Madrid City Council election, 1983

Madrid City Council election, 1983

8 May 1983

All 57 seats in the Madrid City Council 29 seats needed for a majority Registered 2,382,260 0.1% Turnout 1,652,621 (69.4%) 3.4 pp   First party Second party Third party   Leader Enrique Tierno Galván Jorge Verstrynge Adolfo Pastor Party PSM-PSOE CP PCE Leader since 1979 1983 1983 Last election 25 seats, 39.5% Did not stand 9 seats, 14.7% Seats won 30 23 4 Seat change 5 23 5 Popular vote 803,983 627,189 113,150 Percentage 48.7% 38.0% 6.9% Swing 9.2 pp New party 7.8 pp

Mayor before election Enrique Tierno Galván PSM-PSOE Elected Mayor Enrique Tierno Galván PSM-PSOE

The 1983 Madrid City Council election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 2nd Madrid City Council, the unicameral local legislature of the municipality of Madrid. At stake were all seats in the City Council, determining the Mayor of Madrid. The number of members decreased from 59 to 57 compared to the previous election.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) won with an absolute majority of 30 seats and 48.7% of the vote, the only time in history it has done so. The People's Coalition, the electoral alliance led by the People's Alliance (AP) and including the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL), consolidated its gains made in the 1982 general election and emerged as the second political force in the city, with 38.0% and 23 seats. Meanwhile, the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) vote fell as a result of PSOE's growth, losing over half of its seats and obtaining 4.

The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) had collapsed in the October general election, and was disbanded in early 1983. Several UCD split parties such as Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) or former Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez' Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) stood in this election, but failed to win any seats.

As a result of the election, Enrique Tierno Galván, was re-elected as Mayor of Madrid for a second term in office. Tierno Galván would die halfway throughout his term of natural causes, being substituted by party colleague Juan Barranco.

Electoral system

The number of seats in the Madrid City Council was determined by the population count. According to the municipal electoral law, the population-seat relationship on each municipality was to be established on the following scale:

Inhabitants	Seats
<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

Additionally, for populations greater than 100,000, 1 seat was to be added per each 100,000 inhabitants or fraction, according to the most updated census data, and adding 1 more seat if the resulting seat count gives an even number. As the updated population census for the 1983 election was 3,158,818, the Madrid City Council size was set to 57 seats.

All City Council members were elected in a single multi-member district, consisting of the Madrid municipality, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 5% of valid votes in all of the municipality (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.

The Spanish municipal electoral law established a clause stating that, if no candidate was to gather an absolute majority of votes to be elected as mayor of a municipality, the candidate of the most-voted party would be automatically elected to the post.^[1]

Results

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

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	803,983	48.65	9.16	30	5
	People's Coalition (AP-PDP-UL)	627,189	37.95	New	23	23
	Communist Party of Spain (PCE)	113,150	6.85	7.84	4	5
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	50,254	3.04	New	0	±0
	Liberal Democratic Party (PDL)	44,058	2.67	New	0	±0
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	5,807	0.35	New	0	±0
	Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE)	3,366	0.20	0.13	0	±0
	Natural Culture (CN)	2,388	0.14	New	0	±0
	Revolutionary Communist League (LCR)	1,566	0.09	0.02	0	±0
	People's Fight Coalition (CLP)	860	0.05	New	0	±0
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	0	0.00	40.29	0	25
	Blank ballots	0	0.00	±0.00
Total		1,652,621	100.00		57	2
Valid votes		1,652,621	100.00	±0.00
Invalid votes		0	0.00	±0.00
Votes cast / turnout		1,652,621	69.37	3.39
Abstentions		729,639	30.63	3.39
Registered voters		2,382,260
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Vote share
PSOE			48.65%
AP-PDP-UL			37.95%
PCE			6.85%
CDS			3.04%
PDL			2.67%
Others			0.84%
Blank ballots			0.00%

City council seats
PSOE			52.63%
AP-PDP-UL			40.35%
PCE			7.02%

References

1. "Law 39/1978, of 17 July, of local elections.".