1979 Spanish local elections

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Impru20 (talk | contribs) at 01:54, 3 January 2018 (→‎Electoral system: clean up, replaced: electors entered in electoral register of → electors registered in, constituency → municipality using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Spanish local elections, 1979
← 1976 3 April 1979 1983 →
67,505 councillors in 7,870 municipal councils
1,152 seats in 43 provincial deputations
Registered26,591,013
Turnout16,621,868 (62.5%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Adolfo Suárez Felipe González Santiago Carrillo
Party UCD PSOE PCE
Leader since 3 May 1977 13 October 1974 3 July 1960
Popular vote 5,067,634 4,621,672 2,142,049
Percentage 30.9% 28.2% 13.0%
Councillors 29,288 12,069 3,725
Seats 717 279 62
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Jordi Pujol Manuel Fraga Carlos Garaikoetxea
Party CiU CD EAJ/PNV
Leader since 19 September 1978 9 October 1976 1977
Popular vote 509,128 504,780 361,160
Percentage 3.1% 3.1% 2.2%
Councillors 1,782 2,383 1,093
Seats 45 29 —
Provincial results map for municipal elections

The 1979 Spanish local elections were held on Tuesday, 3 April 1979, to elect all 67,505 councillors in the 7,870 municipalities of Spain and all 1,152 seats in 43 provincial deputations.[1][2] The elections were held simultaneously with local elections in the four foral deputations of the Basque Country and Navarre and the ten island councils in the Balearic and Canary Islands.

While the national ruling Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) emerged as the largest party overall, an alliance between the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) saw municipal control over the main urban areas switching to left-wing parties.[3][4]

Electoral system

Municipal elections

Municipalities in Spain were local corporations with independent legal personality. They had a governing body, the municipal council or corporation, composed of a mayor, deputy mayors and a plenary assembly of councillors. Voting for the local assemblies was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all nationals over eighteen, registered in the corresponding municipality and in full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote. The mayor was in turn elected by the plenary assembly, with a legal clause providing for the candidate of the most-voted party to be automatically elected to the post in the event no other candidate was to gather an absolute majority of votes.

Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of 5 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. 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

Additionally, municipalities below 25 inhabitants, as well as those having traditionally adopted it, were to be organized through the open council system (Spanish: régimen de concejo abierto), in which electors would directly vote for the local major.[5]

The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of at least 0.1 percent of the electors registered in the municipality for which they sought election—needing to secure, in any case, the signature of 500 electors—. Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates.[6] Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.[5]

Deputations and island councils

Provincial deputations were the governing bodies of provinces in Spain, having an administration role of municipal activities and composed of a provincial president, an administrative body, and a plenary. Basque provinces and Navarre had foral deputations instead—called Juntas Generales in the Basque Country—. For insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, deputations were replaced by island councils in each of the islands or group of islands. For Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza–Formentera this figure was referred to in Spanish as consejo insular (Catalan: consell insular), whereas for Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma its name was cabildo insular.

Most deputations were indirectly elected by local councillors from municipalities in each judicial district. Seats were allocated to provincial deputations based on the following scale:

Population Seats
<500,000 24
500,001–1,000,000 27
>1,000,001 30
Madrid and Barcelona 51

Island councils and the foral deputations of Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Navarre were elected directly by electors under their own, specific electoral regulations.[5]

Results

Municipal elections

Overall

Councillor share for different parties in the election.

  UCD (43.39%)
  PSOE (17.88%)
  PCE (5.51%)
  CD (3.53%)
  CiU (2.64%)
  PNV (1.62%)
  PAR (0.41%)
  HB (0.40%)
  PSA–PA (0.38%)
  BNPG (0.38%)
  PTE (0.34%)
  ERC–FNC (0.31%)
  Other (23.21%)
Summary of the 3 April 1979 municipal election results →
Parties and coalitions Popular vote Councillors
Votes % ±pp Won +/−
width="1" bgcolor="Template:Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain)/meta/color"| Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 5,067,634 30.87 — 29,288 —
bgcolor="Template:Spanish Socialist Workers' Party/meta/color"| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 4,621,672 28.15 — 12,069 —
bgcolor="Template:Communist Party of Spain/meta/color"| Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 2,142,049 13.05 — 3,725 —
bgcolor="Template:Convergence and Union/meta/color"| Convergence and Union (CiU) 509,128 3.10 — 1,782 —
bgcolor="Template:Democratic Coalition (Spain)/meta/color"| Democratic Coalition (CD) 504,780 3.07 — 2,383 —
bgcolor="Template:Basque Nationalist Party/meta/color"| Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) 361,160 2.20 — 1,093 —
bgcolor="Template:Andalusian Party/meta/color"| Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA) 245,507 1.50 — 259 —
bgcolor="Template:Herri Batasuna/meta/color"| Popular Unity (HB) 164,516 1.00 — 267 —
bgcolor="Template:Party of Labour of Spain/meta/color"| Party of Labour of Spain (PTE) 148,083 0.90 — 229 —
bgcolor="Template:Workers' Revolutionary Organization (Spain)/meta/color"| Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT) 114,539 0.70 — 107 —
bgcolor="Template:Republican Left of Catalonia/meta/color"| Republican Left of Catalonia–National Front of Catalonia (ERC–FNC) 103,547 0.63 — 210 —
bgcolor="Template:Communist Movement (Spain)/meta/color"| Communist Movement–Organization of Communist Left (MC–OIC) 86,792 0.53 — 59 —
bgcolor="Template:Galician National-Popular Bloc/meta/color"| Galician National-Popular Bloc (BNPG) 78,216 0.48 — 258 —
bgcolor="Template:Galician Unity/meta/color"| Galician Unity (PG–POG–PSG) 69,060 0.42 — 141 —
bgcolor="Template:National Union (Spain)/meta/color"| National Union (UN) 61,889 0.38 — 122 —
bgcolor="Template:Euskadiko Ezkerra/meta/color"| Basque Country Left (EE) 59,332 0.36 — 84 —
bgcolor="Template:Regionalist Aragonese Party/meta/color"| Regionalist Aragonese Party (PAR) 58,661 0.36 — 276 —
bgcolor="Template:Canarian People's Union/meta/color"| Canarian People's Union (UPC) 55,779 0.34 — 30 —
bgcolor="Template:Socialist Action Party (Spain)/meta/color"| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (historical) (PSOEh) 26,585 0.16 — 45 —
bgcolor="Template:Regionalist Party of Cantabria/meta/color"| Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC) 23,870 0.15 — 81 —
bgcolor="Template:Revolutionary Communist League (Spain)/meta/color"| Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) 18,390 0.11 — 7 —
bgcolor="Template:Valencian Regional Union/meta/color"| Valencian Regional Union (URV) 18,015 0.11 — 2 —
Blank ballots 20,038 0.12 —
Total 16,415,695 100.00 67,505 —
Valid votes 16,415,695 98.76 —
Invalid votes 206,173 1.24 —
Votes cast / turnout 16,621,868 62.51 —
Abstentions 9,969,145 37.49 —
Registered voters 26,591,013
Sources[7][8]
Popular vote
UCD
 
 30.87%
PSOE
 
 28.15%
PCE
 
 13.05%
CiU
 
 3.10%
CD
 
 3.07%
EAJ/PNV
 
 2.20%
PSA–PA
 
 1.50%
HB
 
 1.00%
Others
 
 16.93%
Blank ballots
 
 0.12%

Provincial capitals

In the following table, rows in bold indicate the winning party in a municipality, whereas background-coloured rows indicate the ruling party in a municipality.

Summary of provincial capital control after the 3 April 1979 municipal election[9]
Municipality Population Seats UCD PSOE PCE CiU CD PNV PSA HB UG UPC Others
style="background:Template:Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain)/meta/color"| style="background:Template:Spanish Socialist Workers' Party/meta/color"| style="background:Template:Communist Party of Spain/meta/color"| style="background:Template:Convergence and Union/meta/color"| style="background:Template:Democratic Coalition (Spain)/meta/color"| style="background:Template:Basque Nationalist Party/meta/color"| style="background:Template:Andalusian Party/meta/color"| style="background:Template:Herri Batasuna/meta/color"| style="background:Template:Galician Unity/meta/color"| style="background:Template:Canarian People's Union/meta/color"|
A Coruña 224,289 27 8 6 2 4 5 BNPG 2
Albacete 105,408 27 11 11 5
Alicante 232,019 27 10 13 4
Almería 133,844 27 11 10 3 3
Ávila 37,302 21 15 5 1
Badajoz 110,290 27 14 10 3
Barcelona 1,886,921 43 8 16 9 8 ERC–FNC 2
Bilbao 450,661 29 5 4 13 6 EE 1
Burgos 145,473 27 12 8 2 3 Ind. 2
Cáceres 63,181 25 10 9 2 AEC 4
Cádiz 153,327 27 12 9 2 4
Castellón de la Plana 115,522 27 10 12 2 1 EIC 2
Ciudad Real 48,075 21 10 8 1 Ind. 2
Córdoba 269,998 27 7 7 8 5
Cuenca 38,601 21 14 6 1
Girona 83,929 25 5 9 4 7
Granada 225,034 27 11 6 3 6 CGT 1
Guadalajara 47,758 21 7 4 7 UN 3
Huelva 122,494 27 8 7 2 6 ORT 2, GIH 2
Huesca 38,095 21 10 7 1 IdH 2, MC 1
Jaén 88,968 25 10 7 3 1 4
Las Palmas 345,925 29 14 4 9 AdeV 2
León 120,761 27 10 10 4 3
Lleida 106,190 27 8 9 5 3 ERC–FNC 2
Logroño 103,097 27 12 10 1 3 ORT 1
Lugo 71,574 25 8 4 4 Ind. 4, CIL 3, BNPG 2
Madrid 3,355,720 59 25 25 9
Málaga 454,882 29 7 11 7 4
Murcia 283,552 27 12 13 2
Ourense 88,029 25 9 5 2 5 BNPG 2, Ind. 2
Oviedo 179,866 27 12 11 2 2
Palencia 65,896 25 11 9 3 2
Palma 283,113 27 13 10 2 PSM 2
Pamplona 173,255 27 8 5 2 7 UPN 5
Pontevedra 63,863 25 9 3 1 1 6 Ind. 4, BNPG 1
Salamanca 141,474 27 13 11 3
San Sebastián 174,818 27 5 4 9 6 EE 3
Santa Cruz de Tenerife 183,583 27 10 5 2 6 AL 4
Santander 174,809 27 10 7 2 3 PRC 4, PTC 1
Segovia 48,623 21 13 7 1
Seville 622,532 31 9 8 6 8
Soria 28,845 21 8 6 1 3 AEI 1, Ind. 1, GIS 1
Tarragona 108,131 27 6 8 6 4 CPV 2, ERC–FNC 1
Teruel 24,590 21 10 5 1 AET 5
Toledo 54,999 25 11 7 5 1 UN 1
Valencia 737,129 33 13 13 6 URV 1
Valladolid 308,523 29 9 13 4 1 Ind. 2
Vitoria-Gasteiz 181,216 27 8 6 10 Ind. 3
Zamora 54,819 25 11 9 3 UZI 2
Zaragoza 555,424 31 7 11 4 PAR 7, PTA 2
Aggregate total 13,716,427 1,354 502 426 141 22 47 34 40 19 11 15 97
Total control 20 23 1 — — 3 1 — 1 1 —

Provincial deputations

Summary of the 3 April 1979 provincial deputations election results →
Parties and coalitions Seats
Won +/−
width="1" bgcolor="Template:Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain)/meta/color"| Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 717 —
bgcolor="Template:Spanish Socialist Workers' Party/meta/color"| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 279 —
bgcolor="Template:Communist Party of Spain/meta/color"| Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 62 —
bgcolor="Template:Convergence and Union/meta/color"| Convergence and Union (CiU) 45 —
bgcolor="Template:Democratic Coalition (Spain)/meta/color"| Democratic Coalition (CD) 29 —
bgcolor="Template:Regionalist Aragonese Party/meta/color"| Regionalist Aragonese Party (PAR) 4 —
bgcolor="Template:Galician National-Popular Bloc/meta/color"| Galician National-Popular Bloc (BNPG) 3 —
bgcolor="Template:Andalusian Party/meta/color"| Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA) 2 —
bgcolor="Template:Galician Unity/meta/color"| Galician Unity (PG–POG–PSG) 2 —
bgcolor="Template:Party of Labour of Spain/meta/color"| Party of Labour of Spain (PTE) 1 —
bgcolor="Template:Regionalist Party of Cantabria/meta/color"| Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC) 1 —
bgcolor="Template:Spanish Ruralist Party/meta/color"| Spanish Ruralist Party (PRE) 1 —
bgcolor="Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color"| Independents (INDEP) 6 —
Total 1,152 —
Sources[10]

References

  1. ^ "Elecciones Municipales en España 1979-2011". interior.gob.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  2. ^ Lozano, Carles; Manchobas, José Luis. "Elecciones a Diputaciones Provinciales 1979". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Historia Electoral. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Pacto PSOE-PCE para lograr ayuntamientos con mayoría de la izquierda". El País (in Spanish). 5 April 1979. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Primeras elecciones municipales". Canal Historia (in Spanish). 3 April 1979. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Local Elections Law of 1978. Official State Gazette (Law) (in Spanish). 17 July 1978. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  6. ^ Electoral Rules Decree of 1977. Official State Gazette (Royal Decree-Law 20) (in Spanish). 18 March 1977. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. April 1979. National totals". infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  8. ^ "Municipal elections (overall results 1979-2015)" (in Spanish). historiaelectoral.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Municipal elections since 1979". historiaelectoral.com (in Catalan). Historia Electoral. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Provincial deputation elections 1979" (in Spanish). historiaelectoral.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1979_Spanish_local_elections&oldid=818353311"