The Socialist Party (PS) has lost its status as the leading municipal force in Portugal, a position it had held since 2013, despite almost doubling the number of district capitals and halting electoral erosion following the legislative disaster.
In the first elections under José Luís Carneiro as secretary-general, PS entered the municipal race as the party holding the most municipalities in Portugal, though weakened by its significant defeat in the legislative elections, which relegated it to the third political force in parliament.
The PS leader highlighted having curbed the “electoral erosion” that many had predicted, yet failed to achieve electoral goals such as gaining more councils, consequently losing its leadership of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities, a position held since 2013 during António José Seguro’s leadership.
The PS once again lost control of the Lisbon and Porto councils. Alexandra Leitão failed to unseat incumbent Carlos Moedas in Lisbon, and Manuel Pizarro, for the third time, did not secure the vacancy left by Rui Moreira in Porto’s council.
According to party estimates, though not all figures are finalized, PS will hold fewer than 130 councils, representing a loss of about 20 socialist presidencies, as in 2021 they had won 149, one of those in coalition, under the leadership of former Prime Minister António Costa.
Nevertheless, the PS secretary-general achieved the objective of increasing socialist leadership in district capitals, which were only five before these elections.
Among these five, PS lost Beja but retained Castelo Branco, Leiria, Viana do Castelo, and Vila Real, now joined by Évora, Faro, Coimbra, Bragança, and Viseu.
These five victories were objectives set during José Luís Carneiro’s intense campaign, who participated in rallies and campaign events in each location.
With provisional numbers remaining as three parishes are yet to be accounted for, PS loses 119 mandates and about 140,000 votes compared to 2021.
PS also lost the councils of Sintra and Vila Nova de Gaia, two densely populated municipalities.
Significant losses also include three of the nine strongholds held by PS since the 1976 elections, now out of socialist hands: Condeixa-a-Nova, Lourinhã, and Torres Vedras.
In these elections, according to the party’s data, PS contested 306 of the 308 municipalities (not contesting only in Vizela and in Santana), mostly with solo lists.
Exceptions to the solo candidacies include 13 coalitions led by PS for municipal councils – examples include Lisbon, Sintra, Braga, or Coimbra – and backing for eight groups of citizen voters.
When the country went to the polls for the last municipal elections in 2021, the PS situation was quite different, as it was then led by António Costa and in government. It won those elections, having secured 149 councils (one in coalition with Livre), 1,285 parish council presidencies, and 163 municipal assembly leaderships.
