1983 Barcelona City Council election

The 1983 Barcelona City Council election, also the 1983 Barcelona municipal election, was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 2nd City Council of the municipality of Barcelona. All 43 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.

1983 Barcelona City Council election

8 May 1983
All 43 seats in the City Council of Barcelona 22 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	1,359,589 8.2%
Turnout	916,684 (67.4%) 13.1 pp
Leader Pasqual Maragall Ramon Trias Alexandre Pedrós Party PSC–PSOE CiU AP–PDP–UL Leader since 2 December 1982 1983 1983 Last election 16 seats, 34.0% 8 seats, 18.6% 0 seats, 3.0%[lower-alpha 1] Seats won 21 13 6 Seat change 5 5 6 Popular vote 412,991 246,780 117,052 Percentage 45.8% 27.4% 13.0% Swing 11.8 pp 8.8 pp 10.0 pp   Leader Jordi Solé Tura Party PSUC Leader since 1983 Last election 9 seats, 18.9% Seats won 3 Seat change 6 Popular vote 62,421 Percentage 6.9% Swing 12.0 pp
Mayor before election Pasqual Maragall PSC Elected Mayor Pasqual Maragall PSC

Electoral system

The City Council of Barcelona (Catalan: Ajuntament de Barcelona, Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Barcelona) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Barcelona, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.[1][2][3]

Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the municipality of Barcelona and in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights. Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each local council. 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 the event of a tie, the eldest one would be elected.[1][2]

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within fifteen days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one-thousandth of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election—with a compulsory minimum of 500 signatures—disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.[3]

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. 22 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout							Lead
1983 municipal election	8 May 1983	N/A	67.4	45.8 21	6.9 3	27.4 13	–	3.9 0	13.0 6	18.4
Sofemasa/El País[p 1][p 2]	23–26 Apr 1983	?	?	43.7 20/21	8.9 4/5	22.1 11/12	–	5.6 2	11.0 5	21.6
1982 general election[4]	28 Oct 1982	N/A	81.0	40.9 22	4.5 0	23.3 12	1.6 0	4.5 0	18.6 9	17.6
1980 regional election[5]	20 Mar 1980	N/A	57.9	20.9 10	16.1 8	28.7 15	10.2 5	10.8 5	3.9[lower-alpha 2] 0	7.8
1979 municipal election	3 Apr 1979	N/A	54.3	34.0 16	18.9 9	18.6 8	16.7 8	5.2 2	3.0[lower-alpha 3] 0	15.1

Results

← Summary of the 8 May 1983 City Council of Barcelona election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE)	412,991	45.80	+11.75	21	+5
	Convergence and Union (CiU)	246,780	27.37	+8.78	13	+5
	People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL)^1	117,052	12.98	+9.98	6	+6
	Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC)	62,421	6.92	–11.98	3	–6
	Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC)	34,777	3.86	–1.37	0	–2
	Party of the Communists of Catalonia (PCC)	9,653	1.07	New	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	8,518	0.94	New	0	±0
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	2,699	0.30	New	0	±0
	Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)	1,194	0.13	New	0	±0
	Revolutionary Workers' Party of Spain (PORE)	864	0.10	New	0	±0
	Popular Struggle Coalition (CLP)	848	0.09	New	0	±0
	Conservatives of Catalonia (CiC)	0	0.00	New	0	±0
	Centrists of Catalonia (CC–UCD)	n/a	n/a	–16.73	0	–8
Blank ballots		3,847	0.43	+0.11
Total		901,644			43	±0
Valid votes		901,644	98.36	–1.27
Invalid votes		15,040	1.64	+1.27
Votes cast / turnout		916,684	67.42	+13.15
Abstentions		442,905	32.58	–13.15
Registered voters		1,359,589
Sources[6][7][8]

Popular vote PSC–PSOE   45.80% CiU   27.37% AP–PDP–UL   12.98% PSUC   6.92% ERC   3.86% PCC   1.07% Others   1.57% Blank ballots   0.43%

Seats PSC–PSOE   48.84% CiU   30.23% AP–PDP–UL   13.95% PSUC   6.98%

Notes

1. Data for CD in the 1979 election.
2. Result for Catalan Solidarity.
3. Result for Democratic Coalition.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "El PSC-PSOE gana en Cataluña, y en Barcelona con coalición". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.
2. "Ficha técnica de los sondeos". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.

Other

1. "Ley 39/1978, de 17 de julio, de elecciones locales". Law No. 39 of 17 July 1978. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
2. "Ley Orgánica 6/1983, de 2 de marzo, por la que se modifican determinados artículos de la Ley 39/1978, de 17 de julio, de Elecciones Locales". Organic Law No. 6 of 2 March 1983. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
3. "Real Decreto-ley 20/1977, de 18 de marzo, sobre Normas Electorales". Royal Decree-Law No. 20 of 18 March 1977. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
4. "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. October 1982. Barcelona Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
5. "Electoral results. Parliament of Catalonia election 1980. Barcelona (Municipality)". Government of Catalonia (in Catalan). Retrieved 13 July 2020.
6. "Election Results. Municipal Elections 1983. Barcelona". Government of Catalonia (in Catalan). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
7. "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 1983. Barcelona Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
8. "Eleccions municipals a Barcelona (1979 - 2015)". Historia Electoral.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 30 September 2017.