Madrid City Council election, 1983
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All 57 seats in the City Council of Madrid 29 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Registered |
2,380,846  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout |
1,685,115 (70.8%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1983 Madrid City Council election, also the 1983 Madrid municipal election, was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 2nd City Council of the municipality of Madrid. All 57 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) won with an absolute majority of 30 seats and 48.7% of the vote, the only time in history it has done so. The People's Coalition, the electoral alliance led by the People's Alliance (AP) and including the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL), consolidated its gains made in the 1982 general election and emerged as the second political force in the city, with 38.0% and 23 seats. Meanwhile, the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) vote fell as a result of PSOE's growth, losing over half of its seats and obtaining 4.
The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) had collapsed in the October general election, and was disbanded in early 1983. Several UCD split parties such as Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) or former Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez' Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) stood in this election, but failed to win any seats.
As a result of the election, Enrique Tierno Galván, was re-elected as Mayor of Madrid for a second term in office. Tierno Galván would die halfway throughout his term of natural causes, being substituted by party colleague Juan Barranco.
Electoral system
The City Council of Madrid (Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Madrid) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Madrid, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly. Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the municipality of Madrid and in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights.[1][2][3]
Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of 5 percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied. Parties not reaching the threshold were not taken into consideration for seat distribution.[1][2][3] Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:
| Population | Councillors |
|---|---|
| <250 | 5 |
| 251–1,000 | 7 |
| 1,001–2,000 | 9 |
| 2,001–5,000 | 11 |
| 5,001–10,000 | 13 |
| 10,001–20,000 | 17 |
| 20,001–50,000 | 21 |
| 50,001–100,000 | 25 |
| >100,001 | +1 per each 100,000 inhabitants or fraction +1 if total is an even number |
The mayor was indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause required that mayoral candidates earned the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party in the assembly was to be automatically appointed to the post. In case of a tie, the eldest would be elected.[2][3]
The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of at least 0.1 percent of the electors registered in the municipality for which they sought election—needing to secure, in any case, the signature of 500 electors—. Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.[1]
Opinion polls
The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 29 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Madrid.
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Turnout |  |
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Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 municipal election | 8 May 1983 | N/A | 70.8 | – | 48.4 30 |
6.8 4 |
37.8 23 |
3.0 0 |
2.6 0 |
10.6 |
| Sofemasa/El País[p 1][p 2] | 23–26 Apr 1983 | ? | 78.0 | – | 56.7 37/39 |
8.5 4/5 |
20.9 15/17 |
3.9 0 |
1.1 0 |
35.8 |
| 1982 general election[4] | 28 Oct 1982 | N/A | 86.9 | 3.5 0 |
48.1 33 |
4.5 0 |
35.7 24 |
4.7 0 |
– | 12.4 |
| 1979 municipal election | 3 Apr 1979 | N/A | 66.0 | 40.3 25 |
39.5 25 |
14.7 9 |
– | – | – | 0.8 |
Results
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| Parties and coalitions | Popular vote | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Total | +/− | ||
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) | 808,350 | 48.44 | +8.95 | 30 | +5 | |
| People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL) | 631,183 | 37.82 | New | 23 | +23 | |
| Communist Party of Spain (PCE) | 113,112 | 6.78 | –7.91 | 4 | –5 | |
| Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 50,824 | 3.05 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) | 44,159 | 2.65 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Workers' Socialist Party (PST) | 5,721 | 0.34 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE) | 3,284 | 0.20 | –0.13 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Natural Culture (CN) | 2,281 | 0.14 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) | 1,543 | 0.09 | –0.02 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Popular Struggle Coalition (CLP) | 855 | 0.05 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) | n/a | n/a | –40.29 | 0 | –25 | |
| Blank ballots | 7,402 | 0.44 | +0.44 | |||
| Total | 1,668,718 | 57 | –2 | |||
| Valid votes | 1,668,718 | 99.03 | –0.97 | |||
| Invalid votes | 16,397 | 0.97 | +0.97 | |||
| Votes cast / turnout | 1,685,115 | 70.78 | +4.80 | |||
| Abstentions | 695,731 | 29.22 | –4.80 | |||
| Registered voters | 2,380,846 | |||||
| Sources[5][6][7] | ||||||
References
- Opinion poll sources
- ↑ "El PSOE tendrá tres veces más votos que AP en las dos elecciones". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.
- ↑ "Ficha técnica de los sondeos". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.
- Other
- 1 2 3 "Electoral Rules Decree of 1977". Royal Decree-Law No. 20 of 18 March 1977. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Local Elections Law of 1978". Law of 17 July 1978. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 August 2017.
- 1 2 3 "Local Elections Law Reform of 1983". Organic Law No. 6 of 2 March 1983. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 August 2017.
- ↑ "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. October 1982. Madrid Municipality". infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
- ↑ "City Council of Madrid. Elections". madrid.es (in Spanish). City Council of Madrid. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ↑ "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 1983. Madrid Municipality". infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
- ↑ "Municipal elections in Madrid since 1979". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 30 September 2017.