Seville City Council election, 2003

Seville City Council election, 2003

25 May 2003
All 33 seats in the City Council of Seville 17 seats needed for a majority
Registered	581,939 0.7%
Turnout	340,726 (58.6%) 2.1 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín Jaime Raynaud José Núñez Party PSOE–A PP PA Leader since 27 June 1998 24 September 2002 29 August 1986 Last election 12 seats, 35.4%[lower-alpha 1] 13 seats, 35.8% 6 seats, 17.6% Seats won 14 12 4 Seat change 2 1 2 Popular vote 130,958 119,395 41,805 Percentage 38.2% 35.2% 12.3% Swing 3.4 pp 0.6 pp 5.3 pp   Fourth party   Leader Paula Garvín Party IULV–CA Leader since 30 October 2002 Last election 2 seats, 7.8% Seats won 3 Seat change 1 Popular vote 30,443 Percentage 9.0% Swing 1.2 pp
Mayor before election Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín PSOE–A Elected Mayor Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín PSOE–A

The 2003 Seville City Council election, also the 2003 Seville municipal election, was held on Sunday, 25 May 2003, to elect the 7th City Council of the municipality of Seville. All 33 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.

Electoral system

The City Council of Seville (Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Sevilla) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Seville, 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 Seville and in full enjoyment of their political rights, as well as resident non-national European citizens and those whose country of origin allowed Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty.^[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:

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, a toss-up would determine the appointee.^[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 a determined amount of the electors registered in the municipality for which they sought election. For the case of Seville, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 signatures were required. 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][2]

Results

← Summary of the 25 May 2003 City Council of Seville election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A)1	130,958	38.60	+3.21	14	+2
	People's Party (PP)	119,395	35.20	–0.65	12	–1
	Andalusian Party (PA)	41,805	12.32	–5.32	4	–2
	United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA)	30,443	8.97	+1.20	3	+1
	The Greens of Andalusia (LVA)2	4,535	1.34	+0.55	0	±0
	Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Left (PSA–IA)	1,823	0.54	New	0	±0
	Group of Independent Citizens (GCI)	1,056	0.31	New	0	±0
	Independent Spanish Phalanx–Phalanx 2000 (FEI–FE 2000)	309	0.09	+0.05	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	296	0.09	+0.03	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	217	0.06	–0.01	0	±0
Blank ballots		8,395	2.47	+0.29
Total		339,232			33	±0
Valid votes		339,232	99.56	+0.07
Invalid votes		1,494	0.44	–0.07
Votes cast / turnout		340,726	58.55	+2.06
Abstentions		241,213	41.45	–2.06
Registered voters		581,939
Sources[4][5][6]
Footnotes: 1 Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia results are compared to the combined totals of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia and Democratic Party of the New Left–Andalusia in the 1999 election. 2 The Greens of Andalusia results are compared to The Greens–Andalusian Left totals in the 1999 election.

Notes

References