Portuguese local election, 1982

The Portuguese local election of 1982 took place on December 12. This was the third local election in Portugal since the democratic revolution of 1974 introduced the concept of democratic local power.

The election consisted of three separate elections in the 305 Portuguese municipalities that existed at the time, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner is elected mayor, 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 finished once more on the top of the results table, increasing its share by 4%, however that was because the coalition between the two major right-wing parties, the Democratic Social Center and the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Alliance, did not participate in all Municipalities and Parishes, being the parties which composed it, separated in many Municipalities. This right wing coalition did, however, lose some voting in relation to the previous election.

The left-wing United People Alliance dominated the election in the municipalities of the South of the country, gathering more than 60% of the voting and achieving its best result ever with 20.7% and 55 mayors.

The main political forces involved in the election were:

* Democratic Alliance (AD) (only in some municipalities)
* Democratic Social Center (CDS) (only in some municipalities)
* Socialist Party (PS)
* Social Democratic Party (PSD) (only in some municipalities)
* United People Alliance (APU)

National summary of votes and seats

Municipal Chambers

* Registered Voters: 7,185,284
* Turnout: 70.97%

End notes

* The source of the voting data is the [http://eleicoes.cne.pt/cne2005/sel_eleicoes.cfm?m=raster#assemb Portuguese Electoral Commission]

Further Notes:

*"AD was composed by the CDS, the PSD and the PPM."
*"Although the PSD, the CDS and the PPM were united in the Democratic Alliance, they appear in the scorecard because they ran separated in several municipalities."
* "APU was composed by the PCP and the MDP/CDE."
* "The number of candidacies expresses the number of municipalities or parishes in which the party or coalition presented lists."
*"The number of mandates expresses the number of municipal deputies in the Municipal Assembly election and the number of parish deputies in the Parish Assembly election.
* "The turnout varies because one may choose not to vote for all the organs."

References

*cite web |title=CNE Resultados |url=http://eleicoes.cne.pt/cne2005/sel_eleicoes.cfm?m=raster#assemb| publisher=Comissão Nacional de Eleições| accessdate = 2006-01-17
*cite web |title=Centro de Estudos do Pensamento Político|url=http://www.iscsp.utl.pt/~cepp/abertura.php| accessdate = 2006-01-17