Background
Date
According to the local election law, an election must be called between 22 September and 14 October of the year that the local mandates end. The election is called by a Government of Portugal decree, unlike legislative elections which are called by the President of the Republic. The election date must be announced at least 80 days before election day. Election day is the same in all municipalities, and should fall on a Sunday or national holiday. The 2029 local elections will, therefore, have to take place no later than 14 October 2029. [3]
Electoral system
All 308 municipalities are allocated a certain number of councilors to elect corresponding to the number of registered voters in a given municipality. 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, making mayors de facto elected under first-past-the-post (FPTP). Parish presidents also are de facto elected under 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]
Council seats and Parish assembly seats are distributed as follows:
Seat allocation for the 2029 local election [5] | Councilors | Parish Assembly |
|---|
| Seats | Voters | Seats | Voters |
|---|
| 17 | only Lisbon | 19+a | more than 30,000 voters |
| 13 | only Porto | 19 | more than 20,000 voters |
| 11 | 100,000 voters or more | 13 | more than 5,000 voters |
| 9 | more than 50,000 voters | 9 | more than 1,000 voters |
| 7 | more than 10,000 voters | 7 | 1,000 voters or less |
| 5 | 10,000 voters or less | |
a For parishes with more than 30,000 voters, the number of seats mentioned above is increased by one per every 10,000 voters in excess of that number, and then by one more if the result is even.
During the 2025 election, the PSD and PS opened the possibility of reforming the electoral law for the local elections. [6] The PS is proposing to bring back a proposal, that failed to be approved in 2008, that would abolish the municipal council ballot and elect the mayor through the municipal assembly ballot. [7]
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