LISBON, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Socialist Party was the big winner in Portuguese local elections on Sunday in what Prime Minister Antonio Costa described as the "biggest electoral victory in its history."
It might have been a good night for the center-left Socialist Party (PS), but it was a disastrous one for the center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), the party leader of which Pedro Passos Coelho told local news outlets that he would not immediately step down, but may not stand for re-election in internal party elections in January.
With the results of 13 out of the total 308 municipalities are to be declared, the PS had won control of 153 town halls, already surpassing its 2013 tally of 150.
The PSD had claimed 76, making its 2013 total of 106 impossible to reach.
The PS took the likes of Beja, Almada and Matosinhos and re-elected mayors in three of the largest municipalities in the country, Sintra, Gaia and Lisbon. Victory in the capital was secured by incumbent Fernando Medina.
Assuncao Cristas, of the Central Social Democratic-Popular Party alliance, came in second, relegating the PSD candidate, Teresa Leal Coelho, to third, a historic low in the capital for the main opposition party.
In Porto, independent Rui Moreira was voted in for a second mandate, with the PS candidate Manuel Pizarro second and the PSD's Alvaro Almeida third. The PSD has thus slumped to the third place in Portugal's two major cities.
