2011 Valencia City Council election

The 2011 Valencia City Council election, also the 2011 Valencia municipal election, was held on Sunday, 22 May 2011, to elect the 9th 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.

2011 Valencia City Council election

22 May 2011
All 33 seats in the City Council of Valencia 17 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	579,733 4.8%
Turnout	402,400 (69.4%) 1.0 pp
Leader Rita Barberá Joan Calabuig Joan Ribó Party PP PSPV–PSOE Compromís Leader since 1991 3 October 2010 7 May 2010 Last election 21 seats, 56.7% 12 seats, 33.8% Did not contest Seats won 20 8 3 Seat change 1 4 3 Popular vote 208,727 86,440 35,881 Percentage 52.5% 21.8% 9.0% Swing 4.2 pp 12.0 pp New party   Leader Amadeu Sanchis Party EUPV Leader since 2004 Last election 0 seats, 4.8% Seats won 2 Seat change 2 Popular vote 28,489 Percentage 7.2% Swing 2.4 pp
Mayor before election Rita Barberá PP Elected Mayor Rita Barberá PP

The election saw the ruling People's Party (PP) obtaining a new absolute majority, which allowed incumbent Mayor Rita Barberá to be re-elected for a sixth consecutive term in office. On the other hand, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) saw a sharp decline in support, suffering from the nationwide backlash against José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero-led Government of Spain amid a harsh financial crisis at the time and scoring its worst historical result in a municipal election up to that point.

Also entering the City Council were the Compromís coalition (English: Commitment), formed by the Valencian Nationalist Bloc (Bloc), Initiative of the Valencian People (IdPV) and The Greens–Ecologist Left of the Valencian Country (EV–EE), which emerged as the third political force in the city; and United Left of the Valencian Country (EUPV), the regional branch of United Left, which returned to the City Council after being left out in the previous election.

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 and residing 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
<100	3
101–250	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]

Parties and leaders

Below is a list of the main parties and coalitions which contested the election:

Parties and coalitions		Ideology	Candidate
	People's Party (PP)	Conservatism, Christian democracy	Rita Barberá
	Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV–PSOE)	Social democracy	Joan Calabuig
	United Left of the Valencian Country (EUPV)	Communism, Socialism	Amadeu Sanchis
	Commitment to Valencia: Commitment Municipal Coalition (Compromís)	Eco-socialism, Valencian nationalism	Joan Ribó
	Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD)	Social liberalism, Radical centrism	Ramón Igual Belenguer

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. 17 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Valencia.

Color key:

  Exit poll

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout						Lead
2011 municipal election	22 May 2011	N/A	69.4	52.5 20	21.8 8	7.2 2	9.0 3	2.8 0	30.7
Ipsos–Eco/FORTA[p 1][p 2]	22 May 2011	?	?	49.9 22/23	26.3 11/12	7.2 2/3	7.8 3/4	–	23.6
Ikerfel/Vocento[p 3][p 4]	15 May 2011	800	?	54.6 20/21	33.9 12/13	–	–	–	20.7
TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3[p 5][p 6]	4 May 2011	?	?	55.5 21	27.1 10	7.0 2	3.3 0	2.7 0	28.4
Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 7][p 8]	15–19 Apr 2011	400	?	57.3 21	28.8 10/11	5.3 1/2	–	–	28.5
CIS[p 9][p 10]	17 Mar–17 Apr 2011	494	?	53.4 21	27.0 10	6.6 2	3.1 0	3.2 0	26.4
PP[p 11][p 12]	25 Feb 2011	?	?	? 22	? 9	? 2	–	–	?
2009 EP election[3]	7 Jun 2009	N/A	55.8	53.8 20	34.5 13	3.5 0	0.5 0	3.3 0	19.3
2008 general election[4]	9 Mar 2008	N/A	79.5	53.5 19	38.1 14	3.2 0	0.8 0	1.2 0	15.4
2007 municipal election	27 May 2007	N/A	68.4	56.7 21	33.8 12	4.8 0	–	–	22.9

Results

← Summary of the 22 May 2011 City Council of Valencia election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	208,727	52.54	–4.13	20	–1
	Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV–PSOE)	86,440	21.76	–12.02	8	–4
	Commitment to Valencia: Commitment Municipal Coalition (Compromís)	35,881	9.03	New	3	+3
	United Left of the Valencian Country (EUPV)	28,489	7.17	+2.40	2	+2
	Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD)	11,243	2.83	New	0	±0
	Greens and Eco-pacifists (VyE)	5,177	1.30	New	0	±0
	Valencian Coalition (CVa)	2,219	0.56	–0.79	0	±0
	Spain 2000 (E–2000)	1,920	0.48	+0.29	0	±0
	Anti-Bullfighting Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA)	1,771	0.45	New	0	±0
	Republican Left of the Valencian Country–Municipal Agreement (ERPV–AM)	980	0.25	–0.01	0	±0
	For a Fairer World (PUM+J)	752	0.19	+0.03	0	±0
	United for Valencia (UxV)	690	0.17	+0.08	0	±0
	Family and Life Party (PFyV)	511	0.13	New	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	488	0.12	+0.07	0	±0
	Liberal Democratic Centre (CDL)	482	0.12	New	0	±0
	Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)	443	0.11	+0.02	0	±0
	Party of the Elderly and the Self-employed (PdMA)	387	0.10	New	0	±0
	National Democracy (DN)	343	0.09	+0.03	0	±0
	Foreigners' Party (PdEx)	314	0.08	New	0	±0
	Communist Unification of Spain (UCE)	295	0.07	New	0	±0
	SOS Democracy (SOSDM)	277	0.07	New	0	±0
	Valencian Nationalist Left–European Valencianist Party (ENV–RV–PVE)	275	0.07	New	0	±0
	The Republic (La República)	271	0.07	New	0	±0
	Authentic Phalanx (FA)	220	0.06	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		8,661	2.18	+0.82
Total		397,256			33	±0
Valid votes		397,256	98.72	–0.84
Invalid votes		5,144	1.28	+0.84
Votes cast / turnout		402,400	69.41	+0.99
Abstentions		177,333	30.59	–0.99
Registered voters		579,733
Sources[5][6][7]

Popular vote PP   52.54% PSPV–PSOE   21.76% Compromís   9.03% EUPV   7.17% UPyD   2.83% VyE   1.30% Others   3.18% Blank ballots   2.18%

Seats PP   60.61% PSPV–PSOE   24.24% Compromís   9.09% EUPV   6.06%

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "Gema Amor tendría la llave del gobierno en Benidorm". Diario Información (in Spanish). 22 May 2011.
2. "El PP revalidaría su mayoría absoluta en Valencia, Alicante y Castellón, según un sondeo". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 22 May 2011.
3. "El PP sigue firme en las tres capitales". ABC (in Spanish). 15 May 2011.
4. "Sondeo municipales II (Grupo Vocento)". Electómetro (in Spanish). 16 May 2011. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011.
5. "El PP renovaría su mandato en los ayuntamientos de Valencia y Cáceres". Antena 3 (in Spanish). 4 May 2011.
6. "Encuesta de TNS Demoscopia para Antena 3 y Onda Cero 4-5-2011, Elecciones municipales en Valencia". ForoCoches (in Spanish). 28 April 2011.
7. "Encuesta de Sigma Dos para El Mundo, Elecciones municipales en Valencia 28-4-2011". ForoCoches (in Spanish). 28 April 2011.
8. "Una primera aproximación a la batalla (electoral) de Valencia". La Página Definitiva (in Spanish). 28 April 2011.
9. "Preelectoral elecciones autonómicas y municipales, 2011. Comunidad Valenciana y Ciudad de Valencia (Estudio nº 2872. Marzo-Abril 2011)" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 5 May 2011.
10. "Rajoy se vuelca a por su billete a la Moncloa". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 6 May 2011.
11. "Una encuesta del PP da al PSPV tres concejales menos en el ayuntamiento". Levante-EMV (in Spanish). 25 February 2011.
12. "EU entraría en el Ayuntamiento de Valencia con dos concejales (sondeo encargado por el PP)". Electómetro (in Spanish). 25 February 2011. Archived from the original on 28 February 2011.

Other

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. "Electoral Results Consultation. European Parliament. June 2009. Valencia Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
4. "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. March 2008. Valencia Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
5. "Local election results, 22 May 2011, in Salamanca, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Segovia, Seville, Soria, Tarragona, Teruel, Toledo, Valencia, Valladolid, Biscay, Zamora, Zaragoza, Ceuta and Melilla provinces" (PDF). Central Electoral Commission (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 February 2018.
6. "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 2011. Valencia Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
7. "Eleccions municipals a València (1979 - 2015)". Historia Electoral.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 30 September 2017.