In nationwide local elections held on Sunday, Portugal’s far-right Chega party performed weaker than expected and failed to win control of any major cities. The party managed to secure mayoral seats only in Entroncamento, Albufeira, and São Vicente. Despite its poor showing in the race for significant municipal administrations, Chega has, according to preliminary results, doubled its share of the vote compared with the 2021 elections and could become a key coalition partner in several municipalities. Party leader André Ventura said it had been “a good night,” though he admitted Chega had not met its objectives.
The Socialist Party suffered setbacks in the country’s two largest cities. In Lisbon, Socialist candidate Alexandra Leitão failed to unseat incumbent center-right Mayor Carlos Moedas, while in Porto conservative Pedro Duarte defeated former MEP and Socialist candidate Manuel Pizarro. In Faro, the capital of the southern Algarve region, Socialist António Pina won the most votes, while Chega had hoped to attract voters frustrated with Lisbon’s excessive centralization of power. In Sintra, Portugal’s second-most populous municipality, center-right candidate Marco Almeida claimed victory, with far-right influencer Rita Matias finishing third.
The central issue of the campaign was the housing crisis, with voters demanding stronger action from local authorities to curb soaring home and rental prices. The elections were among the most competitive in Portugal’s history. Due to term limits and the move of dozens of mayors to the national level, nearly half of the country’s 308 municipalities had no incumbents running for re-election.
Chega fielded candidates in nearly every district—307 out of 308. Its weak performance, despite previously becoming the second-largest faction in parliament, may indicate that Chega struggles in races where its charismatic leader, André Ventura, is not on the ballot.
Since 2023, the Portuguese have already voted in three national elections and once in the European Parliament elections. Voter fatigue contributed to a high abstention rate: projections suggest that between 43 and 48 percent of eligible citizens did not turn out on Sunday. Turnout in Portugal’s municipal elections has been steadily declining since 2009—at the previous vote in 2021, 46 percent of voters stayed home.
Portuguese voters will get little rest: in January, they are set to return to the polls to elect a successor to outgoing President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. Among the contenders are Chega leader André Ventura and Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who earned praise for leading the country’s Covid vaccination campaign but has raised concerns among those wary of a military figure in the presidency.