2015 Zaragoza City Council election

The 2015 Zaragoza City Council election, also the 2015 Zaragoza municipal election, was held on Sunday, 24 May 2015, to elect the 10th City Council of the municipality of Zaragoza. All 31 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.

2015 Zaragoza City Council election

24 May 2015
All 31 seats in the City Council of Zaragoza 16 seats needed for a majority
Registered	502,076 1.2%
Turnout	328,920 (65.5%) 0.4 pp
Leader Eloy Suárez Pedro Santisteve Carlos Pérez Anadón Party PP ZGZ PSOE Leader since 3 December 2010 1 March 2015 7 October 2014 Last election 15 seats, 41.3% 3 seats, 7.9%[lower-alpha 1] 10 seats, 27.1% Seats won 10 9 6 Seat change 5 6 4 Popular vote 87,569 80,055 60,807 Percentage 26.9% 24.6% 18.7% Swing 14.4 pp 16.7 pp 8.4 pp   Leader Elena Martínez Ortín Juan Martín Expósito Party C's CHA Leader since 14 April 2015 18 December 2018 Last election Did not contest 3 seats, 9.2% Seats won 4 2 Seat change 4 1 Popular vote 40,018 22,067 Percentage 12.3% 6.8% Swing New party 2.4 pp
Mayor before election Juan Alberto Belloch PSOE Elected Mayor Pedro Santisteve ZGZ

Electoral system

The City Council of Zaragoza (Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Zaragoza, 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 Zaragoza 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 Zaragoza, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 signatures were required.[2]

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. 16 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Zaragoza.

Color key:

  Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls   Exit poll

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout										Lead
2015 municipal election	24 May 2015	N/A	65.5	26.9 10	18.7 6	6.8 2	[lower-alpha 2]	2.8 0	1.5 0	[lower-alpha 2]	12.3 4	24.6 9	2.3
TNS Demoscopia/RTVE–FORTA[p 1][p 2]	24 May 2015	?	?	24.1 8/9	16.5 5/6	6.9 1/2	[lower-alpha 2]	–	–	[lower-alpha 2]	12.4 4/5	27.7 9/11	3.6
GAD3/Antena 3[p 3]	11–22 May 2015	?	?	? 9	? 6/7	? 2	[lower-alpha 2]	–	–	[lower-alpha 2]	? 4/5	? 8/9	?
SoydeZaragoza.es[p 4]	16–17 May 2015	900	?	? 9/10	? 6/7	? 2/3	[lower-alpha 2]	–	–	[lower-alpha 2]	? 4/5	? 10/11	?
JM&A/Público[p 5]	12 May 2015	?	?	? 9	? 7	? 2	[lower-alpha 2]	–	–	[lower-alpha 2]	? 5	? 8	?
JM&A/Público[p 6][p 7]	3 May 2015	?	?	25.8 9	20.2 7	6.8 2	[lower-alpha 2]	3.6 0	1.4 0	[lower-alpha 2]	16.3 5	22.0 8	3.8
GAD3/ABC[p 8]	20–29 Apr 2015	?	?	? 9	? 7	? 2	[lower-alpha 2]	–	–	[lower-alpha 2]	? 6	? 7	?
A+M/Heraldo de Aragón[p 9][p 10][3]	15–17 Apr 2015	1,056	68.7	27.0 9/11	20.3 7/8	7.8 1/2	[lower-alpha 2]	4.1 0	1.2 0	[lower-alpha 2]	15.0 5/6	20.5 7/8	6.5
CIS[p 11][p 12]	23 Mar–20 Apr 2015	741	?	27.3 9/10	20.0 7	7.1 2	[lower-alpha 2]	4.4 0	–	[lower-alpha 2]	14.4 5	21.8 7/8	5.5
ZEC[p 13][p 14]	24–29 Mar 2015	380	65.5	24.5 8/9	20.0 7/8	4.0 0	[lower-alpha 2]	3.0 0	1.5 0	[lower-alpha 2]	17.5 6/7	23.5 8/9	1.0
2014 EP election[4]	25 May 2014	N/A	48.6	24.4 10	20.6 9	5.0 0	10.5 4	–	10.0 4	11.0 4	3.6 0	–	3.8
AC–MyWord/El Periódico[p 15][p 16]	11 May 2014	?	61.5	27.3 11	25.3 10	6.3 2	12.8 5	2.2 0	8.8 3	–	–	–	2.0
A+M/Heraldo de Aragón[p 17][p 18]	6–12 Mar 2014	1,000	61.2	32.1 10/11	29.4 9/10	8.7 2/3	7.2 2	5.2 0/1	10.8 3/4	–	–	–	2.7
AC Consultores/El Periódico[lower-alpha 3][p 19][p 20]	19 Jan 2014	?	59.0	27.0 9/10	27.0 10/11	12.0 3/4	17.0 5/6	3.0 0	7.0 2	–	–	–	Tie
AC Consultores/El Periódico[lower-alpha 3][p 21]	21 Apr 2013	?	57.0	21.0 8/9	32.0 10/11	12.0 3/4	18.0 5/6	2.0 0	14.0 3/4	–	–	–	11.0
2011 general election[5]	20 Nov 2011	N/A	72.8	45.8 15	29.3 10	[lower-alpha 4]	12.7 4	[lower-alpha 5]	7.4 2	–	–	–	16.5
2011 municipal election	22 May 2011	N/A	65.1	41.3 15	27.1 10	9.2 3	7.9 3	4.5 0	3.6 0	–	–	–	14.2

Results

← Summary of the 24 May 2015 City Council of Zaragoza election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	87,569	26.88	–14.38	10	–5
	Zaragoza in Common (ZGZ)^1	80,055	24.57	+16.65	9	+6
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	60,807	18.67	–8.47	6	–4
	Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (C's)	40,018	12.28	New	4	+4
	Aragonese Union (CHA)	22,067	6.77	–2.47	2	–1
	Aragonese Party (PAR)	9,185	2.82	–1.72	0	±0
	Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD)	4,928	1.51	–2.07	0	±0
	Blank Seats (EB)	4,426	1.36	New	0	±0
	Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA)	3,849	1.18	+0.85	0	±0
	Commitment with Aragon (CCA)	2,088	0.64	+0.31	0	±0
	The Greens–Green Group (LV–GV)	1,818	0.56	+0.09	0	±0
	Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)	900	0.28	+0.16	0	±0
	Republican Social Movement (MSR)	629	0.19	New	0	±0
	Aragonese Bloc (BAR)	465	0.14	New	0	±0
	Aragonese State (EAR)	453	0.14	New	0	±0
	Federation of Independents of Aragon (FIA)	374	0.11	–0.04	0	±0
Blank ballots		6,145	1.89	–1.69
Total		325,776			31	±0
Valid votes		325,776	99.04	+0.52
Invalid votes		3,144	0.96	–0.52
Votes cast / turnout		328,920	65.51	+0.38
Abstentions		173,156	34.49	–0.38
Registered voters		502,076
Sources[6][7][8]

Popular vote PP   26.88% ZGZ   24.57% PSOE   18.67% C's   12.28% CHA   6.77% PAR   2.82% UPyD   1.51% EB   1.36% PACMA   1.18% Others   2.06% Blank ballots   1.89%

Seats PP   32.26% ZGZ   29.03% PSOE   19.35% C's   12.90% CHA   6.45%

Notes

1. Data for IU in the 2011 election.
2. Within ZGZ.
3. Undecided and/or abstentionists excluded.
4. Within IU.
5. Within PP.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "Los sondeos dan un vuelco en Zaragoza". Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). 24 May 2015.
2. "Ayto. de Zaragoza. TNS Demoscopia". Aragón TV (in Spanish). 24 May 2015.
3. "Encuestas y resultados - elecciones autonómicas y municipales del 24 de mayo de 2015". GAD3 (in Spanish). 28 May 2015.
4. "Encuestas electorales al Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza". SoydeZaragoza.es (in Spanish). 17 May 2015.
5. "El PP depende de C's para gobernar en Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla y Málaga". Público (in Spanish). 15 May 2015.
6. "Ada Colau empata con Trias, Barberá se estrella en Valencia y Podemos tiene la llave en Sevilla". Público (in Spanish). 3 May 2015.
7. "Tracking de sondeos en las capitales: la derecha sólo puede esperar que Ciudadanos salve al PP". Público (in Spanish). 3 May 2015.
8. "Dos de cada diez antiguos votantes del PP se "fugan" a Ciudadanos". Público (in Spanish). 17 May 2015.
9. "La pugna por el Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza tendría que decidirse mediante acuerdos". Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). 7 May 2015.
10. "Resultados en las municipales de Zaragoza". Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). 23 April 2015.
11. "Preelectoral elecciones autonómicas y municipales 2015. Municipio de Zaragoza (Estudio nº 3064. Marzo-Abril 2015)" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 7 May 2015.
12. "El PP se echa a la calle para recuperar a las clases medias". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 8 May 2015.
13. "Empate técnico entre Zaragoza en Común y Partido Popular. La campaña será decisiva". Zaragoza en Común (in Spanish). 15 April 2015.
14. "ZARAGOZA, Marzo 2015. Sondeo interno Zaragoza en Común". Electograph (in Spanish). 15 April 2015.
15. "El PP ganaría las elecciones locales en Zaragoza por un estrecho margen". El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 11 May 2014.
16. "ZARAGOZA, Mayo 2014. AC Consultores / MyWord / Periódico de Aragón". Electograph (in Spanish). 11 May 2014.
17. "En Zaragoza: El PSOE, con dificultades para reeditar el acuerdo con CHA e IU". Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). 23 April 2014.
18. "ZARAGOZA, Abril 2014. A+M / Heraldo de Aragón". Electograph (in Spanish). 23 April 2014.
19. "El PSOE ganaría en Zaragoza por un ajustado margen sobre el PP". El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 19 January 2014.
20. "ZARAGOZA, Enero 2014. AC Consultores / El Periódico de Aragón". Electograph (in Spanish). 19 January 2014.
21. "El PSOE ganaría las elecciones en Zaragoza y el PP se desplomaría". El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 21 April 2013.

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. "ARAGÓN (Capitales), Abril 2015. Sondeo A+M". Electograph (in Spanish). 23 April 2015.
4. "Electoral Results Consultation. European Parliament. May 2014. Zaragoza Municipality". infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
5. "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. November 2011. Zaragoza Municipality". infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
6. "Local election results, 24 May 2015, in Valencia, Valladolid, Zamora, Zaragoza, Ceuta and Melilla provinces" (PDF). Central Electoral Commission (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 February 2018.
7. "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 2015. Zaragoza Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 March 2018.
8. "Municipal elections in Zaragoza since 1979". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 February 2018.