2003 Valencia City Council election

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

2003 Valencia City Council election

25 May 2003
All 33 seats in the City Council of Valencia 17 seats needed for a majority
Registered	631,225 1.9%
Turnout	432,366 (68.5%) 5.8 pp
Leader Rita Barberá Rafael Rubio Antonio Montalbán Party PP PSPV–PSOE L'Entesa Leader since 1991 25 November 2000 19 December 1998 Last election 20 seats, 53.2% 11 seats, 29.0% 2 seats, 6.4% Seats won 19 12 2 Seat change 1 1 0 Popular vote 220,548 132,903 31,519 Percentage 51.2% 30.8% 7.3% Swing 2.0 pp 1.8 pp 0.9 pp
Mayor before election Rita Barberá PP Elected Mayor Rita Barberá PP

Electoral system

The City Council of Valencia (Valencian: Ajuntament de València, Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Valencia) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Valencia, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.[1] Elections to the local councils in Spain were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years.[2]

Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the municipality of Valencia 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. 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] 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, a toss-up would determine the appointee.[1]

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 ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of a determined amount of the electors registered in the municipality for which they were seeking election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. For the case of Valencia, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 signatures were required.[2]

Results

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

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	220,548	51.15	–2.10	19	–1
	Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV–PSOE)	132,903	30.82	+1.87	12	+1
	United Left–Valencian Left: Agreement (Entesa)	31,519	7.31	+0.94	2	±0
	Valencian Union (UV)	15,593	3.62	–1.12	0	±0
	Valencian Nationalist Bloc–Green Left (Bloc–EV)	11,201	2.60	–0.61	0	±0
	Cannabis Party for Legalisation and Normalisation (PCLyN)	4,177	0.97	New	0	±0
	The Greens of the Valencian Country (EV–LV)	3,369	0.78	New	0	±0
	Spain 2000 (E–2000)	819	0.19	New	0	±0
	Family and Life Party (PFyV)	732	0.17	New	0	±0
	Republican Left of the Valencian Country–Municipal Agreement (ERPV–AM)	692	0.16	New	0	±0
	Alternative Citizen Initiative (ICAL)	532	0.12	New	0	±0
	Regional Party of the Valencian Community (PRCV)	509	0.12	New	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	461	0.11	–0.03	0	±0
	Federal Republican Party (PRF)	441	0.10	–0.02	0	±0
	Internationalist Socialist Workers' Party (POSI)	354	0.08	New	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	300	0.07	–0.02	0	±0
Blank ballots		7,007	1.63	–0.22
Total		431,157			33	±0
Valid votes		431,157	99.72	+0.08
Invalid votes		1,209	0.28	–0.08
Votes cast / turnout		432,366	68.50	+5.78
Abstentions		198,859	31.50	–5.78
Registered voters		631,225
Sources[3][4][5][6]

Popular vote PP   51.15% PSPV–PSOE   30.82% Entesa   7.31% UV   3.62% Bloc–EV   2.60% Others   2.87% Blank ballots   1.63%

Seats PP   57.58% PSPV–PSOE   36.36% Entesa   6.06%

References

1. "Ley 7/1985, de 2 de abril, Reguladora de las Bases del Régimen Local". Law No. 7 of 2 April 1985. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 June 2020.
2. "Ley Orgánica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del Régimen Electoral General". Organic Law No. 5 of 19 June 1985. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 January 2020.
3. "Local election results, 25 May 2003" (PDF). Central Electoral Commission (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 February 2018.
4. "Municipal Elections. Valencia" (PDF). www.valencia.es (in Spanish). City Council of Valencia. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
5. "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 2003. Valencia Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
6. "Eleccions municipals a València (1979 - 2015)". Historia Electoral.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 30 September 2017.