |align=right| |align=right|2 |align=right|0 |- | Democratic Party of the Atlantic |align=right| 576 |align=right| 0.01 |align=right|— |align=right| |align=right|0 |align=right|— |- |colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid |width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,140,419 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|95.83 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.5 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|— |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|6,807 |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|15 |- |colspan=2|Blank ballots |135,738||2.53||0.5||colspan=6 rowspan=4| |- |colspan=2|Invalid ballots |87,800||1.64||0.0 |- |colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total |width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,363,957 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |- |colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout ||8,921,343||60.12||3.3 |- | colspan=11 align=left | Source: |} Parish Assemblies National summary of votes and seats Summary of the 14 December 1997 Parish Assemblies elections results |- ! 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" ! 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"|± |- | Socialist Party (Portugal) Socialist |1,952,468||36.56||2.0||||13,626||1,315||1,692||159 |- | Social Democratic Party (Portugal) Social Democratic |1,615,100||30.24||3.4||||12,960||719||1,597||64 |- | Democratic Unity Coalition Democratic Unity Coalition |661,254||12.38||0.9||||2,731||16||280||36 |- | CDS – People's Party People's |287,724||5.39||2.4||||1,840||879||166||84 |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|Social Democratic / People's |206,839||3.87||—||||561||—||32||— |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF66FF align="center" | |align=left|PS / CDU / UDP |169,893||3.18||0.7||||408||119||40||18 |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=gray align="center" | |align=left|Independents |148,097||2.77||0.5||||1,557||322||196||47 |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" | |align=left|People's / Social Democratic |43,267||0.81||—||||77||—||2||— |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=Popular Democratic Union (Portugal) align="center" | |align=left|Popular Democratic Union |16,116||0.30||0.2||||6||4||0||0 |- | People's Monarchist Party (Portugal) People's Monarchist |5,501||0.10||0.1||||80||78||10||10 |- | Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers / Reorganizative Movement of the Party of the Proletariat Portuguese Workers' Communist |4,575||0.09||0.0||||2||1||0||0 |- | Politics XXI purple Politics XXI |3,958||0.07||—||||37||—||3||— |- | Earth Party |3,162||0.06||0.2|||||39||1||2||0 |- | Christian Democratic Party (Portugal) darkolivegreen Christian Democratic |2,598||0.05||—||||8||—||0||— |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#000080 align="center" | |align=left|National Solidarity |2,025||0.04||0.4||||6||49||0||3 |- | Democratic Renewal Party (Portugal) Democratic Renewal |1,549||0.03||0.0||||9||1||0||1 |- | Democratic Party of the Atlantic |395||0.01||—||||3||—||0||— |- | Portuguese Party of Regions darkblue Portuguese Party of Regions |394||0.01||—||||3||—||1||— |- | Revolutionary Socialist Party (Portugal) Revolutionary Socialist |34||0.00||—||||0||—||0||— |- |colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid |width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,124,949 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|96.05 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.4 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|— |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|33,953 |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|495 |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|4,021 |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|36 |- |colspan=2|Blank ballots |119,778||2.24||0.4||colspan=6 rowspan=4| |- |colspan=2|Invalid ballots |96,014||1.80||0.1 |- |colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total |width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,340,741 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |- |colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout ||8,890,336||60.07||3.1 |- | colspan=11 align=left | Source: |} See also Politics of Portugal List of political parties in Portugal Elections in Portugal References External links Official results site, Portuguese Justice Ministry Portuguese Electoral Commission Category:1997 elections in Portugal 1997 Category:December 1997 in Europe