Valencia City Council election, 2015

Valencia City Council election, 2015
Valencia
24 May 2015
All 33 seats in the Valencia City Council
17 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered 582,804 Increase0.5%
Turnout 420,307 (72.1%)
Increase2.7 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Rita Barberá Joan Ribó Fernando Giner
Party PPCV Compromís C's
Leader since 1991 7 May 2010 28 March 2015
Last election 20 seats, 52.5% 3 seats, 9.0% Did not contest
Seats won 10 9 6
Seat change Decrease10 Increase6 Increase6
Popular vote 107,435 97,114 64,228
Percentage 25.8% 23.3% 15.4%
Swing Decrease26.7 pp Increase14.3 pp New party
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Joan Calabuig Jordi Peris Amadeu Sanchis
Party PSPV-PSOE VALC AC
Leader since 3 October 2010 10 April 2015 2004
Last election 8 seats, 21.8% Did not contest 2 seats, 8.7%[lower-alpha 1]
Seats won 5 3 0
Seat change Decrease3 Increase3 Decrease2
Popular vote 58,338 40,927 19,639
Percentage 14.0% 9.8% 4.7%
Swing Decrease7.8 pp New party Decrease4.0 pp

Most voted party by city district.
  PP
  Compromís
Mayor before election

Rita Barberá
PP

 Elected Mayor

Joan Ribó
Compromís

The 2015 Valencia City Council election was held on Sunday, 24 May 2015, to elect the 10th Valencia City Council, the unicameral local legislature of the municipality of Valencia. At stake were all 33 seats in the City Council.

The unveiling of a string of corruption scandals during the 2011–2015 period, coupled with a heavily criticised abuse of power and a perceived poor management of the economic situation, had taken its toll in the ruling People's Party (PP), which went on to suffer a dramatic decline, losing over half of its vote share and city councillors and scoring its worst result since 1991. The election turned into a surprising close race between the PP and Valencianist coalition Compromís, which nearly overcame the PP as the most-voted political force.

The Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV), unable to capitalize on the PP losses, continued on its long-term decline and fell to fourth place, its votes being swayed away by both Compromís and newly created Podemos-led Valencia in Common coalition. Centrist Citizens (C's), contesting a municipal election for the first time, turned into the third political force thanks to its caption of disenchanted PP voters, while historical United Left of the Valencian Country (EUPV), standing within the Acord Ciutadà coalition (Valencian for "Citizen Agreement"), was expelled from the City Council.

As a result of the election, with the PP unable to command a majority of seats in the City Council even with the support of C's, incumbent Mayor Rita Barberá was ousted from office after 24 years in power, being succeeded by Compromís candidate Joan Ribó. The 2015 election marked the end of the two decade-long PP political dominance over both the city and the whole of the Valencian Community, losing control of the regional government, as well as that of all provincial capitals and most major cities in the region, to left-wing coalitions and alliances.

Overview

Election date

Under article 42.3 if the Spanish electoral law, for local elections election day is automatically set for the fourth Sunday of May each four years.[1] As the previous Valencian City Council election had been held on 22 May 2011, the next election was scheduled to be held in the fourth Sunday of May 2015, corresponding to 24 May.

Electoral system

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

Inhabitants City 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

Additionally, for populations greater than 100,000, 1 city councillor was to be added per each 100,000 inhabitants or fraction, according to the most updated census data, and adding 1 more councillor if the resulting seat count gave an even number. As the updated population census for the 2015 election was around 800,000, the Valencia City Council size was set to 33 seats.

All City Council members were elected in a single multi-member district, consisting of the Valencia 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]

Background

People's Party (PP) candidate Rita Barberá was appointed to a sixth term as Mayor of Valencia after her party won a fifth consecutive absolute majority in the City Council in the 2011 election. Then-ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) had suffered a serious decline in popular support nationwide after Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's government had been forced to approve unpopular austerity measures to try to tackle the economic situation. The PP benefitted from the PSOE's collapse, which helped cement its landslide victory by an absolute majority of seats in the 2011 general election held on 20 November and paving the way for the investiture of Mariano Rajoy as new Prime Minister.

However, the PP in the city of Valencia had already shown signs of political wear in the 2011 election—when it suffered a slight decrease in support—as a result of Barberá's continuous tenure as city Mayor since 1991, as well as the unveiling of the Gürtel corruption scandal in 2009. The scandal would result in regional President Francisco Camps' resignation in July 2011, just one month after taking office, with Alberto Fabra succeeding him as regional premier.[2][3] The following years saw the unveiling of a series of corruption scandals that affected the PPCV, involving party MPs,[4] mayors,[5] local councillors,[6] two Courts' speakers[7] and that also reached former regional President José Luis Olivas.[8] The regional party leadership also had to cope with accusations of illegal financing[9] as well as possible embezzlement in the additional costs incurred in the Formula 1 project and Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 visit to Valencia, accusations that also reached Barberá's local government.[10][11]

At the same time, both the regional and local governments had to deal with the effects of an ongoing financial crisis. The regional executive was forced to ask for a bailout from the central government headed by Rajoy on July 2012,[12] with its economic situation remaining severe because of an high unemployment and debt. The decision of Fabra's government to close down RTVV, the regional public television broadcasting channel, because of financing issues, was also met with widespread protests.[13][14]

The 2014 European Parliament election, which resulted in enormous losses for the PP in the entire Valencian Community, paved the way for the rise of new parties Podemos, Compromís and Citizens, with the PSOE local branch, the Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV), finding itself unable to gain any of the PP's lost support.[15] As a result, the ruling PP faced the 2015 election with a severe decline in popular support, an increase of electoral competitiveness and the shadow of corruption looming over the local PP leadership.

Pre-election

Party slogans

Campaign

In April 2015, Compromís denounced Mayor Rita Barberá's expenses using public funds during 2011 and 2014, believing they could pose embezzlement as they were not related to municipal functions but to party acts. The leaked bills, a total of 466 throughout the legislature amounting to expenditures worth of 278,000 euros, included payments for air travels, train tickets, car trips, hotels and restaurants. Compromís candidate Joan Ribó commented that "in a time when there are 85,000 unemployed in Valencia and it is the city with the highest number of evictions per capita, it is obscene, unsupportive and unethical to find all these luxury expenses".[18]

During the election campaign, the public prosecutor announced that it would open an investigation on Barberá's expenses, which it would link to the already ongoing investigation on her because of luxury gifts worth 7,600 euros she would have allegedly received between 2007 and 2009 from a public body chaired by herself.[19] The unveiling of such practices was dubbed as the "Ritaleaks case"—in referente to Rita Barberá's name—by opposition parties, which believed that such expenses were part of a larger scheme that maintained an illegal funding of the Valencian PP through public funds.[20] The expenses scandal dominated the political landscape during campaign, with Barberá's herself being frequently booed during outdoor political acts in markets. She responded by saying she was being the target of a defamation campaign orchestrated by Compromís, and denied committing any wrongdoing or misuse of public money.[21]

Another related scandal, the "Imelsa case", shook the PP campaign as EUPV leaked recordings allegedly belonging to public entity Imelsa former director, Marcos Benavent. Such recordings involved senior party officials, such as Xàtiva Mayor and President of the Valencia Deputation Alfonso Rus, in an alleged illegal financing network of the Valencian PP.[22][23] The PP denounced Rus and expelled him from the party just 20 days ahead of the election, but he refused to withdraw as candidate and continued campaigning as an independent; the PP being unable to contest the local election in Xàtiva in a separate list.[24][25]

Opinion polls

Vote estimations

Poll results are listed in the tables below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first, and using the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. If such date is unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. When a specific poll does not show a data figure for a party, the party's cell corresponding to that poll is shown empty.

Polling Firm/Link Last Date
of Polling		 Margin
of Error		 Sample
Size		 Lead
Municipal Election May 24, 2015 25.8 14.0 23.3 4.7 1.4 15.4 9.8 2.5
Sigma Dos May 14, 2015 31.3 13.8 15.8 5.2 16.7 11.8 ±4.5 pp 500 14.6
Sigma Dos May 7, 2015 32.1 14.2 14.6 18.3 10.4 ±2.3 pp 1,800 13.8
GAD3 May 5, 2015 30.1 15.8 15.6 5.8 0.5 16.2 11.8 ±4.5 pp 500 13.9
Invest Group April 30, 2015 26.3 13.1 17.2 7.6 16.9 15.7 ±4.0 pp 600 9.1
Sigma Dos April 23, 2015 29.3 14.6 11.6 7.6 0.9 19.4 12.2 ±4.5 pp 400 9.9
My Word April 21, 2015 26.4 13.1 13.9 5.4 1.1 19.1 16.2 ±3.5 pp 500 7.3
CIS April 19, 2015 35.7 15.9 10.4 4.5 2.1 14.4 13.2 ±3.8 pp 710 19.8
Metroscopia April 15, 2015 23.5 13.9 12.2 6.0 22.0 18.2 ±4.1 pp 600 1.5
Sigma Dos March 27, 2015 31.8 14.6 12.0 4.4 1.6 16.7 15.8 ±4.5 pp 500 14.8
Sigma Dos March 16, 2015 30.3 13.4 14.6 7.1 4.7 11.3 15.5 ±4.5 pp 500 14.8
ODEC March 15, 2015 28.2 20.2 13.2 5.2 2.3 13.3 13.3 ±3.2 pp 1,000 8.0
EP Election May 25, 2014 28.3 16.8 9.0 11.2 9.5 3.6 8.6 11.5
Compromís March 29, 2013 34.7 15.1 15.2 14.1 14.0 ±3.5 pp 800 19.5
General Election November 20, 2011 52.5 23.9 5.9 7.2 7.5 28.6
Municipal Election May 22, 2011 52.5 21.8 9.0 7.2 2.8 30.7

City councillor projections

Opinion polls showing city councillor projections are displayed in the table below. The highest seat figures in each polling survey have their background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. 17 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Valencia City Council.

Color key:

      Exit poll

17 seats needed for majority
Polling Firm/Link Last Date
of Polling
Municipal Election May 24, 2015 10 5 9 0 0 6 3
GAD3 May 24, 2015 11/12 6/7 5/6 0 0 5/6 4/5
Sigma Dos May 14, 2015 11/12 5 5/6 0/2 0 6 4
Sigma Dos May 7, 2015 11/12 4/5 5 0/1 0 6/7 3
GAD3 May 5, 2015 11 5 5 2 0 6 4
Invest Group April 30, 2015 9/10 4/5 6 2 0 6 5
Sigma Dos April 23, 2015 11 5 4 2 0 7 4
My Word April 21, 2015 9/10 4/5 4/5 1/2 0 6/7 5/6
CIS April 19, 2015 13 6 4 0 0 5 5
Metroscopia April 15, 2015 8 5 4 2 0 8 6
Sigma Dos March 27, 2015 11/13 5/6 4 0 0 6 5/6
Sigma Dos March 16, 2015 11/12 4/5 5 2 0/1 4 5/6
ODEC March 15, 2015 10 7 5 1 9 5 5
PP February 24, 2015 15/16 6/7 2/3 1 0/1 1/2 5/6
Llorente & Cuenca October 31, 2014 13/16 6/8 3/4 1/2 1 0 5/7
EP Election May 25, 2014 (12) (7) (3) (4) (4) (0) (3)
Compromís March 29, 2013 13 5 5 5 5
General Election November 20, 2011 (19) (8) (2) (2) (2)
Municipal Election May 22, 2011 20 8 3 2 0

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 24 May 2015 Valencia City Council election results
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Won +/−
People's Party of the Valencian Community (PPCV) 107,435 25.77 Decrease26.77 10 Decrease10
Commitment Coalition (Compromís) 97,114 23.30 Increase14.27 9 Increase6
Citizens-Party of the Citizenry (C's) 64,228 15.41 New 6 Increase6
Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV-PSOE) 58,338 14.00 Decrease7.76 5 Decrease3
Valencia in Common (VALC) 40,927 9.82 New 3 Increase3
Citizen Agreement (EUPV-EV-ERPV-AS:AC)[lower-alpha 1] 19,639 4.71 Decrease4.01 0 Decrease2
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) 5,757 1.38 Decrease1.45 0 ±0
Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) 4,518 1.08 Increase0.63 0 ±0
Vox (VOX) 3,353 0.80 New 0 ±0
We Are Valencian (SOMVAL) 2,976 0.71 New 0 ±0
Democratic People (Poble) 2,877 0.69 New 0 ±0
Spain 2000 (E-2000) 1,391 0.33 Decrease0.15 0 ±0
Blank Seats (Eb) 773 0.19 New 0 ±0
United (Junts) 646 0.15 Increase0.08 0 ±0
Forward (Avant) 542 0.13 New 0 ±0
United by Valencia (UxV) 511 0.12 Decrease0.05 0 ±0
Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) 446 0.11 ±0.00 0 ±0
Neo-Democrats (Neodemócratas) 307 0.07 New 0 ±0
Republican Social Movement (MSR) 270 0.06 New 0 ±0
Libertarian Party (P-LIB) 228 0.05 New 0 ±0
Blank ballots 4,568 1.10 Decrease1.08
Total 416,844 100.00 33 ±0
Valid votes 416,844 99.18 Increase0.46
Invalid votes 3,463 0.82 Decrease0.46
Votes cast / turnout 420,307 72.12 Increase2.71
Abstentions 162,497 27.88 Decrease2.71
Registered voters 582,804
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Vote share
PPCV
  
 25.77%
Compromís
  
 23.30%
C's
  
 15.41%
PSPV-PSOE
  
 14.00%
VALC
  
 9.82%
EUPV-EV-ERPV-AS:AC
  
 4.71%
UPyD
  
 1.38%
PACMA
  
 1.08%
Others
  
 3.38%
Blank ballots
  
 1.10%
Parliamentary seats
PPCV
  
 30.30%
Compromís
  
 27.27%
C's
  
 18.18%
PSPV-PSOE
  
 15.15%
VALC
  
 9.09%

Results by district

Aftermath

Consequences

As election results were known, Mayor Rita Barberá conceded defeat to oppositor Joan Ribó from Compromís, whose surprise results (9 city councillors and 23.3% of the vote) allowed him to be appointed as new Mayor through an alliance with both the PSPV and the Valencia in Common coalition, as all three commanded an absolute majority of seats together. The PP had hoped to rely on support from newcomer centrist Citizens, but its 6 seats, together with PP's 10, meant that they fell 1 seat short of an overall majority. Compromís' historic result came mostly at the cost of a declining PSPV, which fell to fourth place and obtained its worst result in history.

On her concession speech, Barberá stated that "I come with dignity, pride and gratitude to all Valencians that have allowed me to be Mayor for 24 years". On her party's result, which lost half of its 2011 vote and city councillors, she commented that "it is a bad result, I will not hide from it".[26] The shock from the PP collapse was such that, in a spontaneous reaction after learning of the election results, Barberá was recorded by cameras as saying "¡Qué hostia!...¡Qué hostia!" (Spanish for "What a whack!... what a whack!") while embracing a party colleague amid tears.[27]

The PP had still hoped that a last-minute failure from the three left-wing parties in reaching an agreement would allow Barberá to be re-elected to the post, as under the Spanish municipal electoral law, the candidate of the most-voted party was to be automatically elected in the event that no other candidate received an absolute majority of votes in the first round. However, on 13 June, Joan Ribó was appointed as new Mayor of Valencia thanks to the votes of the PSPV and VALC. Barberá, who had renounced her seat in the city council the previous day, did not attend Ribó's appointment.[28] The new PP local leader, Alfonso Novo, congratulated Ribó on his election and said the PP would maintain "institutional loyalty, but also firmness and exemplariness" in the new party's role as "opposition and control."[29]

Just seven months later, on 26 January 2016, a major police operation in Valencia would result in the arrest of several high-ranking members from the Valencian PP regional and local branches, as a consequence of the ongoing investigation on the PP's corruption in the region during its time in government.[30] Several days later, on 1 February, all 10 PP city councillors in the Valencia City Council, including Novo himself, would be charged for a money laundering offense, related to the party's illegal financing in the Valencian Community.[31] Judicial investigation pointed to former Mayor Rita Barberá also being involved in the scandal—that also covered the possible illegal funding of her 2015 election run[32]—with her arrest or imputation only being prevented by the fact she had legal protection as an incumbent senator.[33]

Investiture vote

First round: 13 June 2015
Absolute majority (17/33) required
Choice Vote
Parties Votes
YesJoan Ribó Compromís (9), PSPV (5), VALC (3)
17 / 33
Alfonso Novo PPCV (10)
10 / 33
Fernando Giner C's (6)
6 / 33

Notes

  1. 1 2 Compared to the United Left of the Valencian Country+Greens and Ecopacifists+Republican Left of the Valencian Country results in the 2011 election.

References

  1. 1 2 "Organic Law 5/1985, of 19 June, of the General Electoral Regime. Title III, Special Provisions for Municipal Elections.".
  2. ↑ "Francisco Camps resigns" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2011-07-21.
  3. ↑ "Alberto Fabra replaces Camps at the head of the PPCV and the Generalitat" (in Spanish). El País. 2011-07-21.
  4. ↑ "The presence of 20% of accused MPs divides the Valencian PP" (in Spanish). El País. 2013-06-29.
  5. ↑ "Judge charges Castedo again for benefitting the constructor Ortiz" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2014-09-19.
  6. ↑ "The PP has fifty defendants in municipal offices" (in Spanish). El País. 2015-01-10.
  7. ↑ "Juan Cotino, accused for the contracts with Gürtel during the Pope's visit" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2014-11-10.
  8. ↑ "Olivas, imputed for tax fraud in the advising of Vicente Cotino" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2014-06-02.
  9. ↑ "The Judge processes 19 people for the illegal financing of the Valencian PP" (in Spanish). El País. 2014-12-16.
  10. ↑ "The corruption in the Valencian PP, from A to Z" (in Spanish). El Diario. 2014-08-11.
  11. ↑ "The Valencian bonfire of PP corruption" (in Spanish). El País. 2014-11-16.
  12. ↑ "The Valencian Community asks for a bailout" (in Spanish). Público. 2012-07-20.
  13. ↑ "Fabra closes down the Valencian television after Justice's overthrowing of the ERE" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2013-11-05.
  14. ↑ "Protests for the closing down of Channel 9 encircle Fabra and isolate the PP" (in Spanish). El Diario. 2013-12-04.
  15. ↑ "The PP vote collapses in the largest cities and gives the key to minority parties" (in Spanish). El País. 2014-05-06.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "These are the slogans for the 24-M" (in Spanish). ABC. 2015-05-07.
  17. ↑ "Compromís offers itself as a choice able to manage reforms and pacts" (in Spanish). El País. 2015-04-08.
  18. ↑ "Compromís brings to the Prosecutor Rita Barberá's expenditures" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2015-05-23.
  19. ↑ "Prosecution investigates 7,600 euros in luxury gifts for Rita Barberá" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2014-12-28.
  20. ↑ "Prosecution will also investigate Barberá for the 'Ritaleaks case'" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2014-12-28.
  21. ↑ "Rita Barberá suffers another boycott attempt during an election campaign act" (in Spanish). ABC. 2015-05-18.
  22. ↑ "Imelsa case: Rus counts money in a recording; "one thousand, two thousand, three thousand... two million pesetas"" (in Spanish). 20 Minutos. 2015-05-03.
  23. ↑ "The 'Imelsa case' disturbs Fabra and Barberá's campaigns" (in Spanish). El País. 2015-05-09.
  24. ↑ "Fabra expels Rus for corruption just 20 days before the election" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2015-05-03.
  25. ↑ "Alfonso Rus will be Xàtiva PP candidate despite being suspended" (in Spanish). ABC. 2015-05-22.
  26. ↑ "Rita Barberá's debacle, Joan Ribó could be Mayor of Valencia" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2015-05-25.
  27. ↑ "Rita Barberá's 'whack'" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2015-05-25.
  28. ↑ "Joan Ribó, Mayor of Valencia" (in Spanish). Levante EMV. 2015-06-13.
  29. ↑ "Barberá's absence from the local authority marks some moments of the new City Council's constitution" (in Spanish). Europa Press. 2015-06-13.
  30. ↑ "24 arrested in an anti-corruption operation centered in Valencia" (in Spanish). El País. 2016-01-26.
  31. ↑ "Judge charges all PP city councillors for money laundering of Barberá's illegal funds" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2016-02-01.
  32. ↑ "Génova demands Rita Barberá to explain her campaign" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2016-02-01.
  33. ↑ "Corruption investigation in Valencia points to Rita Barberá" (in Spanish). El País. 2016-01-26.
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