2025 Viseu local election
12 October 2025
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All 9 Councillors in the Viseu City Council[1] 5 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 61.6% 5.1 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2025 VIseu local election was held on 12 October 2025 to elect the members for Viseu City Council, Viseu Municipal Assembly and the city's 25 parish assemblies.
Incumbent Mayor Fernando Ruas, from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), ran for a second consecutive term.[2] Former Mayor of Mangualde and former MP João Azevedo was chosen as the candidate of the Socialist Party (PS) again, after his defeat in 2021.[3] The Chega party (CH) chose the MP Bernardo Pessanha.[4] The CDS – People's Party (CDS–PP), who once held the mayorship of the city, chose former MP and former member of the Viseu City Council, Hélder Amaral.[5]
In a historic result, the Socialist Party (PS) surpassed the PSD and won the most votes for Viseu city council, with João Azevedo becoming the first center-left mayor in Viseu's history. Incumbent mayor Fernando Ruas (PSD) failed to be elected to another term and defending the Social Democrats winning streak in the city since 1989. Chega elected a councillor, with 8.5% of the votes, and could become kingmaker in the council.[6] Nearly 62% of all registered voters cast a ballot, the highest share since 2001.
Background
In the 2021 election, the PSD held on to their majority with nearly 47% of the votes and elected 6 councillors, with former mayor Fernando Ruas, in office between 1990 and 2013, returning to the post.[7] Ruas became the PSD mayoral candidate after the sudden death of then mayor António Almeida Henriques of COVID-19, in April 2021.[8] The PS, led by João Azevedo, former mayor of Mangualde (2009–2019), achieved its best showing ever in Viseu with more than 38% of the votes and elected 5 councillors.[9] The rest of parties, Chega, the Liberal Initiative, CDS – People's Party, the Left Bloc, People Animals Nature and the Unitary Democratic Coalition polled badly, all with results below 3%.
Electoral system
Each party or coalition must present a list of candidates. The winner of the most voted list for the municipal council is automatically elected mayor, similar to first-past-the-post (FPTP). The lists are closed and the seats in each municipality are apportioned according to the D'Hondt method. Unlike in national legislative elections, independent lists are allowed to run.[10][11]
Parties and candidates
| Party/Coalition | Political position |
Candidate | 2021 result | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | ||||||
| PSD | Social Democratic Party Partido Social Democrata |
Center-right | Fernando Ruas | 46.7% | 5 / 9
|
[12] | |
| PS | Socialist Party Partido Socialista |
Center-left | João Azevedo | 38.3% | 4 / 9
|
[13] | |
| CH | Enough! Chega! |
Right-wing to far-right |
Bernardo Pessanha | 3.0% | 0 / 9
|
[14] | |
| IL | Liberal Initiative Iniciativa Liberal |
Center-right to right-wing |
Hélio Marta | 2.2% | 0 / 9
|
[15] | |
| CDS–PP | CDS – People's Party CDS – Partido Popular |
Right-wing | Hélder Amaral | 2.0% | 0 / 9
|
[16] | |
| CDU | Unitary Democratic Coalition Coligação Democrática Unitária PCP, PEV |
Left-wing to far-left |
Leonel Ferreira | 1.2% | 0 / 9
|
[17] | |
| ADN | National Democratic Alternative Alternativa Democrática Nacional |
Far-right | Paulo Quintão | — | — | [18] | |
Campaign period
Party slogans
| Party or alliance | Original slogan | English translation | Refs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSD | « Viseu Cresce com Futuro. » | "Viseu Grows with a Future." | [19] | |
| PS | « Nova energia para Viseu. » | "New energy for Viseu." | [20] | |
| CH | « Mudar Viseu. » | « Change Viseu » | ||
| IL | « Prontos para liberalizar Viseu. » | "Ready to liberalize Viseu." | [21] | |
| CDS–PP | « Viseu com mais ambição. » | "Viseu with more ambition." | [22] | |
| CDU | « Com a CDU, futuro de confiança no concelho de Viseu. » | "With CDU, future of trust in the municipality of Viseu." | [23] | |
Candidates' debates
| 2025 Viseu local election debates | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Organisers | Moderator(s) | P Present[a] NI Not invited I Invited A Absent invitee | ||||||||||||||||||
| PSD Ruas |
PS Azevedo |
CH Pessanha |
IL Marta |
CDS–PP Amaral |
CDU Ferreira |
Refs | |||||||||||||||
| 20 Sep 2025 | RTP3 | António Esteves | P | P | P | P | P | P | [24] | ||||||||||||
Opinion polling
| Polling firm/Link | Fieldwork date | Sample size | PSD | CDS | PS | CH | IL | BE | CDU | O | Lead | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 local election[25] | 12 Oct 2025 | — | 40.9 4 |
2.0 0 |
42.3 4 |
8.5 1 |
1.9 0 |
— | 1.0 0 |
3.4 0 |
1.5 | ||||
| 2025 Legislative election | 18 May 2025 | — | 40.7 (5) |
21.5 (2) |
22.3 (2) |
4.5 (0) |
1.5 (0) |
1.1 (0) |
8.4 (0) |
18.4 | |||||
| 2024 EP election | 9 Jun 2024 | — | 38.3 (4) |
29.9 (3) |
9.8 (1) |
8.3 (1) |
3.5 (0) |
1.7 (0) |
8.5 (0) |
8.4 | |||||
| 2024 Legislative election | 10 Mar 2024 | — | 35.6 (4) |
25.7 (3) |
19.7 (2) |
4.0 (0) |
3.4 (0) |
1.2 (0) |
10.4 (0) |
8.4 | |||||
| 2022 Legislative election | 30 Jan 2022 | — | 36.6 (4) |
1.9 (0) |
39.2 (4) |
8.2 (1) |
3.8 (0) |
3.6 (0) |
1.6 (0) |
5.1 (0) |
2.6 | ||||
| 2021 local election | 26 Sep 2021 | — | 46.7 5 |
2.0 0 |
38.3 4 |
3.0 0 |
2.2 0 |
2.0 0 |
1.2 0 |
4.6 | 8.4 | ||||
Results
Municipal Council
| Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | Councillors | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | ± | |||||||||
| Socialist | 24,095 | 42.27 | 4.0 | 4 | 0 | |||||
| Social Democratic | 23,292 | 40.86 | 5.8 | 4 | 1 | |||||
| CHEGA | 4,886 | 8.57 | 5.7 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| People's | 1,119 | 1.96 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Liberal Initiative | 1,116 | 1.96 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Unitary Democratic Coalition | 545 | 0.96 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| National Democratic Alternative | 165 | 0.29 | — | 0 | — | |||||
| Total valid | 55,218 | 96.88 | 0.3 | 9 | 0 | |||||
| Blank ballots | 1,136 | 1.99 | 0.2 | |||||||
| Invalid ballots | 644 | 1.13 | 0.1 | |||||||
| Total | 56,998 | 100.00 | ||||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 92,583 | 61.56 | 5.1 | |||||||
| Source:[26] | ||||||||||
Municipal Assembly
| Parties | Votes | % | ±pp swing | Seats | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | ± | |||||||||
| Social Democratic | 22,324 | 39.17 | 5.1 | 12 | 2 | |||||
| Socialist | 21,753 | 38.16 | 2.3 | 12 | 1 | |||||
| CHEGA | 6,161 | 10.81 | 6.9 | 3 | 2 | |||||
| Liberal Initiative | 1,552 | 2.72 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| People's | 1,294 | 2.27 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Left Bloc | 1,073 | 1.88 | 1.3 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Unitary Democratic Coalition | 709 | 1.24 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| National Democratic Alternative | 197 | 0.35 | — | 0 | — | |||||
| Total valid | 55,063 | 96.60 | 0.6 | 27 | 0 | |||||
| Blank ballots | 1,263 | 2.22 | 0.4 | |||||||
| Invalid ballots | 673 | 1.18 | 0.2 | |||||||
| Total | 56,999 | 100.00 | ||||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 92,583 | 61.57 | 5.1 | |||||||
| Source:[26] | ||||||||||
Parish Assemblies
| Parish | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | Total S | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSD | PS | CH | IND | MPT | IL | |||||||||||||
| Abraveses | 38.7 | 6 | 36.5 | 5 | 11.3 | 1 | 6.2 | 1 | 13 | |||||||||
| Barreiros e Cepões | 16.9 | 1 | 19.8 | 2 | 59.0 | 6 | 9 | |||||||||||
| Boa Aldeia, Farminhão e Torredeita | 60.9 | 6 | 35.5 | 3 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Bodiosa | 51.0 | 5 | 38.4 | 4 | 8.5 | - | 9 | |||||||||||
| Calde | 55.5 | 5 | 41.0 | 4 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Campo | 32.0 | 3 | 18.1 | 2 | 5.2 | - | 26.0 | 3 | 10.7 | 1 | 9 | |||||||
| Cavernães | 69.9 | 7 | 25.4 | 2 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Cota | 65.0 | 6 | 31.1 | 3 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Coutos de Viseu | 64.9 | 6 | 30.2 | 3 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Fail e Vila Chã de Sá | 49.2 | 5 | 37.4 | 3 | 9.8 | 1 | 9 | |||||||||||
| Fragosela | 30.8 | 3 | 31.1 | 3 | 35.4 | 3 | 9 | |||||||||||
| Lordosa | 33.4 | 3 | 63.0 | 6 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Mundão | 45.1 | 4 | 29.0 | 3 | 21.0 | 2 | 9 | |||||||||||
| Orgens | 61.0 | 6 | 33.3 | 3 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Povolide | 51.7 | 5 | 44.9 | 4 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Ranhados | 40.3 | 4 | 39.6 | 4 | 8.7 | 1 | 5.7 | - | 9 | |||||||||
| Repeses e São Salvador | 34.6 | 5 | 52.3 | 7 | 7.1 | 1 | 13 | |||||||||||
| Ribafeita | 52.9 | 5 | 44.2 | 4 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Rio de Loba | 29.2 | 4 | 49.4 | 7 | 7.1 | 1 | 9.8 | 1 | 13 | |||||||||
| Santos Evos | 57.6 | 6 | 36.4 | 3 | 3.6 | - | 9 | |||||||||||
| São Cipriano e Vil de Souto | 65.4 | 7 | 21.8 | 2 | 7.9 | - | 9 | |||||||||||
| São João de Lourosa | 42.4 | 4 | 49.3 | 5 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| São João de France | 51.7 | 5 | 44.5 | 4 | 9 | |||||||||||||
| Silgueiros | 40.5 | 4 | 18.2 | 2 | 13.8 | 1 | 25.3 | 2 | 9 | |||||||||
| Viseu | 37.8 | 8 | 38.4 | 9 | 8.6 | 2 | 3.6 | - | 19 | |||||||||
| Total | 41.9 | 123 | 37.9 | 97 | 6.4 | 10 | 4.2 | 9 | 1.0 | 6 | 2.1 | 2 | 247 | |||||
| Source:[27] | ||||||||||||||||||
Notes
- ^ Denotes a main invitee attending the event.
References
- ^ "Mapa do número de mandatos por órgão municipal" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Comissão Nacional de Eleições. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
- ^ Lusa, Agência. "Autárquicas. Fernando Ruas recandidata-se a segundo e último mandato a Viseu". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 12 August 2025.
- ^ Lusa, Agência. "Autárquicas. PS volta a apostar em João Azevedo para a Câmara de Viseu". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 12 August 2025.
- ^ Eduardo, Carlos (24 January 2025). "Bernardo Pessanha é o candidato do Chega à Câmara de Viseu - Jornal do Centro" (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 12 August 2025.
- ^ Rodrigues, Sandra (22 July 2025). "Autárquicas: CDS avança com Hélder Amaral à Câmara de Viseu para "despertar a ambição adormecida dos viseenses" - Jornal do Centro" (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 12 August 2025.
- ^ ""Isto agora é nosso": PS vence em Viseu, o antigo "cavaquistão"". Expresso (in European Portuguese). 13 October 2025. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
- ^ "Fernando Ruas: "Vamos pedir para Viseu tudo o que foi prometido"". RTP (in European Portuguese). 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
- ^ "Morreu Almeida Henriques, presidente da Câmara de Viseu, vítima de covid-19". Público (in European Portuguese). 4 April 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
- ^ "PS em Viseu conseguiu o "melhor resultado de sempre"". RTP (in European Portuguese). 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
- ^ "Lei n.º 169/99, de 18 de Setembro". www.pgdlisboa.pt. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
- ^ "Eleição dos titulares dos órgãos das autarquias locais" (in Portuguese). Diário da República. 14 August 2001. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
- ^ Lusa, Agência. "Autárquicas. Fernando Ruas recandidata-se a segundo e último mandato a Viseu". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 13 August 2025.
- ^ Lusa, Agência. "Autárquicas. PS volta a apostar em João Azevedo para a Câmara de Viseu". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 13 August 2025.
- ^ Eduardo, Carlos (24 January 2025). "Bernardo Pessanha é o candidato do Chega à Câmara de Viseu - Jornal do Centro" (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 13 August 2025.
- ^ Lopes, Jorge (14 July 2025). "Autárquicas: IL candidata Hélio Marta à presidência da Câmara de Viseu - Jornal do Centro" (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 13 August 2025.
- ^ "Viseu: na cidade onde o PS nunca mandou, o CDS pode complicar as contas a Fernando Ruas". Expresso (in Portuguese). 12 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
- ^ Lopes, Jorge (31 March 2025). "Autárquicas'25: Leonel Ferreira é o candidato da CDU à Câmara de Viseu - Jornal do Centro" (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 13 August 2025.
- ^ "Autárquicas. ADN aposta em Paulo Quintão para Viseu". Observador (in Portuguese). 28 August 2025. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
- ^ "Com Fernando Ruas, Viseu Cresce com Futuro". PSD Viseu Facebook account (in Portuguese). 16 August 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ "Vamos juntos trazer uma nova energia a Viseu!". João Azevedo Facebook account (in Portuguese). 22 June 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ "Está entregue!". IL Viseu Facebook account (in Portuguese). 14 August 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ "None". CDS Concelhia Viseu Facebook account (in Portuguese). 20 August 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ "None". CDU - Concelho de Viseu (in Portuguese). 10 October 2025. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
- ^ "Debates Eleições Autárquicas 2025". RTP (in Portuguese). 20 September 2025. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
- ^ "Autarquicas Locais 2025" (in Portuguese). Ministry of Home Affairs. 17 October 2025.
- ^ a b "Comissão Nacional de Eleições Mapa Oficial n.º 2-B/2025" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Diário da República. 17 December 2025. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
- ^ "Autarquicas Locais 2025" (in Portuguese). Ministry of Home Affairs. 18 October 2025.