# 2013 Lisbon local election

The 2013 Lisbon local election was held on 29 September 2013 to elect the members of the Lisbon City Council.
Against a weak opposition, António Costa, mayor since 2007, was elected for a full second term, defeating Fernando Seara, by then incumbent and term limited mayor of Sintra, of the Feel Lisbon coalition between the Social Democratic Party (PSD), CDS–People's Party (CDS–PP) and Earth Party (MPT) by a landslide, 51 to 22 percent. Seara's candidacy was surrounded in controversy due to the recent changes in the law that established term limits for mayors. This law prohibits a candidate, after having served for three terms, to run for Mayor, Municipal Assemblies or Parish Assemblies. But the law did not explicitly state whether it prohibits reelection only for the same municipality or parish, or for the same position in any municipality or parish. This matter was only resolved on 5 September 2013 with a ruling of the Constitutional Court allowing mayoral candidates that had already served three consecutive mandates to run for election in a different municipality.
The Unitary Democratic Coalition presented incumbent MEP João Ferreira as their mayoral candidate and won nearly 10 percent of the votes and gained one seat, electing two in total. The Left Bloc, presented João Semedo as candidate for Mayor, but failed to win a seat.
Turnout was the second lowest ever, just 45.1 percent casting a ballot, surpassed only by the 2007 numbers.

## Background

In the 2009 election, the Socialist Party led by António Costa, won an absolute majority with 44 percent of the votes and 9 councillors, defeating former Lisbon mayor and Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes that gathered nearly 39 percent of the votes and 7 councillors.

## Electoral system

Each party or coalition must present a list of candidates. 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.

## Parties and candidates

| Party/Coalition | Party/Coalition | Party/Coalition | Political position | Candidate | 2009 result | 2009 result |
| Party/Coalition | Party/Coalition | Party/Coalition | Political position | Candidate | Votes (%) | Seats |
| | PS | Socialist Party Partido Socialista | Centre-left | António Costa | 44.0% | 9 / 17 |
| | SL | Feel Lisbon Sentir Lisboa PPD/PSD, CDS–PP, MPT | Centre-right | Fernando Seara | 38.7% | 7 / 17 |
| | CDU | Unitary Democratic Coalition Coligação Democrática Unitária PCP, PEV | Left-wing to far-left | João Ferreira | 8.1% | 1 / 17 |
| | BE | Left Bloc Bloco de Esquerda | Left-wing to far-left | João Semedo | 4.6% | 0 / 17 |
| | PCTP | Portuguese Workers' Communist Party Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Portugueses | Far-left | Joana Miranda | 0.7% | 0 / 17 |
| | PNR | National Renovator Party Partido Nacional Renovador | Far-right | João Patrocínio | 0.3% | 0 / 17 |
| | PTP | Portuguese Labour Party Partido Trabalhista Português | Centre-left | Amândio Madaleno | — | — |
| | PC | Citizen's Platform Plataforma Cidadania PPM, PPV, PND | Right-wing | José Jorge Andrade | — | — |
| | PAN | Party for Animals and Nature Partido dos Animais e Natureza | Centre-left | Paulo Borges | — | — |

## Opinion polling
### Polling

Exit poll
| Polling firm/Link | Fieldwork date | Sample size | PS | PSD CDS MPT | CDU | BE | O | Lead |
| 2013 local election | 29 Sep 2013 | — | 50.9 11 | 22.4 4 | 9.9 1 | 4.6 0 | 12.2 0 | 28.5 |
| UCP–CESOP | 29 Sep 2013 | 9,663 | 51.0– 55.0 10 / 11 | 21.0– 24.0 4 | 9.0– 12.0 1 / 2 | 4.0– 6.0 0 / 1 | – | 30.0– 31.0 |
| Eurosondagem | 29 Sep 2013 | 7,597 | 52.0– 56.2 10 / 11 | 21.2– 25.0 4 / 5 | 8.7– 11.5 1 / 2 | 4.8– 7.0 0 / 1 | – | 30.8– 31.2 |
| Aximage | 23–27 Sep 2013 | 605 | 49.5 | 31.7 | 7.9 | 6.7 | 4.2 | 17.8 |
| UCP–CESOP Seats projection | 21–23 Sep 2013 | 1,223 | 48.0 9 / 10 | 26.0 5 | 11.0 1 / 2 | 7.0 1 | 8.0 – | 22.0 |
| Eurosondagem Seats projection | 8–10 Sep 2013 | 825 | 50.0 9 / 10 | 26.9 5 | 11.0 1 / 2 | 6.6 1 | 5.5 – | 23.1 |
| Eurosondagem Seats projection | 4–5 Aug 2013 | 707 | 50.5 9 / 10 | 29.5 5 / 6 | 8.8 1 | 6.3 1 | 4.9 – | 21.0 |
| Eurosondagem Seats projection | 15–16 Jul 2013 | 825 | 52.5 9 / 10 | 27.5 5 / 6 | 9.0 1 | 6.9 0 / 1 | 4.1 – | 25.0 |
| Sociologest | 14–18 Jun 2013 | 600 | 57.5 | 20.1 | 9.9 | 3.5 | 8.9 | 37.4 |
| Eurosondagem Seats projection | 16–19 May 2013 | 811 | 52.1 9 / 10 | 30.0 5 / 6 | 8.6 1 | 5.3 0 / 1 | 4.0 – | 22.1 |
| Sociologest | 6–11 May 2013 | 600 | 49.7 | 33.8 | 6.7 | 5.7 | 5.1 | 15.9 |
| 2011 legislative election | 5 Jun 2011 | — | 26.6 (5) | 51.2 (10) | 8.3 (1) | 5.6 (1) | 8.3 (0) | 24.6 |
| 2009 local election | 11 Oct 2009 | — | 44.0 9 | 38.7 7 | 8.1 1 | 4.6 0 | 4.6 0 | 5.3 |

## Results
### Municipal Council

Summary of the 29 September 2013 Lisbon City Council elections results :
| 2114 |||||||||||
| Parties | Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | Councillors | Councillors |
| Parties | Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | Total | ± |
| | Socialist | 116,425 | 50.91 | 6.9 | 11 | 2 |
| | PSD / CDS–PP / MPT | 51,156 | 22.37 | 16.3 | 4 | 3 |
| | Unitary Democratic Coalition | 22,519 | 9.85 | 1.8 | 2 | 1 |
| | Left Bloc | 10,533 | 4.61 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Party for Animals and Nature | 5,227 | 2.29 | — | 0 | — |
| | PPM / PPV / PND | 2,814 | 1.23 | — | 0 | — |
| | Portuguese Workers' Communist | 2,378 | 1.04 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 |
| | National Renovator | 1,182 | 0.52 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
| | Labour | 656 | 0.29 | — | 0 | — |
| Total valid | Total valid | 212,890 | 93.10 | 4.3 | 17 | 0 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 9,241 | 4.04 | 2.5 | | |
| Invalid ballots | Invalid ballots | 6,551 | 2.86 | 1.8 | | |
| Total | Total | 228,682 | 100.00 | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 507,495 | 45.06 | 8.3 | | |
| Source: Lisbon 2013 election results |||||||||||

### Municipal Assembly

Summary of the 29 September 2013 Lisbon City Council elections results :
| 4725114 |||||||||||
| Parties | Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | Seats | Seats |
| Parties | Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | Total | ± |
| | Socialist | 97,114 | 42.34 | 3.0 | 25 | 2 |
| | PSD / CDS–PP / MPT | 57,182 | 24.93 | 13.9 | 14 | 9 |
| | Unitary Democratic Coalition | 27,257 | 11.88 | 1.9 | 7 | 2 |
| | Left Bloc | 15,852 | 6.91 | 0.2 | 4 | 1 |
| | Party for Animals and Nature | 6,827 | 2.98 | — | 1 | — |
| | PPM / PPV / PND | 3,443 | 1.50 | — | 0 | — |
| | Portuguese Workers' Communist | 2,841 | 1.24 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 |
| | National Renovator | 1,326 | 0.52 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
| | Labour | 778 | 0.34 | — | 0 | — |
| Total valid | Total valid | 212,620 | 92.70 | 4.7 | 51 | 3 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 9,951 | 4.34 | 2.7 | | |
| Invalid ballots | Invalid ballots | 6,778 | 2.96 | 2.0 | | |
| Total | Total | 229,359 | 100.00 | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 507,495 | 45.19 | 8.2 | | |
| Source: Lisbon 2013 election results |||||||||||

### Parish Assemblies

Results of the 29 September 2013 Lisbon Parish Assembly elections :
| Parish | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | Total S |
| Parish | PS | PS | SL | SL | CDU | CDU | BE | BE | IND | IND | PAN | PAN | | Total S |
| Ajuda | 50.7 | 8 | 11.2 | 1 | 25.8 | 1 | 5.3 | - | | | | | 13 |
| Alcântara | 33.6 | 5 | 26.5 | 4 | 19.5 | 3 | | | 10.1 | 1 | | | 13 |
| Alvalade | 37.0 | 8 | 34.9 | 8 | 10.0 | 2 | 5.6 | 1 | | | 3.5 | - | 19 |
| Areeiro | 35.4 | 5 | 37.1 | 6 | 9.2 | 1 | 6.8 | 1 | | | | | 13 |
| Arroios | 37.5 | 9 | 28.6 | 6 | 11.4 | 2 | 6.7 | 2 | | | 4.2 | 1 | 19 |
| Avenidas Novas | 33.5 | 8 | 34.5 | 8 | 8.1 | 1 | 5.3 | 1 | 7.8 | 1 | | | 19 |
| Beato | 64.1 | 10 | 12.7 | 2 | 10.6 | 1 | 4.7 | 2 | | | | | 13 |
| Belém | 32.3 | 5 | 42.8 | 7 | 9.1 | 1 | 4.6 | - | | | | | 13 |
| Benfica | 47.5 | 11 | 22.5 | 5 | 12.0 | 2 | 5.9 | 1 | | | | | 19 |
| Campo de Ourique | 41.4 | 9 | 29.8 | 7 | 12.1 | 2 | 6.7 | 1 | | | | | 19 |
| Campolide | 56.8 | 9 | 19.7 | 3 | 11.0 | 1 | 4.8 | 1 | | | | | 13 |
| Carnide | 23.8 | 4 | 16.6 | 2 | 46.1 | 7 | 3.6 | - | | | 2.1 | - | 13 |
| Estrela | 36.0 | 6 | 36.4 | 6 | 10.4 | 1 | 4.0 | - | 4.3 | - | | | 13 |
| Lumiar | 40.3 | 9 | 31.7 | 7 | 10.2 | 2 | 5.9 | 1 | | | | | 19 |
| Marvila | 44.8 | 11 | 15.3 | 3 | 18.7 | 4 | 6.4 | 1 | | | | | 19 |
| Misericórdia | 45.5 | 7 | 19.6 | 3 | 17.1 | 2 | 8.1 | 1 | | | | | 13 |
| Olivais | 43.4 | 12 | 17.3 | 3 | 13.3 | 3 | 5.0 | 1 | 9.7 | 2 | 2.4 | - | 19 |
| Parque das Nações | 28.8 | 4 | 12.8 | 2 | 7.0 | 1 | 3.1 | - | 40.9 | 6 | | | 13 |
| Penha de França | 43.5 | 9 | 21.8 | 5 | 14.1 | 3 | 6.9 | 1 | 5.4 | 1 | | | 19 |
| Santa Clara | 40.2 | 6 | 23.9 | 4 | 20.9 | 3 | 5.5 | - | | | | | 13 |
| Santa Maria Maior | 40.3 | 6 | 23.5 | 3 | 20.7 | 3 | 6.2 | 1 | | | | | 13 |
| Santo António | 33.8 | 5 | 41.8 | 6 | 10.5 | 1 | 6.8 | 1 | | | | | 13 |
| São Domingos de Benfica | 38.8 | 9 | 32.5 | 7 | 11.2 | 2 | 5.9 | 1 | | | | | 19 |
| São Vicente | 33.9 | 5 | 26.4 | 4 | 22.0 | 3 | 7.9 | 1 | | | | | 13 |
| Total | 40.1 | 178 | 26.2 | 112 | 14.3 | 55 | 5.6 | 15 | 3.0 | 11 | 0.9 | 1 | 372 |
| Source: Election Results ||||||||||||||