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 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.
Parties and candidates Party/CoalitionPoliticalpositionCandidate2009 resultVotes (%)SeatsPSSocialist PartyCentre-leftAntónio Costa44.0%SLFeel Lisbon Centre-rightFernando Seara38.7%CDUUnitary Democratic Coalition Left-wingto far-leftJoão Ferreira8.1%BELeft BlocLeft-wingto far-left João Semedo4.6%PCTPPortuguese Workers' Communist PartyFar-leftJoana Miranda0.7%PNRNational Renovator PartyFar-rightJoão Patrocínio0.3%PTPPortuguese Labour PartyCentre-leftAmândio Madaleno PCCitizen's Platform Right-wingJosé Jorge Andrade PANParty for Animals and NatureCentre-leftPaulo Borges
Opinion polling
Polling firm/Link Fieldwork date Sample size PS PSDCDSMPT CDU BE Lead 2013 local election 29 Sep 2013 50.9 22.4 9.9 4.6 12.228.5 UCP–CESOP 29 Sep 2013 9,663 51–55 21–24 9–12 4–6 –30–31 Eurosondagem 29 Sep 2013 7,597 52.0–56.2 21.2–25.0 8.7–11.5 4.8–7.0 –30.8–31.2 Aximage 23–27 Sep 2013 60549.5 31.7 7.9 6.7 4.2 17.8 UCP–CESOP 21–23 Sep 2013 1,22348 26 11 7 8 22 Eurosondagem 8–10 Sep 2013 82550.0 26.9 11.0 6.6 5.5 23.1 Eurosondagem 4–5 Aug 2013 70750.5 29.5 8.8 6.3 4.9 21.0 Eurosondagem 15–16 Jul 2013 82552.5 27.5 9.0 6.9 4.1 25.0 Sociologest 14–18 Jun 2013 600 57.5 20.1 9.9 3.5 8.9 37.4 Eurosondagem 16–19 May 2013 811 52.1 30.0 8.6 5.3 4.0 22.1 Sociologest 6–11 May 2013 600 49.7 33.8 6.7 5.7 5.1 15.92011 legislative election5 Jun 2011 26.651.28.35.68.324.6 2009 local election 11 Oct 2009 44.0 38.7 8.1 4.6 4.65.3
Results
Municipal Council
| colspan="11" align=center| |- ! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±pp swing ! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Councillors |- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|± |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF66FF align="center" | |align=left|Socialist |116,425||50.91||6.9||11||2 |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#2A52BE align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / MPT |51,156||22.37||16.3||4||3
|22,519||9.85||1.8||2||1
|10,533||4.61||0.0||0||0
|5,227||2.29||||0|| |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=blue align="center" | |align=left|PPM / PPV / PND |2,814||1.23||||0||
|2,378||1.04||0.3||0||0
|1,182||0.52||0.2||0||0 |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#CC0033 align="center" | |align=left|Labour |656||0.29||||0|| |- |colspan=2 width="330" align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid |width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|212,890 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|93.10 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|4.3 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|17 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0 |- |colspan=2|Blank ballots |9,241||4.04||2.5||colspan=3 rowspan=4| |- |colspan=2|Invalid ballots |6,551||2.86||1.8 |- |colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total |width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|228,682 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |- |colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout ||507,495||45.06||8.3 |- | colspan=11 align=left | Source: Lisbon 2013 election results
Municipal Assembly
| colspan="11" align=center| |- ! rowspan="2" colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|% ! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|±pp swing ! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Seats |- style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|± |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF66FF align="center" | |align=left|Socialist |97,114||42.34||3.0||25||2 |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#2A52BE align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / MPT |57,182||24.93||13.9||14||9
|27,257||11.88||1.9||7||2
|15,852||6.91||0.2||4||1
|6,827||2.98||||1|| |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=blue align="center" | |align=left|PPM / PPV / PND |3,443||1.50||||0||
|2,841||1.24||0.3||0||0
|1,326||0.52||0.2||0||0 |- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#CC0033 align="center" | |align=left|Labour |778||0.34||||0|| |- |colspan=2 width="330" align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid |width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|212,620 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|92.70 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|4.7 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|51 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|3 |- |colspan=2|Blank ballots |9,951||4.34||2.7||colspan=3 rowspan=4| |- |colspan=2|Invalid ballots |6,778||2.96||2.0 |- |colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total |width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|229,359 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00 |width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"| |- |colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout ||507,495||45.19||8.2 |- | colspan=11 align=left | Source: Lisbon 2013 election results
Parish Assemblies
|- class="unsortable" !rowspan=2|Parish!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S!!%!!S !rowspan=2|TotalS |- class="unsortable" style="text-align:center;" !colspan=2 | PS !colspan=2 | SL !colspan=2 | CDU !colspan=2 | BE !colspan=2 | IND !colspan=2 | PAN |- | style="text-align:left;" | Ajuda | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 50.7 | 8 | 11.2 | 1 | 25.8 | 1 | 5.3
| colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Alcântara | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 33.6 | 5 | 26.5 | 4 | 19.5 | 3 | colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 10.1 | 1 | colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Alvalade | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 37.0 | 8 | 34.9 | 8 | 10.0 | 2 | 5.6 | 1 | colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 3.5
| 19 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Areeiro | 35.4 | 5 | style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"| 37.1 | 6 | 9.2 | 1 | 6.8 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Arroios | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 37.5 | 9 | 28.6 | 6 | 11.4 | 2 | 6.7 | 2 | colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 4.2 | 1 | 19 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Avenidas Novas | 33.5 | 8 | style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"| 34.5 | 8 | 8.1 | 1 | 5.3 | 1 | 7.8 | 1 | colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 19 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Beato | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 64.1 | 10 | 12.7 | 2 | 10.6 | 1 | 4.7 | 2 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Belém | 32.3 | 5 | style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"| 42.8 | 7 | 9.1 | 1 | 4.6
| colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Benfica | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 47.5 | 11 | 22.5 | 5 | 12.0 | 2 | 5.9 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 19 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Campo de Ourique | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 41.4 | 9 | 29.8 | 7 | 12.1 | 2 | 6.7 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 19 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Campolide | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 56.8 | 9 | 19.7 | 3 | 11.0 | 1 | 4.8 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Carnide | 23.8 | 4 | 16.6 | 2 | style="background:#FF0000; color:white;"| 46.1 | 7 | 3.6
| colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 2.1
| 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Estrela | 36.0 | 6 | style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"| 36.4 | 6 | 10.4 | 1 | 4.0
| 4.3
| colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Lumiar | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 40.3 | 9 | 31.7 | 7 | 10.2 | 2 | 5.9 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 19 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Marvila | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 44.8 | 11 | 15.3 | 3 | 18.7 | 4 | 6.4 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 19 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Misericórdia | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 45.5 | 7 | 19.6 | 3 | 17.1 | 2 | 8.1 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Olivais | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 43.4 | 12 | 17.3 | 3 | 13.3 | 3 | 5.0 | 1 | 9.7 | 2 | 2.4
| 19 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Parque das Nações | 28.8 | 4 | 12.8 | 2 | 7.0 | 1 | 3.1
| style="background:gray; color:white;"| 40.9 | 6 | colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Penha de França | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 43.5 | 9 | 21.8 | 5 | 14.1 | 3 | 6.9 | 1 | 5.4 | 1 | colspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 19 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Santa Clara | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 40.2 | 6 | 23.9 | 4 | 20.9 | 3 | 5.5
| colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Santa Maria Maior | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 40.3 | 6 | 23.5 | 3 | 20.7 | 3 | 6.2 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Santo António | 33.8 | 5 | style="background:#2A52BE; color:white;"| 41.8 | 6 | 10.5 | 1 | 6.8 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- | style="text-align:left;" | São Domingos de Benfica | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 38.8 | 9 | 32.5 | 7 | 11.2 | 2 | 5.9 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 19 |- | style="text-align:left;" | São Vicente | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 33.9 | 5 | 26.4 | 4 | 22.0 | 3 | 7.9 | 1 | colspan="4" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"| | 13 |- class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9" | style="text-align:left;" | Total | style="background:#FF66FF; color:white;"| 40.1 | 178 | 26.2