2007 Lisbon local by-election

2007 Lisbon local by-election

← 2005 15 July 2007 2009 →
All 17 Councillors in the Lisbon City Council 9 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	36.7% 16.0 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader António Costa Carmona Rodrigues Fernando Negrão Party PS Independent PSD Alliance Lisbon with Carmona Last election 5 seats, 26.6% Did not contest 8 seats, 42.4% Seats won 6 3 3 Seat change 1 New party 5 Popular vote 56,732 31,990 30,401 Percentage 29.5% 16.6% 15.8% Swing 2.9 pp New party 26.6 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   CPL Leader Helena Roseta Ruben de Carvalho José Sá Fernandes Party Independent PCP BE Alliance Citizens for Lisbon CDU Last election Did not contest 2 seats, 11.4% 1 seats, 7.9% Seats won 2 2 1 Seat change New party Popular vote 19,754 18,163 13,132 Percentage 10.3% 9.4% 6.8% Swing New party 2.0 pp 1.1 pp
Mayor before election Marina Ferreira PSD Elected Mayor António Costa PS

The 2007 Lisbon local by-election was held on 15 July 2007 to elect a new mayor and members of the Lisbon City Council, in order to complete the term started in 2005 following the collapse of Mayor Carmona Rodrigues' local government.

In the first, and still only, mayoral by-election in Lisbon's history, António Costa, by then Minister of Internal Administration under Prime Minister José Sócrates, was elected with almost 30 percent of the votes, electing six councillors, and would complete the term started in 2005 and to be finished by 2009.^[1]

The election resulted in a very fragmented local council, with former mayor Carmona Rodrigues Independent movement, Lisbon with Carmona, polling second with around 17 percent of the votes and electing 3 councillors. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) suffered a massive defeat, polling third with less than 16 percent of the votes, a loss of 27 percentage points compared with 2005, and electing only 3 councilors, a loss of five.^[2]

Another independent led by Helena Roseta, called Citizens for Lisbon, that congregated center-left to leftwing movements, gathered more than 10 percent of the votes and elected two councillors. The Unitary Democratic Coalition presented Ruben de Carvalho as their mayoral candidate and won 9 percent of the votes and retained the two seats from 2005. The Left Bloc presented José Sá Fernandes as candidate for Mayor, which was reelected as councillor. The CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP) was wiped out from Lisbon City Council.

Turnout was the lowest ever, with just 36.7 percent of voters casting a ballot, a drop of 16 percentage points compared with 2005.