2021 Porto local election

Last updated
2021 Porto local elections
Flag of Porto.svg
  2017 26 September 2021 2025  

All 13 Councillors in the Porto City Council
7 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout48.8% Decrease2.svg 4.9 pp
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
200 anos da Independencia do Brasil - Coracao de Dom Pedro I (52303934986).jpg
Tiago Barbosa Ribeiro.jpg
Vf feliz cropped 27032021.jpg
Leader Rui Moreira Tiago Barbosa Ribeiro Vladimiro Feliz
Party Independent PS PSD
Alliance Here There's Porto
Last election7 seats, 44.5%4 seats, 28.6%1 seat (PA) [a]
Seats won632
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 1Decrease2.svg 1Increase2.svg 1
Popular vote41,16718,20117,426
Percentage40.7%18.0%17.2%
SwingDecrease2.svg 3.7 pp Decrease2.svg 10.6 pp [a]

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
 
Ilda Figueiredo 2011 (cropped).jpg
Comicio de encerramento do Desobedoc 2019 (Esquerda.Net 46932652055).jpg
Logo Chega!.svg
Leader Ilda Figueiredo Sérgio Aires António Fonseca
Party PCP BE CH
Alliance CDU
Last election1 seat, 5.9%0 seats, 5.3%Did not contest
Seats won110
Seat changeSteady2.svgIncrease2.svg 1New party
Popular vote7,6096,3232,980
Percentage7.5%6.3%3.0%
SwingIncrease2.svg 1.6 pp Increase2.svg 0.9 pp New party

Mayor before election

Rui Moreira
Independent

Elected mayor

Rui Moreira
Independent

The 2021 Porto local election was held on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the Porto City Council.

Contents

As expected, Rui Moreira, mayor since 2013, won a third term as Mayor of Porto, despite losing his majority in the city council. He beat the Socialist candidate, Tiago Barbosa Ribeiro, who lost about 10% of the votes and 1 city councillor, and the Social Democratic candidate, Vladimiro Feliz, who despite an increase in his vote share failed to achieve the goal of surpassing the PS. [1]

The Unitary Democratic Coalition presented Ilda Figueiredo again and achieved positive results, registering a slight electoral growth to 7.5 percent. The Left Bloc, which presented Sérgio Aires as a candidate for mayor, gained a seat in the City Council, for the first time in its history. [2]

People-Animals-Nature and CHEGA failed to elect any councilor.

Background

In the 2017 election, Rui Moreira's independent movement won an absolute majority of seats and 44.5% of the votes. The Socialist Party, led by Manuel Pizarro, finished with a strong second place, winning 28.6% of the votes and electing 4 councillors. The Social Democratic Party, in coalition with the People's Monarchist Party, which had Álvaro Almeida as its candidate, had its worst result in history in Porto, finishing in third place, with just over 10 percent of the votes and 1 councilor. [3]

Finally, the Unitary Democratic Coalition obtained 5.9 percent, winning 1 councilor, while the Left Bloc obtained 5.3 percent of the votes and failed to gain any seats.

Electoral system

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. [4] [5]

Parties and candidates

Party/CoalitionPolitical
position
Candidate [6] 2017 result
Votes (%)Seats
RM Rui Moreira – Here there's Porto [b]
Rui Moreira – Aqui há Porto
Center-right
to right-wing
Rui Moreira 44.5%
7 / 13
PS Socialist Party
Partido Socialista
Centre-left Tiago Barbosa Ribeiro  [ pt ]28.6%
4 / 13
PSD Social Democratic Party
Partido Social Democrata
Centre-right Vladimiro Feliz  [ pt ]10.4%
1 / 13
PPM People's Monarchist Party
Partido Popular Monárquico
Right-wing Diogo Araújo Dantas
0 / 13
CDU Unitary Democratic Coalition
Coligação Democrática Unitária PCP, PEV
Left-wing
to far-left
Ilda Figueiredo 5.9%
1 / 13
BE Left Bloc
Bloco de Esquerda
Left-wing
to far-left
Sérgio Aires 5.3%
0 / 13
PAN People Animals Nature
Pessoas-Animais-Natureza
Centre-left Bebiana Cunha  [ pt ]1.9%
0 / 13
E Rise Up [c]
Ergue-te
Far-right Bruno Rebelo 0.2%
0 / 13
CH Enough!
Chega!
Right-wing
to far-right
António Fonseca
L FREE
LIVRE
Center-left Diamantino Raposinho
VP Volt Portugal
Volt Portugal
Centre
to centre-left
André Eira

Opinion polling

Polling

  Exit poll

Polling firm/LinkFieldwork dateSample size RM PS PSD CDU BE PAN L CH OLead
2021 local election26 Sep 202140.7
6
18.0
3
17.2
2
7.5
1
6.3
1
2.8
0
0.5
0
3.0
0
4.0
0
22.7
CESOP–UCP 26 Sep 20213,95739–44
6/8
16–19
2/3
16–19
2/3
6–9
1
5–8
0/1
2–4
0
0–1
0
2–4
0
2–7
0
23–
25
ICS/ISCTE 26 Sep 20216,30939.2–
44.2

5/7
16.5–
20.5
2/4
15.1–
19.1
1/3
5.6–
8.6
1/2
4.9–
7.9
1/2
2.0–
4.0
0
1.5–
3.5
0
2.3–
5.3
0
22.7–
23.7
Pitagórica 26 Sep 20215,39039.2–
45.2

6/7
13.7–
19.7
2/3
12.2–
18.2
2
6.5–
10.5
1
5.3–
9.3
0/1
1.2–
5.2
0
0.8–
4.8
0
2.1–
6.1
0
25.5
Intercampus 26 Sep 20214,10640.1–
44.9

6/8
15.5–
19.5
1/3
14.9–
18.9
1/3
5.4–
9.0
0/2
5.1–
8.1
0/2
1.24–
4.4
0
1.0–
4.0
0
3.5–
4.4
0
24.6–
25.4
Pitagórica 15–20 Sep 202160052.7
8/9
15.3
2
11.5
1/2
6.1
0/1
4.1
0
2.9
0
0.7
0
2.7
0
4.0
0
37.4
CESOP–UCP 16–19 Sep 20211,04145
7/8
17
2/3
14
1/3
7
1
4
0
3
0
1
0
3
0
6
0
28
Pitagórica 2–5 Sep 202160152.815.714.05.83.52.21.84.237.1
Aximage 12–19 Aug 20218205912126421447
ICS/ISCTE 26 Jun–10 Jul 20218004525885211520
2017 local election 1 Oct 201744.5
7
28.6
4
10.4
1
5.9
1
5.3
0
1.9
0
3.4
0
15.9

Results

Municipal Council

Summary of the 26 September 2021 Municipal Council elections results
in Porto
Town Council Porto 2021.svg
Parties Votes%±pp swing Councillors
Total±
Rui Moreira – Here there's Porto 41,16740.72Decrease2.svg3.86Decrease2.svg1
Socialist 18,20118.00Decrease2.svg10.53Decrease2.svg1
Social Democratic 17,42617.24Increase2.svg6.92Increase2.svg1
Unitary Democratic Coalition 7,6097.53Increase2.svg1.61Steady2.svg0
Left Bloc 6,3236.25Increase2.svg0.91Increase2.svg1
CHEGA 2,9802.950
People–Animals–Nature 2,8192.79Increase2.svg0.90Steady2.svg0
LIVRE 4620.460
Volt Portugal 4230.420
People's Monarchist 2120.210Steady2.svg0
Rise Up 800.08Decrease2.svg0.10Steady2.svg0
Total valid97,70296.64Decrease2.svg0.413Steady2.svg0
Blank ballots2,2512.23Increase2.svg0.6
Invalid ballots1,1481.14Decrease2.svg0.3
Total101,101100.00
Registered voters/turnout207,12948.81Decrease2.svg4.9
Source: Porto 2021 election results

Municipal Assembly

Summary of the 26 September 2021 Porto Municipal Assembly elections
results
3
3
8
1
15
8
1
Parties Votes%±pp swing Seats
Total±
Rui Moreira – Here there's Porto 34,90034.52Decrease2.svg4.315Decrease2.svg1
Socialist 19,38619.18Decrease2.svg8.08Decrease2.svg3
Social Democratic 18,76718.568Increase2.svg3
Unitary Democratic Coalition 8,4978.41Increase2.svg1.63Steady2.svg0
Left Bloc 7,6307.55Increase2.svg0.93Steady2.svg0
People–Animals–Nature 3,7323.69Increase2.svg0.91Steady2.svg0
CHEGA 3,4403.401
LIVRE 6330.630
People's Monarchist 2750.270Steady2.svg0
Alliance 2020.200
Rise Up 1060.100
Total valid97,56896.52Increase2.svg0.239Steady2.svg0
Blank ballots2,3392.31Increase2.svg0.6
Invalid ballots1,1821.17Decrease2.svg0.4
Total101,089100.00
Registered voters/turnout207,12948.80Decrease2.svg4.9
Source: Porto 2021 election results

Parish Assemblies

Results of the 26 September 2021 Porto Parish Assembly elections
Parish%S%S%S%S%S%S%STotal
S
RM PSD PS BE CDU CH PAN
Aldoar, Foz do Douro e Nevogilde 36.9827.5615.236.215.014.3-19
Bonfim 24.7522.2521.249.9210.023.4-4.5119
Campanhã 20.5443.0108.4111.825.415.6119
Cedofeita, Santo Ildefonso, Sé, Miragaia, São Nicolau e Vitória 25.6618.7421.1412.029.723.2-4.7119
Lordelo do Ouro e Massarelos 32.2721.5518.047.318.924.0-3.0-19
Paranhos 22.1532.0820.957.627.012.7-3.8-21
Ramalde 31.4720.2522.257.916.813.6-3.8-19
Total29.13823.73622.8358.4108.2113.713.63135
Source: Election Results

References

  1. Portugal, Rádio e Televisão de (2021-09-27). "Noite sem grandes surpresas no Porto com reeleição de Rui Moreira, mas sem maioria absoluta". Noite sem grandes surpresas no Porto com reeleição de Rui Moreira, mas sem maioria absoluta (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  2. Renascença (2021-09-27). "Bloco de Esquerda saúda eleição do primeiro vereador na Câmara do Porto - Renascença". Rádio Renascença (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  3. Renascença (2017-10-01). "Álvaro Almeida vai "cumprir" mandato no Porto - Renascença". Rádio Renascença (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  4. "::: Lei n.º 169/99, de 18 de Setembro". www.pgdlisboa.pt. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  5. "Eleição dos titulares dos órgãos das autarquias locais" (in Portuguese). Diário da República. 14 August 2001. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
  6. "Autarquicas 2021 Candidatos" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-03-03.

Notes

  1. 1 2 In 2017, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the People's Monarchist Party (PPM) ran in a coalition, winning 10.4% of the votes and 1 councillor.
  2. Supported by the CDS – People's Party, the Liberal Initiative, the Earth Party and We, the Citizens!.
  3. In July 2020, the National Renovator Party (PNR) changed its name to Rise Up (E).