A total of 15,224 voters cast early ballots, with 10,856 citing professional reasons, alongside 2,303 prisoners, 617 patients, and 1,448 students.
Over 9.3 million voters were registered to elect presidents of the 308 councils, as well as members of the municipal assemblies and parish assemblies for the next four years.
A report from the SGMAI electoral administration stated there were 9,303,840 registered voters, including more than 41,000 foreign citizens (18,319 from the European Union and 22,799 from outside the EU).
The Sunday vote involved 3,221 parish assemblies across the country, with an additional 37 parishes choosing their local officials in citizen assemblies, due to having 150 or fewer voters.
The PSD won the most council seats in the municipal elections, reclaiming the Associação Nacional de Municípios Portugueses (ANMP) from the PS, which had held it since 2013, and secured victories in the country’s five largest municipalities.
Nationally, the PSD, whether standing alone or in coalitions, won 136 municipalities compared to the PS’s 128. In 2021, the PSD had secured 114, whereas the PS had won 149.
Regarding the 10 most populated areas, the PSD-led coalitions captured the councils of Gaia and Sintra from the PS, retained Lisbon, Braga, and Cascais, and won Porto, a municipality they had lost in 2013 to the independent movement led by Rui Moreira.
