1993 Portuguese local elections

1993 Portuguese local elections
All 305 Portuguese municipalities and 4,260 Portuguese Parishes ; All 2,015 local government councils
Turnout	63.4% 2.5 pp

Last updated December 27, 2024

Local elections were held in Portugal on 12 December 1993. The elections consisted of three separate elections in the 305 Portuguese municipalities, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner is automatically elected mayor, similar to first-past-the-post (FPTP), 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) maintained and increased their status as the largest local party. The party won 7 more cities compared with 1989 and, for the first time ever, polled above 40 percent of the votes in an nationwide election.^[4] The PS hold on the control of big cities like Lisbon, here with a record 57 percent of the votes, Porto and Coimbra, and were also able to win two big cities in the Lisbon area from the PSD, Cascais and Sintra. Note for the very narrow defeat of the PS, under the candidacy of future Prime Minister António Costa, in Loures.^[5]

The Social Democratic Party (PSD), although winning 2 more cities compared with last time, saw the gap between them and the PS widen, but, at the same, were able to hold onto their ground. The party suffered some losses, like they did in 1989, in the big urban centers but were able to win some cities from the PS like Pombal and Ponta Delgada. The elections happened as Cavaco Silva's government celebrated 8 years in power, and, at the same time Portugal was exiting the early 1990s recession, which may have damaged, in some degree, the Social Democrats prospects in this election.

The Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU) was able to hold on to their 1989 scores losing just one city and 7 councillors. The coalition between the Communists and the Greens were able to hold on to their bastions of Beja, Évora and Almada. The share of the vote for the CDU was also unchanged compared with 1989.

The People's Party (CDS) was the big loser of the elections. The party lost 7 cities, most of them for the PSD and PS, achieving their worst results till that date as they only won 13 cities out of 305. The party lost many of their bastions like Mirandela or Paredes to the PS or the PSD. The party also achieved their worst share of vote till that time, 8.4 percent.

Turnout in these elections increased compared with the 1989 election, as 63.4 percent of the electorate cast a ballot, the best turnout showing since 1982.

Parties

The main political forces involved in the election were:

¹ The PS formed a coalitions with CDS, CDU and UDP in several municipalities.

Results

Municipal Councils

National summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 12 December 1993 Municipal Councils elections results
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Councillors		Mayors
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Total	±	Total	±
	Socialist	1,953,279	36.10	3.7		796	68	126	10
	Social Democratic	1,824,519	33.72	2.3		806	26	116	3
	Democratic Unity Coalition	689,923	12.75	0.1		246	7	49	1
	People's	454,047	8.39	0.7		135	44	13	7
	PS / CDU / UDP / PSR	200,816	3.71	0.0		11	2	1	0
	National Solidarity	28,716	0.53	—		3	—	0	—
	Earth	23,225	0.43	—		2	—	0	—
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	16,090	0.30	0.2		0	0	0	0
	Socialist / People's	11,435	0.21	0.2		7	8	0	3
	PS / CDU / UDP / PDA	10,234	0.19	—		4	—	0	—
	People's Democratic Union	8,161	0.15	0.2		0	4	0	1
	Democratic Renewal	1,456	0.03	0.8		0	4	0	0
	Portuguese Democratic Movement	1,387	0.03	0.2		1	0	0	0
	Democratic Party of the Atlantic	287	0.01	0.0		0	0	0	0
	People's Monarchist	269	0.00	0.1		0	1	0	0
	Christian Democratic	216	0.00	0.1		0	1	0	0
	PS / CDU	190	0.00	—		4	—	0	—
Total valid		5,223,673	96.54	0.0	—	2,015	13	305	0
Blank ballots		103,686	1.92	0.1
Invalid ballots		83,251	1.54	0.1
Total		5,410,610	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		8,529,737	63.43	2.5
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições Archived 2017-12-06 at the Wayback Machine

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 1991 Census.^[6]

Municipality	Population
Almada	151,783	Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)	Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Amadora	181,774	Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)	Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Aveiro	66,444	CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP)	CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP)
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)	Socialist Party (PS)
Cascais	153,294	Social Democratic Party (PSD)	Socialist Party (PS)
Castelo Branco	54,310	Social Democratic Party (PSD)	Social Democratic Party (PSD)
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	Socialist Party (PS)	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	663,394	PS / CDU / UDP / PSR	PS / CDU / UDP / PSR
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	PS / CDS–PP	Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Portalegre	26,111	Social Democratic Party (PSD)	Social Democratic Party (PSD)
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	PSD / CDS–PP / PPM	Socialist Party (PS)
Viana do Castelo	83,095	Social Democratic Party (PSD)	Socialist Party (PS)
Vila Franca de Xira	103,571	Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)	Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)
Vila Nova de Famalicão	114,338	Socialist Party (PS)	Socialist Party (PS)
Vila Nova de Gaia	248,565	Socialist Party (PS)	Socialist Party (PS)
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 12 December 1993 Municipal Assemblies elections results
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Mandates
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Total	±
	Socialist	1,930,816	35.70	2.5		2,629	200
	Social Democratic	1,829,087	33.82	1.3		2,671	98
	Democratic Unity Coalition	704,980	13.04	0.8		803	46
	People's	445,065	8.23	1.1		556	156
	PS / CDU / UDP / PSR	194,501	3.60	0.2		32	9
	National Solidarity	23,260	0.43	—		16	—
	Earth	22,653	0.42	—		11	—
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	12,063	0.22	0.0		1	1
	Socialist / People's	11,905	0.22	0.5		24	17
	People's Democratic Union	11,009	0.20	0.2		2	12
	PS / CDU / UDP / PDA	9,958	0.18	—		11	—
	Revolutionary Socialist	9,733	0.18	—		0	—
	People's Monarchist	3,494	0.06	0.1		0	2
	Democratic Renewal	1,476	0.03	0.9		2	24
	Portuguese Democratic Movement	1,340	0.02	0.2		4	2
	PS / CDU	96	0.00	—		7	—
Total valid		5,211,436	96.36	0.1	—	6,769	16
Blank ballots		111,834	2.07	0.0
Invalid ballots		85,042	1.57	0.1
Total		5,408,312	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		8,530,297	63.40	3.6
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições Archived 2017-12-06 at the Wayback Machine

Parish Assemblies

National summary of votes and seats

Summary of the 12 December 1993 Parish Assemblies elections results
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Mandates		Presidents
Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Total	±	Total	±
	Socialist	1,860,188	34.53	2.3		12,312	1,124
	Social Democratic	1,810,841	33.62	0.7		13,679	442
	Democratic Unity Coalition	714,001	13.26	0.8		2,747	177
	People's	418,998	7.78	0.6		2,719	725
	PS / CDU / UDP / PSR	199,275	3.70	0.2		447	55
	Independents	123,351	2.29	0.4		1,234	225
	National Solidarity	21,462	0.40	—		55	—		—
	Earth	12,490	0.23	—		38	—		—
	Socialist / People's	11,913	0.22	0.5		124	57
	PS / CDU / UDP / PDA	10,593	0.20	—		80	—		—
	People's Democratic Union	7,639	0.14	0.4		2	28
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	3,820	0.07	0.0		1	1
	Democratic Renewal	1,525	0.03	0.6		10	48
	Portuguese Democratic Movement	1,163	0.02	0.2		8	5
	People's Monarchist	306	0.01	0.0		2	7
	Left Revolutionary Front	77	0.00	—		0	—		—
Total valid		5,197,642	96.49	0.1	—	33,458	458
Blank ballots		99,518	1.85	0.0
Invalid ballots		89,490	1.66	0.1
Total		5,386,650	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		8,530,297	63.15	7.9
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições Archived 2019-10-06 at the Wayback Machine

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References

↑ Sum of votes between PS-only lists and lists with other parties.
↑ Number of municipalities won between PS-only lists and lists with other parties. PS-only lists: 126; PS-coalition lists: 1.
↑ Sum of councillors between PS-only lists and lists with other parties.
↑ "As cores políticas que pintam o mapa do poder local de 1976 a 2013". Jornal de Negócios (in Portuguese). 2017.
↑ "Quando o burro de Costa ganhou ao ferrari mas costa perdeu, Salvou se o casaco". Público (in Portuguese). 3 November 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
↑ "Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Recenseamentos Gerais da População)". www.ine.pt (in Portuguese). Statistics Portugal . Retrieved 17 July 2021.

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[1] Sum of votes between PS-only lists and lists with other parties.

[2] Number of municipalities won between PS-only lists and lists with other parties. PS-only lists: 126; PS-coalition lists: 1.

[3] Sum of councillors between PS-only lists and lists with other parties.

[JN-4] "As cores políticas que pintam o mapa do poder local de 1976 a 2013". Jornal de Negócios (in Portuguese). 2017.

[5] "Quando o burro de Costa ganhou ao ferrari mas costa perdeu, Salvou se o casaco". Público (in Portuguese). 3 November 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2024.

[6] "Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Recenseamentos Gerais da População)". www.ine.pt (in Portuguese). Statistics Portugal . Retrieved 17 July 2021.

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See also: Elections in the Azores Madeira Lisbon Porto Presidential elections

1993 Portuguese local elections

Contents

Parties

Results

Municipal Councils

National summary of votes and seats

Municipality map

City control

Municipal Assemblies

National summary of votes and seats

Parish Assemblies

National summary of votes and seats

See also

Related Research Articles

References

External links