2013 Lisbon local election

2013 Lisbon local elections

← 2009 29 September 2013 2017 →
All 17 Councillors in the Lisbon City Council 9 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	45.1% 8.4 pp
First party Second party   Leader António Costa Fernando Seara Party PS PSD Alliance Feel Lisbon[a] Last election 9 seats, 44.0% 7 seats, 38.7% Seats won 11 4 Seat change 2 3 Popular vote 116,425 51,156 Percentage 50.9% 22.4% Swing 6.9 pp 16.3 pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader João Ferreira João Semedo Party PCP BE Alliance CDU Last election 1 seats, 8.1% 0 seats, 4.6% Seats won 2 0 Seat change 1 Popular vote 22,519 10,533 Percentage 9.9% 4.6% Swing 1.8 pp 0.0 pp
Valid votes per parish António Costa (PS)   40-49%   50-59%   60-69%
Mayor before election António Costa PS Elected Mayor António Costa PS

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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).