André Ventura of Chega is leading the party’s list for the Lisbon district.
The Lisbon electoral district, which elects 48 out of 230 deputies, has 1,913,096 registered voters, 2,281 fewer than during the last legislative elections in 2024, when the number stood at 1,915,377.
In the last elections in 2024, the Socialists won the Lisbon district with 28.36% of the vote, compared to 27.67% for the Democratic Alliance. The PS has decided to keep the former Minister of the Presidency of António Costa’s government, Mariana Vieira da Silva, as the head of the list.
Accompanying the former minister at the top of the list for Lisbon are Miguel Cabrita, Edite Estrela, and Frederico Francisco. The candidacy was not without controversy, as Sérgio Sousa Pinto, who was fourth on the list approved by the National Political Commission, requested to be removed due to disagreements with the party’s strategy, as he mentioned to CNN Portugal.
From the AD – PSD/CDS Coalition, current Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, who was number two on the list in 2024, has been chosen to succeed the Prime Minister as the head of the list for the governing parties in the largest electoral district, as Montenegro is running again in Aveiro.
Miranda Sarmento is one of 11 ministers from the current government selected to lead the lists of the coalition between social democrats and centrists in the early legislative elections on May 18. He is running for Lisbon alongside the government colleague responsible for infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, and deputy Regina Bastos.
The fourth spot on the list is occupied by the first centrist candidate: Paulo Núncio, parliamentary leader of the CDS, is the first CDS-PP candidate on the AD list for Lisbon.
In the March 2024 legislative elections, the Socialists secured 15 seats in Lisbon, while the coalition of social democrats, centrists, and monarchists (the latter are not part of the candidacy this year) managed 14 deputies from Lisbon.
Chega, which more than doubled its votes in the capital in 2022, winning nine deputies (17.41% of the votes), is once again relying on the same top candidates, with leader André Ventura heading the candidacy, followed by Rui Paulo Sousa and Marta Silva.
The Liberal Initiative (IL), which in 2024 elected three deputies from Lisbon, changes its head of the list, now advancing with Mariana Leitão, who was the number two for the capital in the last legislative elections and presidential candidate for the party, after Bernardo Blanco announced that he would not run again.
On the left, the focus is on party leaders, with BE advancing Mariana Mortágua in the Lisbon district, where she has led the Bloc’s candidacy since the 2015 legislative elections. Similarly, the PCP, as in 2024, is betting on Secretary-General Paulo Raimundo for the top position in the district responsible for electing the largest number of deputies.
Additionally, Livre will field the party’s co-spokesperson Rui Tavares as the head of their list in the capital, and PAN has once again chosen their sole deputy, Inês de Sousa Real, in the district where the party has achieved its best results and the only one where it was elected in 2024.
In total, 18 candidacies are presented (the same number as in 2024) for the legislative elections in the Lisbon district. Alongside is ADN, led by Joana Amaral Dias; PPM, advancing independently with Gonçalo da Câmara Pereira as the head of the list; and the Social Liberal Party, the only newcomer in these elections, headed in Lisbon by Pedro Janeiro.
The list of candidacies is completed by Nova Direita, PCTP/MRPP, Ergue-te, JPP, Nós Cidadãos, Volt Portugal, and RIR.
Dropping off the lists compared to 2024 are MAS, PTP, and Alternativa 21, a coalition between Partido da Terra, which will support AD in these elections, and Aliança, which has since been declared extinct.
The deadline for submitting candidacies for the legislative elections on May 18 concluded on Monday.
