2013 Lisbon local election
The 2013 Lisbon local election was held on 29 September 2013 to elect the members of the Lisbon City Council.
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All 17 Councillors in the Lisbon City Council 9 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 45.1% 8.4 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Against a weak opposition, António Costa, mayor since 2007, was elected for a full second term, defeating Fernando Seara, by then incumbent and term limited mayor of Sintra, of the Feel Lisbon coalition between the Social Democratic Party (PSD), CDS–People's Party (CDS–PP) and Earth Party (MPT). Seara's candidacy was surrounded in controversy due to the recent changes in the law that established term limits for mayors. This law prohibits a candidate, after having served for three terms, to run for Mayor, Municipal Assemblies or Parish Assemblies. But the law did not explicitly state whether it prohibits reelection only for the same municipality or parish, or for the same position in any municipality or parish. This matter was only resolved on 5 September 2013 with a ruling of the Constitutional Court allowing mayoral candidates that had already served three consecutive mandates to run for election in a different municipality.
The Unitary Democratic Coalition presented incumbent MEP João Ferreira as their mayoral candidate and won nearly 10% of the votes and gained one seat, electing two in total. The Left Bloc, presented João Semedo as candidate for Mayor, but failed to win a seat.
Turnout was the second lowest ever, just 45.1% casting a ballot, surpassed only by the 2007 numbers.