| Election Name: | 2005 Portuguese local elections |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 2001 Portuguese local elections |
| Previous Year: | 2001 |
| Next Election: | 2009 Portuguese local elections |
| Next Year: | 2009 |
| Seats For Election: | All 308 Portuguese municipalities and 4,260 Portuguese Parishes All 2,046 local government councils |
| Election Date: | 9 October 2005 |
| Turnout: | 60.9% 0.8 pp |
| 1Blank: | Mayors |
| 2Blank: | Mayors +/– |
| 3Blank: | Councillors |
| 4Blank: | Councillors +/– |
| Leader1: | Luís Marques Mendes |
| Party1: | Social Democratic Party (Portugal) |
| Last Election1: | 159 mayors, 41.2% |
| Popular Vote1: | 2,150,710 |
| Percentage1: | 39.9% |
| Swing1: | 1.3 pp |
| 1Data1: | 158 |
| 2Data1: | 1 |
| 3Data1: | 911 |
| 4Data1: | 5 |
| Party2: | Socialist Party (Portugal) |
| Last Election2: | 113 mayors, 37.1% |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,933,041 |
| Percentage2: | 35.9% |
| Swing2: | 1.2 pp |
| 1Data2: | 109 |
| 2Data2: | 4 |
| 3Data2: | 853 |
| 4Data2: | 3 |
| Colour3: | FF0000 |
| Party3: | PCP |
| Alliance3: | CDU |
| Last Election3: | 28 mayors, 10.6% |
| Popular Vote3: | 589,384 |
| Percentage3: | 10.9% |
| Swing3: | 0.3 pp |
| 1Data3: | 32 |
| 2Data3: | 4 |
| 3Data3: | 203 |
| 4Data3: | 4 |
Local elections were held in Portugal on 9 October 2005. The election consisted of three separate elections in the 308 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 4,000 parishes around the country.
The Socialist Party may be considered the major defeated party of this election due to a slight loss of mandates. The Socialists did, however, achieve a better percentage of the vote in relation to the election of 2001.
On the right, the Social Democratic Party stole some municipalities from the Socialists, some of them in coalition with the People's Party that was reduced to only one municipality in stand-alone candidacies, Ponte de Lima, continuing its decline in comparison, for example, with the 36 mayors achieved in 1976.
On the left, the Unitary Democratic Coalition, led by the Communist Party, regained some of its former influence, taking 4 municipalities and several parishes from the Socialists in the districts of Beja, Évora and Setúbal and Leiria achieving a total of 32 mayors, and winning, for the first time, the election in Peniche. The Left Bloc kept the presidency of its single municipality, Salvaterra de Magos.
The election was also remarkable for the several victories of independent candidates, most of them former Socialist, Social Democratic and People's Party candidates who were expelled or given no confidence, because of corruption accusations, by their respective parties and, even so, became mayors. The best known were Valentim Loureiro in Gondomar, Fátima Felgueiras in Felgueiras and Isaltino Morais in Oeiras.
The main political forces involved in the election were:
|-! 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! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Candidacies! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Councillors! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Mayors|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±|-| |1,933,041||35.87||1.8||307||853||24||109||4|-| |1,523,526||28.27||0.1||245||742||32||138||4|-| |589,384||10.94||0.3||301||203||4||32||4|-|style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|Social Democratic / People's|462,199||8.58||0.4||42||131||17||18||3|-| |165,192||3.07||0.6||185||30||9||1||2|-| |158,953||2.95||1.8||111||7||1||1||0|-|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=gray align="center" ||align=left|Independents|133,380||2.47||0.9||27||45||14||7||4|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / PPM|91,455||1.70||0.4||12||20||10||1||0|- |style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT|71,153||1.32||—||3||11||—||1||—|-| |15,421||0.29||0.0||19||0||0||0||0|-| |5,096||0.09||0.0||13||0||0||0||0|-| |2,045||0.04||—||4||0||—||0||—|-| |1,759||0.03||0.0||5||0||0||0||0|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" ||align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / MPT|1,670||0.03||—||1||2||—||0||—|-| |1,582||0.03||0.2||4||0||4||0||1|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" ||align=left|PSD / PPM|707||0.01||2.5||1||0||8||0||1|-|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#1F468B align="center" ||align=left|PND / PPM|439||0.01||—||1||0||—||0||—|-|style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#000080 align="center" | |align=left|National Solidarity|244||0.00||—||1||0||—||0||—|-|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" ||align=left|People's / Social Democratic|109||0.00||0.2||1||0||6||0||0|-|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" ||align=left|CDS–PP / PSD / PPM|11||0.00||—||1||0||—||0||—|-|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,159,104|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|95.73|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.6|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|—|width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|2,046|width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|2|width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|308|width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0|-|colspan=2|Blank ballots|139,012||2.58||0.4||colspan=6 rowspan=4||-|colspan=2|Invalid ballots|90,919||1.69||0.2|-|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,389,035|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"||-|colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout||8,843,875||60.94||0.8|}
The following table lists party control in all district capitals, as well as in municipalities above 100,000 inhabitants. Population estimates from the 2001 Census.[1]
|-! 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! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Candidacies! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Mandates|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±|- | |align=right| 1,923,468|align=right|35.68|align=right|1.7|align=right|307|align=right|2,794|align=right|73|-| |align=right|1,454,256|align=right|26.98|align=right|0.2|align=right| 245|align=right|2,416 |align=right|52|- | |align=right|628,881 |align=right|11.67|align=right|0.6|align=right|301|align=right|722|align=right|13|-|style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|Social Democratic / People's|align=right|454,972|align=right|8.44|align=right|0.9|align=right|41|align=right|407 |align=right|20|-| |align=right|212,652|align=right|3.95|align=right|2.4|align=right|115|align=right|114 |align=right|86|-| |align=right|175,927|align=right|3.26|align=right|1.0|align=right|162|align=right|190 |align=right|63|-|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=gray align="center" ||align=left|Independents|align=right| 115,999 |align=right| 2.15|align=right|1.0|align=right| 25 |align=right| 121|align=right|28|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / PPM|align=right| 90,670|align=right| 1.68|align=right|0.5|align=right|13|align=right| 73|align=right|33|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT|align=right|66,190 |align=right|1.23|align=right|—|align=right|3|align=right|27 |align=right|—|-| |align=right| 8,620 |align=right|0.16|align=right|0.0|align=right|9 |align=right|1|align=right|0|-|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" ||align=left|People's / Social Democratic|align=right| 2,768|align=right| 0.05|align=right|0.0|align=right| 2|align=right| 6 |align=right| 13|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" ||align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / MPT|align=right| 1,641 |align=right| 0.03|align=right| —|align=right| 1|align=right| 6 |align=right| —|-| |align=right|1,590 |align=right|0.03|align=right|0.2|align=right|1|align=right|0 |align=right|18|-| |align=right|1,590|align=right| 0.03|align=right| —|align=right| 2 |align=right| 1 |align=right| —|-| |align=right| 1,011|align=right| 0.02|align=right| 0.0|align=right| 6|align=right| 5 |align=right| 5|-|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#1F468B align="center" ||align=left|PND / PPM|align=right| 831|align=right| 0.02|align=right| —|align=right| 1|align=right| 0 |align=right| —|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" ||align=left|PSD / PPM|align=right| 760|align=right| 0.01|align=right| 2.4|align=right| 1|align=right| 2|align=right| 21|-| |align=right| 200|align=right| 0.00|align=right| 0.0|align=right| 2|align=right| 0 |align=right| 0|-|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" ||align=left|CDS–PP / PSD / PPM|align=right| 8|align=right| 0.00|align=right| —|align=right| 1|align=right| 0 |align=right| —|-|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,161,181|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|95.72|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.3|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|—|width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|6,885|width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|9|-|colspan=2|Blank ballots|138,424||2.57||0.1||colspan=6 rowspan=4||-|colspan=2|Invalid ballots|92,140||1.71||0.2|-|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,391,745|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"||-|colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout||8,847,385||60.94||0.8|}
|-! 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! rowspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Candidacies! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Mandates! colspan="2" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Presidents|- style="background-color:#E9E9E9"! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|Total! style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align="center"|±|-| |align=right| 1,903,166|align=right| 35.37|align=right| 1.5|align=right| 3,711|align=right| 13,460|align=right| 265|align=right|1,518|align=right| 5|-| |align=right| 1,433,256|align=right| 26.64|align=right| 0.1|align=right| 3,065|align=right| 12,447 |align=right|299|align=right| 1,723|align=right| 74|- | |align=right| 648,622 |align=right| 12.05|align=right| 0.9|align=right| 2,239|align=right| 2,576|align=right| 110|align=right| 244|align=right| 12|-|style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|Social Democratic / People's|align=right| 411,633|align=right| 7.65|align=right| 0.6|align=right| 529|align=right| 2,065 |align=right| 59|align=right| 219|align=right| 4|-|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=gray align="center" ||align=left|Independents|align=right| 245,659 |align=right| 4.57|align=right| 0.2|align=right| 568 |align=right| 2,201|align=right| 206|align=right| 292|align=right| 19|-| |align=right| 146,898|align=right| 2.73|align=right| 1.6|align=right| 448|align=right| 229 |align=right| 183|align=right| 3|align=right| 3|-| |align=right| 144,575|align=right| 2.69|align=right| 0.9|align=right| 1,043|align=right| 826 |align=right| 144|align=right| 65|align=right| 14|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / PPM / MPT|align=right|95,175 |align=right| 1.77|align=right| —|align=right| 45|align=right| 216 |align=right| —|align=right| 19|align=right| —|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" | |align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / PPM|align=right| 84,398|align=right| 1.57|align=right| 0.7|align=right| 125|align=right| 400|align=right| 98|align=right| 34|align=right| 2|-| |align=right| 3,635 |align=right| 0.07|align=right| 0.0|align=right| 28 |align=right| 0|align=right| 1|align=right| 0|align=right|0|-| |align=right|3,184 |align=right|0.06|align=right|—|align=right|16 |align=right|7 |align=right|—|align=right|0|align=right|—|-| |align=right|3,100|align=right|0.06|align=right|0.1|align=right|7|align=right|23 |align=right|97|align=right|3|align=right|15|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" ||align=left|PSD / CDS–PP / MPT|align=right| 1,756 |align=right| 0.03|align=right| —|align=right| 12|align=right| 32 |align=right| —|align=right| 3|align=right| —|-|style="width: 8px" bgcolor=#0093DD align="center" ||align=left|People's / Social Democratic|align=right|1,448|align=right|0.03|align=right|0.1|align=right|2|align=right|10 |align=right|57|align=right|2|align=right|6|-| |align=right| 824|align=right| 0.02|align=right|0.0|align=right| 10|align=right|0 |align=right| 0|align=right| 0|align=right| 0|-|style="width: 9px" bgcolor=#FF9900 align="center" ||align=left|PSD / PPM|align=right| 807|align=right| 0.02|align=right|2.3|align=right| 5|align=right| 6 |align=right| 259|align=right| 0|align=right| 18|-|style="width: 10px" bgcolor=#000080 align="center" | |align=left|National Solidarity|align=right| 72|align=right| 0.00|align=right| —|align=right| 5|align=right| 0 |align=right| —|align=right| 0|align=right| —|-| |align=right| 38|align=right| 0.00|align=right| —|align=right| 1|align=right| 0 |align=right| —|align=right| 0|align=right| —|-| |align=right| 27|align=right| 0.00|align=right| 0.0|align=right| 1|align=right| 0 |align=right| 1|align=right| 0|align=right| 0|-|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total valid|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,130,086|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|95.31|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|0.7|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|—|width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|34,498|width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|—|width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|4,125|width="45" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|—|-|colspan=2|Blank ballots|151,527||2.82||0.5||colspan=6 rowspan=4||-|colspan=2|Invalid ballots|101,067||1.88||0.2|-|colspan=2 align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total|width="65" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|5,382,680|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00|width="40" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"||-|colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout||8,832,693||60.94||0.9|}
Further Notes: