André Kosters / Lusa
The local elections take place this Sunday, October 12th, on a day when temperatures above normal are expected. Find out how and where to vote and other interesting facts about the elections.
“Temperatures will experience a sharp rise from today onwards in some regions of the continent such as Alentejo and the Tagus Valley of the order of 5 to 6 degrees Celsius. On Sunday, in most of the territory temperatures will be around 30 degrees in the southern region, Alentejo and Vale do Tejo”, meteorologist Patrícia Marques told Lusa. Minimum temperatures will also rise, reaching 17 or 18 degrees.
This Sunday, all citizens registered in Portugal or abroad can vote — as long as registration in the electoral register was carried out up to 60 days before the date of voting.
How to know where to vote
To find out where to vote, you can consult the registration page, access the Voter Portal or send a free SMS to number 3838 with the text “RE [número de BI/CC] [data de nascimento no formato AAAAMMDD]”.
Voters abroad must send the message to the international number +351 962 171 000. Information can also be obtained from the parish council, city council or corresponding diplomatic representation.
Anyone who changed their address and updated their Citizen Card has their voting location automatically updated; otherwise, the previous location remains.
Around 9.28 million voters are registered and will receive three bulletins: green for the City Council, yellow for the Municipal Assembly and white for the Parish Assembly.
Polling stations will be open between 8am and 7pm (8pm in the Azores). Voters must present their Citizen Card or other identification document with photo.
What you can already know
In these municipalities, it is already known who wins in 335 parishes, since there is only one candidate list, according to . But 302 parishes will be replaced due to the restoration of the separation of parishes, and dozens of mayors must leave due to term limits. 817 political forces and groups of citizens presented 12,860 lists for suffrage to 3,837 municipal bodies — 308 municipal councils, 308 municipal assemblies and 3,221 parish assemblies. In 37 very small parishes, with less than 150 voters, the executive will be elected in plenary, without ballot papers.
Among the parties, the Enough is the one who presents applications to more chambers: 307 of the 308, only missing Vimioso, where the court rejected the list due to irregularities. Next are the CDU (299), the PS (298) and the PSD (293), with the Social Democrats competing in 114 coalitions, mainly with the CDS, but also with the Liberal Initiative. Interestingly, only Chega and CDU compete without coalitions.
O alliance scenario is diverse: the president of Coimbra, José Manuel Silva, leads the broadest coalition — PSD/CDS-PP/IL/NC/PPM/VP/MPT — and the candidate from Alenquer, Francisco Guerra, heads another with six parties.
The chambers with the most candidate lists are Funchal (14) and Porto (12).
89 mayors cannot re-run by term limits: 49 from the PS, 21 from the PSD, 12 from the CDU, 3 from the CDS-PP and 4 independents. Another 46 mayors have already left office since 2024 to take on political or governmental roles. Despite their departures, some historical figures remain in play — Isaltino Morais (Oeiras), Fernando Ruas (Viseu) and Rondão Almeida (Elvas) are once again present in the bulletins.
There are still municipalities unchanged since 1976: 27 municipalities never changed their political color — 12 from the PSD, 9 from the PS and 6 from the CDU.
The election of the mayor follows a controversial rule: it is automatically the first name on the list with the most votes, even if the party does not have a majority among councilors. This means that A simple vote can decide the presidencybut it does not guarantee government stability — Hondt’s method distributes seats in the executive between various political forces, forcing understandings.
