Portuguese local election, 1976

The Portuguese local election of 1976 took place on December 12. This was the first local election in Portugal. The democratic revolution of 1974 introduced the concept of democratic local power, that should be exerted by the citizens in their towns and cities.

The election was meant to elect for the first time the administration of the about 300 hundred municipalities of the country and of the about 4000 parishes that composed those 300 municipalities. So, the election consisted in 3 elections in each of the municipalities. The election for the municipal chamber, the election for the municipal assembly and the lower-level election for the parish assembly.

The main political forces involved in the election:

* Democratic Social Center (CDS)
* Electoral Front United People (FEPU)
* Groups for the Dinamization of the People's Unity (GDUPs)
* Socialist Party (PS)
* Social Democratic Party (PSD)

The Socialist Party gathered the majority of the voting and mandates, beating the Social Democratic Party and the communist dominated coalition, the Electoral Front United People, however this last dominated the election in the South of the country. The right-wing Democratic Social Center achieved its best result ever in local elections.

National summary of votes and seats

Municipal Chambers

* Registered Voters: 6,460,528
* Turnout: 62.88%

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:

* "FEPU was composed by the PCP, the MDP/CDE and the FSP."
* "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