2025 Viseu local election
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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.
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 | N/a | N/a | [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
| 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 | N/a | 40.9 4 |
2.0 0 |
42.3 4 |
8.5 1 |
1.9 0 |
N/a | 1.0 0 |
3.4 0 |
1.5 | ||||
| 2025 Legislative election | 18 May 2025 | N/a | 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 | N/a | 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 | N/a | 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 | N/a | 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 | N/a | 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 | N/a | 0 | N/a | |||||
| 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 | N/a | 0 | N/a | |||||
| 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] | ||||||||||||||||||
Aftermath
João Azevedo was sworn in as the first left-wing mayor of Viseu, under a minority, on 31 October 2025.[28] However, this minority capacity only lasted a few days as, despite winning the same number of councillors as the PSD, João Azevedo was able to "gain" an absolute majority after managing to get one of the councillors elected by the PSD, Pedro Ribeiro, to be part of his local government.[29]