1982 Portuguese local elections

← 1979 12 December 1982 1985 →
All 305 Portuguese municipalities and 4,260 Portuguese Parishes All 1,909 local government councils
Turnout	71.1% 0.6 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Francisco Pinto Balsemão Mário Soares Álvaro Cunhal Party PSD PS PCP Alliance AD APU Last election 195 mayors, 47.5% 60 mayors, 28.3% 50 mayors, 19.9% Popular vote 2,117,647[1] 1,578,915[2] 1,038,033 Percentage 42.7% 31.8% 20.9% Swing 4.8 pp 3.5 pp 1.0 pp Mayors 165[3] 84[4] 55 Mayors +/– 30 24 5 Councillors 953[5] 630[6] 316 Councillors +/– 110 114 0

Local elections were held in Portugal on 12 December 1982. They were the third local elections in Portugal since the democratic revolution of 1974 introduced the concept of democratic local power.

The elections consisted of three separate elections in the 305 Portuguese municipalities that existed at the time, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner is automatically elected mayor, similar to first-past-the-post (FPTP), 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 points, however that was because the coalition between the two major right-wing parties, the Democratic and 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 percent of the votes and achieving its best result ever with 20.7 percent and 55 mayors.

Despite the victory of the Democratic Alliance, the then PSD leader and Prime Minister Francisco Pinto Balsemão considered the results a disappointment, citting divisions with his own party and the alliance, and resigned from both posts.^[7] This decision led to a snap general election in April 1983.

The main political forces involved in the election were:

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

Summary of the 12 December 1982 Municipal Councils elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Councillors		Mayors
						Total	±	Total	±
	Socialist	1,547,664	31.18	2.9		619	103	83	23
	United People Alliance	1,038,033	20.91	1.0		316	0	55	5
	Democratic Alliance	988,347	19.91	3.6		322	104	49	24
	Social Democratic	745,048	15.01	1.3		439	36	88	13
	Democratic and Social Centre	369,263	7.44	0.1		185	29	27	7
	People's Democratic Union	31,567	0.64	0.6		3	0	0	0
	Socialist / UEDS	31,251	0.63	—		11	—	1	—
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	15,315	0.31	0.1		0	0	0	0
	People's Monarchist	11,149	0.22	0.1		5	1	1	0
	Workers Party of Socialist Unity	5,684	0.11	0.1		0	0	0	0
	Independent Social Democratic Action	4,236	0.09	—		7	—	1	—
	Democratic Union	3,840	0.08	—		2	—	0	—
	OCMLP	1,388	0.03	—		0	—	0	—
	Christian Democratic	855	0.02	0.2		0	0	0	0
Total valid		4,785,586	96.40	1.2	—	1,909	9	305	0
Blank ballots		87,381	1.76	0.8
Invalid ballots		91,403	1.84	0.4
Total		4,964,370	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,987,106	71.05	0.7

The following table lists party control in all district capitals, highlighted in bold, as well as in municipalities above 100,000 inhabitants. Population estimates from the 1981 Census.^[8]

Summary of the 12 December 1982 Municipal Assemblies elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Mandates
						Total	±
	Socialist	1,583,804	31.23	3.3		3,182	496
	United People Alliance	1,070,247	21.10	0.6		1,763	17
	Democratic Alliance	990,315	19.53	4.1		1,625	497
	Social Democratic	717,131	14.14	2.6		2,148	82
	Democratic and Social Centre	379,833	7.49	0.6		1,003	171
	People's Democratic Union	35,128	0.70	0.6		21	37
	Socialist / UEDS	31,481	0.63	0.6		52	—
	Democratic Union	30,707	0.61	—		40	—
	People's Monarchist	10,314	0.21	0.1		28	2
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	7,120	0.14	0.1		1	1
	Independent Social Democratic Action	3,858	0.08	—		32	—
	Workers Party of Socialist Unity	2,499	0.05	—		0	—
	Christian Democratic	847	0.02	0.0		2	2
	OCMLP	526	0.01	—		0	—
Total valid		4,865,027	95.93	1.4	—	9,897	194
Blank ballots		115,352	2.27	1.0
Invalid ballots		91,128	1.80	0.4
Total		5,071,507	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		7,114,983	71.28	0.6

Summary of the 12 December 1982 Parish Assemblies elections results

Parties		Votes	%	±pp swing	Candidacies	Mandates		Presidents
						Total	±	Total	±
	Socialist	1,527,322	31.03	3.2		12,803	2,190
	United People Alliance	1,071,831	21.76	1.3		4,997	265
	Democratic Alliance	905,696	18.40	4.4		7,684	2,101
	Social Democratic	760,847	15.46	1.3		9,499	52
	Democratic and Social Centre	381,150	7.74	0.7		4,837	176
	Independents	65,865	1.34	0.2		1,038	331
	Democratic Union	29,284	0.59	—		342	—		—
	Socialist / UEDS	25,265	0.51	—		258	—		—
	People's Democratic Union	24,799	0.50	0.4		30	25
	People's Monarchist	6,261	0.13	0.0		99	21
	Portuguese Workers' Communist	5,023	0.10	0.0		0	3
	Independent Social Democratic Action	2,768	0.06	—		49	—		—
	Workers Party of Socialist Unity	856	0.02	0.0		0	1
	Christian Democratic	482	0.00	0.1		0	26
	OCMLP	444	0.00	—		0	—		—
Total valid		4,738,913	96.28	0.9	—	41,636	—		—
Blank ballots		87,935	1.79	0.5
Invalid ballots		95,380	1.94	0.4
Total		4,922,228	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		7,073,336	69.59	1.1

• 
  The first and the second most voted parties in Municipal Councils in each district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
• 
  The first and the second most voted parties in Municipal Assemblies in each district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)
• 
  The first and the second most voted parties in Parish Assemblies in each district. (Azores and Madeira are not shown)

• The source of the voting data is the Portuguese Electoral Commission Archived 2014-10-25 at the Wayback Machine

Further Notes:

• Democratic Alliance (AD) was composed by the Democratic Social Center (CDS), the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the People's Monarchist Party (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.
• The Democratic Union (UD) was composed only by the Democratic Social Center (CDS) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD)
• United People Alliance (APU) was composed by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Portuguese Democratic Movement (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.

• Politics of Portugal
• List of political parties in Portugal
• Elections in Portugal

• Portuguese Electoral Commission