The registered abstention was above 40%, with only 59.26% of the voters going to make their decision for their residency area.

A long electoral night was expected, and the results in the national elections could predict different results when compared to the local elections in 2021. However, parties like Chega could not achieve their goal after electing three mayors in different parts of the country.

On the other hand, Partido Socialista (PS) guaranteed its spot as the second political force in local elections, winning over Partido Social Democrata (PSD), in city halls that were dominated by the PSD for decades.

As expected, being the party in the Government, PSD was the winner of the local elections, especially after having a mayor elected in Lisbon and in Porto as well.

Find out the results in the Algarve, the country’s district capital, in this article.

Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Portugal Decoded ;

Lisbon and Porto

In Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (PSD) and Alexandra Leitão (PS) were fighting for a place as mayors of Lisbon, with the victory being achieved by Carlos Moedas.

The same happened in Porto, with the victory being achieved by Pedro Duarte (PSD). This way, Manuel Pizarro (PS), former minister of health, was not elected in Porto.

Algarve

Given the results of the national elections, Chega was expecting to win almost all the city halls in the Algarve. However, after the counting, the results were different.

Chega elected only one mayor in the Algarve, in the municipality of Albufeira; nevertheless, the growth in the number of votes in the whole region has increased. In 2021, Chega got 11.332 votes in the Algarve, but in 2025, the party became the second political force, regionally, and got 43.470 votes.

PS kept on being the most voted political party in the region, electing 11 mayors in the Algarve. In Lagoa, for example, the PS managed to win in all the parishes of the municipality, as it happened in 2021. PSD elected two mayors, in Vila do Bispo and Castro Marim.

The municipality of Silves gave, once again, the victory to the coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and “Os Verdes”. CDU, even with the former mayor reaching the term’s limit, kept being the citizens’ favourite party.

Surprisingly, in Aljezur, the victory was not given to a political party. An independent movement, led by Manuel Marreiros, won the elections in that Algarve municipality.

In the Algarve’s capital, Faro, the results were also very different from the ones registered in 2021. Even though Chega presented as the candidate one of the most well-known figures of the party, Pedro Pinto, the party conquered the third place in Faro. The Algarve’s capital elected António Pina, of PS, as the new mayor of the city. The results in Faro, in the different bodies of the city, were different, as, besides the mayor of PS election, the municipal assembly was won by the PSD coalition led by Macário Correia.

In Loulé, PS won the city hall election with Telmo Pinto being the new mayor, maintaining the PS domain in the municipality. However, the results were different in the Juntas de Freguesia, with PSD winning more assemblies than PS.

Alentejo

In Beja, the victory of the district capital’s city hall went for PSD, with Nuno Ferro being the new mayor of Beja. This marks a change in the local political panorama, where PSD won over the victory of PS in 2021.

In Évora, PS has also won the elections, and José Zorrinho (PS) was elected mayor of the city of Évora. This way, PS wins over CDU, which elected the mayor in 2021. In Évora, the PSD coalition became the second political force, climbing from third place in 2021 to second place in 2025. Chega is now the fourth political force in Évora when it comes to local management.

In Setúbal, an independent candidate won the elections, and Maria Meira is the new Setúbal mayor. It is not the first time that Maria Meira has won elections in Setúbal city, as she was, in the past, elected to be a mayor representing CDU. This time, she presented a candidature as an independent candidate.

In Portalegre, the victorious candidate in the city was Fermelinda Carvalho, representing a PSD coalition with CDS-PP. In this municipality, PS is still the second political force, as it was in 2021. Chega climbed to be the fifth to the fourth political force in Portalegre.

Central

In Leiria, PS won the election with Gonçalo Lopes being elected as mayor of the city, with 54.11% of the votes. PSD was established as the second political force, while Chega is the third.

In Santarém, the coalition of PSD and CDS-PP won the election, and João Leite is the mayor of the city, keeping Santarém as a city of PSD, as in 2021.

In Coimbra, Ana Abrunhosa (PS) won the elections, ending the PSD mandate achieved in 2021 by José Manuel Silva. PSD is now the second political force in the municipality, while Chega is the third.

In Castelo Branco, PS re-elected its candidate of PS, Leopoldo Rodrigues. The PSD coalition is the second political force, while Iniciativa Liberal (IL) has been established as the third political force in the municipality.

In Guarda, the coalition NC.PPM elected Sérgio Costa as the mayor of the municipality, followed by a PSD coalition. PS is the third political force in Guarda, followed by Chega.

In Viseu, the victory of PS was a surprise, as, since 1976, the PSD has won all the elections in the municipality. For the first time, the victory went to a different party, and now João Azevedo is the mayor of Viseu.

In Aveiro, the PSD maintained the mandate; however, with a different president, Luís Miranda is now the mayor of the Aveiro municipality.

North

Isabel Ferreira (PS) has won the elections in Bragança, with 50.31% of the votes. PSD comes next, while IL became the third political force in the municipality.

The victory of PS is still noticed in Vila Real, with the election of Alexandre Favaios, being followed by PSD and Chega.

In Braga, João Barros won the elections representing a coalition by PSD, with PS coming in the second place with a difference of 0.26% of the votes.

In Viana do Castelo, Joaquim Pereira won, representing PS in the municipality. A PSD became the second political force in the municipality, while Chega is the third.

Azores and Madeira

Ponta Delgada, in São Miguel Island, in the Azores, gave the victory to Pedro Cabral, representing PSD.

The same happened in Funchal, in Madeira, where PSD won the city hall and Jorge Carvalho is now the mayor of Funchal.

The elections in numbers

The general victory of the elections went to PSD, which won 136 city halls throughout the country. PS is now the second political force, in local terms, with 126 elected mayors, losing city halls, when compared to the results in 2021.

20 independent groups claimed the victory, while CDU obtained the worst result ever, having lost two districts’ capitals and gaining in only 12 city halls.

Chega, which was predicting greater results, won in three city halls – Albufeira (Faro), São Vicente (Madeira) and Entroncamento (Santarém). However, the number of votes, compared to national elections, is noticeably lower. In national elections, Chega managed to get 1.4 million votes, while in local elections, the party was voted for by 600 thousand people, in total.