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 can be considered the main loser in this election due to a slight loss of seats and also a decrease in its vote share, compared with the 2001 results.
On the right, the Social Democratic Party gained some municipalities from the Socialists, some of them in coalition with the People's Party, but overall elected 158 mayors, minus one compared with 2001. The People's Party (CDS–PP) was left 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, 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 victory of independent candidates, most of them former Socialist, Social Democratic and People's Party candidates, who were expelled from or lost the confidence of their respective parties due to corruption allegations, and yet were re-elected. The best known were Valentim Loureiro in Gondomar, Fátima Felgueiras in Felgueiras and Isaltino Morais in Oeiras.
Background 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 (FPTP). 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.Eleição dos titulares dos órgãos das autarquias locais. Diário da República (in Portuguese.) Retrieved 17 July 2025.
By-elections (2001–2005) During the normal four-year term of local governments, thirty-five parishes held a by-election for parish assemblies. No municipal council by-elections were held.
Parties
The main political forces involved in the election were:
Left Bloc (BE) CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Socialist Party (PS) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Opinion polling
Voter turnout The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day.
Turnout Time 12:00 16:00 19:00 2001 2005 ± 2001 2005 ± 2001 2005 ± Total 21.35% 42.50% 48.00% 5.50 pp 60.13% 60.94% 0.81 pp Sources
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" ! 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"|±
|1,931,774||35.84||1.7||307||852||25||109||4
|1,523,760||28.27||0.0||245||743||33||138||4
|590,598||10.96||0.4||301||203||4||32||4 |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|Social Democratic / People's |497,077||9.22||0.2||42||136||22||18||3
|165,712||3.07||0.6||185||30||9||1||2
|159,254||2.95||1.8||111||7||1||1||0 |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=gray align="center" | |align=left|Independents |133,146||2.47||0.9||27||45||14||7||4 |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT |71,146||1.32||—||3||11||—||1||— |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / PPM |56,652||1.05||1.1||12||15||5||1||0
|15,476||0.29||0.0||19||0||0||0||0
|5,103||0.09||0.0||13||0||0||0||0
|2,048||0.04||—||4||0||—||0||—
|1,752||0.03||0.0||5||0||0||0||0
|1,730||0.03||0.0||5||0||0||0||0 |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / MPT |1,664||0.03||—||1||2||—||0||—
|1,589||0.03||0.2||4||0||4||0||1 |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / PPM |707||0.01||2.5||1||0||8||0||1 |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#1F468B align="center" | |align=left|PND / PPM |439||0.01||—||1||0||—||0||— |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#000080 align="center" | |align=left|National Solidarity |233||0.00||—||1||0||—||0||— |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" | |align=left|People's / Social Democratic |109||0.00||0.2||1||0||6||0||0 |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" | |align=left|CDS–PP / PSD / PPM |11||0.00||—||1||0||—||0||— |- |colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid |width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,159,980 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|95.71 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.6 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|— |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|2,046 |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|2 |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|308 |width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0 |- |colspan=2|Blank ballots |138,449||2.57||0.4||colspan=6 rowspan=4| |- |colspan=2|Invalid ballots |92,142||1.71||0.2 |- |colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total |width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,390,571 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |- |colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout ||8,840,223||60.98||0.9 |- | colspan=11 align=left | Source:
Municipality map
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.
Municipality Population Previous control New control Almada 160,825 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Amadora 175,872 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Aveiro 73,335 Socialist Party (PS) PSD / CDS–PP Barcelos 122,096 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Beja 35,762 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Braga 169,192 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Bragança 34,750 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Cascais 170,683 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP Castelo Branco 55,708 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Coimbra 148,443 PSD / CDS–PP / PPM PSD / CDS–PP / PPM Évora 56,519 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Faro 58,051 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Socialist Party (PS) Funchal 103,961 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Gondomar 159,096 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Independent (IND) Guarda 43,822 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Guimarães 159,576 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Leiria 119,847 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Lisbon (details) 564,657 PSD / PPM Social Democratic Party (PSD) Loures 199,059 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Maia 120,111 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP Matosinhos 167,026 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Odivelas 133,847 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Oeiras 162,128 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Independent (IND) Ponta Delgada 65,854 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Portalegre 25,980 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Porto (details) 263,131 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP Santarém 63,563 Socialist Party (PS) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Santa Maria da Feira 135,964 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Seixal 150,271 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Setúbal 113,934 Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU) Sintra 363,749 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT Viana do Castelo 88,631 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Vila Franca de Xira 122,908 Socialist Party (PS) Socialist Party (PS) Vila Nova de Famalicão 127,567 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP Vila Nova de Gaia 288,749 PSD / CDS–PP PSD / CDS–PP Vila Real 49,957 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD) Viseu 93,501 Social Democratic Party (PSD) Social Democratic Party (PSD)
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" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±
|align=right| 1,923,845 |align=right|35.69 |align=right|1.7 |align=right|307 |align=right|2,794 |align=right|73
|align=right|1,454,654 |align=right|26.98 |align=right|0.2 |align=right| 245 |align=right|2,416 |align=right|52
|align=right|628,987 |align=right|11.67 |align=right|0.6 |align=right|301 |align=right|722 |align=right|13 |- |style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|Social Democratic / People's |align=right|454,972 |align=right|8.44 |align=right|0.9 |align=right|41 |align=right|407 |align=right|20
|align=right|212,669 |align=right|3.94 |align=right|2.4 |align=right|115 |align=right|114 |align=right|86
|align=right|175,943 |align=right|3.26 |align=right|1.0 |align=right|162 |align=right|190 |align=right|63 |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=gray align="center" | |align=left|Independents |align=right| 115,999 |align=right| 2.15 |align=right|1.0 |align=right| 25 |align=right| 121 |align=right|28 |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / PPM |align=right| 90,676 |align=right| 1.68 |align=right|0.5 |align=right|13 |align=right| 73 |align=right|33 |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT |align=right|66,190 |align=right|1.23 |align=right|— |align=right|3 |align=right|27 |align=right|—
|align=right| 8,620 |align=right|0.16 |align=right|0.0 |align=right|9 |align=right|1 |align=right|0 |- |style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" | |align=left|People's / Social Democratic |align=right| 2,768 |align=right| 0.05 |align=right|0.0 |align=right| 2 |align=right| 6 |align=right| 13 |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / MPT |align=right| 1,641 |align=right| 0.03 |align=right| — |align=right| 1 |align=right| 6 |align=right| —
|align=right|1,590 |align=right|0.03 |align=right|0.2 |align=right|1 |align=right|0 |align=right|18
|align=right|1,590 |align=right| 0.03 |align=right| — |align=right| 2 |align=right| 1 |align=right| —
|align=right| 1,011 |align=right| 0.02 |align=right| 0.0 |align=right| 6