The process of submitting candidacies for these elections was marked by differences in the interpretation of the pertinent electoral law.

Candidates affected by this issue included Luís Filipe Menezes (PSD), running in Porto, and Fernando Seara (PSD/CDS–PP), who was standing in Lisbon.

This controversy ended on 5 September 2013 with the decision of the Constitutional Court allowing mayoral candidates that had already served three consecutive mandates to run for election in a different municipality.

[10] The Socialist Party (PS) won the largest number of municipal chambers in its history surpassing its previous best result in 2009.

[11] The PS also reconquered Coimbra and won in two large strongholds of the Social Democratic Party, Vila Real and Funchal.