2015 Spanish local elections
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67,515 councillors in 8,122 municipal councils 1,040 seats in 38 provincial deputations | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Registered | 35,094,964  1.1% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 22,746,489 (64.8%) 1.4 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Provincial results map for municipal elections | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2015 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 24 May 2015, to elect all 67,515 councillors in the 8,122 municipalities of Spain and all 1,040 seats in 38 provincial deputations.[1] The elections were held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities, as well as local elections in the three foral deputations of the Basque Country and the ten island councils in the Balearic and Canary Islands.
Overview
Background
After Podemos' success in the European Parliament election of 2014, the party decided not to directly contest the local elections scheduled for May 2015, but instead to focus on the regional and general elections to be held throughout 2015. Instead, they opted for the Guanyem Barcelona formula, popular unity municipal candidacies comprising different parties and social movements. The model was reproduced in many cities under the name Ganemos (Let's Win).[2]
United Left, the traditional left-wing third party of Spain, also started debating on joining these local coalitions.[3] However, this option was not well received by some party sectors, particularly their Madrid branch, who feared that the party would lose its identity if it joined these coalitions.[4] The first attempt at a joint candidacy that included Podemos and United Left, among others, succeeded in Barcelona with Guanyem Barcelona, later Barcelona en Comú, under activist Ada Colau's leadership.[5]
Another national party that decided to participate in most of these unitary candidacies was Equo,[6] as well as minoritary parties like PUM+J, Socialist Alternative, Republican Alternative, ANOVA, or Initiative for Catalonia Greens.[7][8][9] The unitary lists also included individuals from social movements like the anti-eviction PAH, 15M, o the so-called mareas (Spanish for "tides") made up of workers from different service sectors like teachers, Public Health System workers or young people forced to migrate as a consequence of the 2008–15 Spanish financial crisis.
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 |
|---|---|
| <100 | 3 |
| 100–250 | 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 |
Councillors of municipalities with populations below 250 inhabitants were elected under an open list partial block voting, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties: for up to four candidates in municipalities with populations between 100 and 250 inhabitants; and for up to two candidates in municipalities below 100. This did not apply to municipalities whose geographical location or the best management of municipal interests or other circumstances made it advisable to be organized through the open council system (Spanish: régimen de concejo abierto), in which voters would directly elect the local major.[10][11][12]
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 a determined amount of the electors registered in the municipality for which they sought election:
- At least 1 percent of the electors in municipalities below 5,000 inhabitants, provided that the number of signers was more than double that of councillors at stake.
- At least 100 signatures in municipalities between 5,001 and 10,000.
- At least 500 signatures in municipalities between 10,001 and 50,000.
- At least 1,500 signatures in municipalities between 50,001 and 150,000.
- At least 3,000 signatures in municipalities between 150,001 and 300,000.
- At least 5,000 signatures in municipalities between 300,001 and 1,000,000.
- At least 8,000 signatures in municipalities over 1,000,001.
Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. 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.[10][11]
- 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 had foral deputations instead—called Juntas Generales—, whereas deputations for single-province autonomous communities were abolished: their functions transferred to the corresponding regional parliaments. 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, Ibiza and 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 | 25 |
| 500,001–1,000,000 | 27 |
| 1,000,001–3,500,000 | 31 |
| >3,500,001 | 51 |
Island councils and foral deputations were elected directly by electors under their own, specific electoral regulations.[10][11]
Opinion polls
Municipal elections
Overall
| Parties and coalitions | Popular vote | Councillors | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Total | +/- | |||||
| width="1" bgcolor="Template:People's Party (Spain)/meta/color"| | People's Party (PP) | 6,057,767 | 27.05 | –10.49 | 22,750 | –3,760 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Spanish Socialist Workers' Party/meta/color"| | Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) | 5,603,112 | 25.02 | –2.82 | 20,818 | –965 | |||
| rowspan="4" bgcolor="Template:Podemos (Spanish political party)/meta/color"| | We Can and allies (Podemos) | 1,689,254 | 7.54 | New | 699 | +699 | |||
| We Can–Popular Unity Candidacy (Podemos–CUP) | 35,953 | 0.16 | New | 28 | +28 | ||||
| bgcolor="Template:Citizens (Spanish political party)/meta/color"| | Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (C's) | 1,467,663 | 6.55 | +6.36 | 1,527 | +1,517 | |||
| rowspan="4" bgcolor="Template:United Left (Spain)/meta/color"| | United Left (IU) | 1,447,402 | 6.46 | –0.99 | 2,929 | +279 | |||
| Son–United Left–Anova (Son–EU–Anova)3 | 65,458 | 0.29 | +0.16 | 113 | +99 | ||||
| bgcolor="Template:Convergence and Union/meta/color"| | Convergence and Union (CiU) | 670,891 | 3.00 | –0.46 | 3,358 | –538 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Republican Left of Catalonia–Catalonia Yes/meta/color"| | Republican Left of Catalonia–Municipal Agreement (ERC–AM) | 513,169 | 2.29 | +1.08 | 2,388 | +966 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Coalició Compromís/meta/color"| | Commitment Coalition (Compromís) | 381,925 | 1.71 | +0.82 | 725 | +344 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Basque Nationalist Party/meta/color"| | Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) | 360,143 | 1.61 | +0.16 | 1,019 | +137 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:EH Bildu/meta/color"| | Basque Country Unite (EH Bildu)4 | 308,829 | 1.38 | –0.15 | 1,195 | +15 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Union, Progress and Democracy/meta/color"| | Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) | 232,917 | 1.04 | –1.02 | 129 | –23 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Popular Unity Candidacy/meta/color"| | Popular Unity Candidacy–Active People (CUP–PA) | 209,352 | 0.93 | +0.65 | 357 | +256 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Galician Nationalist Bloc/meta/color"| | Galician Nationalist Bloc–Open Assemblies (BNG) | 189,465 | 0.85 | –0.31 | 468 | –122 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Canarian Coalition/meta/color"| | Canarian Coalition–Canarian Nationalist Party (CC–PNC) | 156,543 | 0.70 | –0.24 | 305 | –99 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Andalusian Party/meta/color"| | Andalusian Party (PA) | 150,655 | 0.67 | –0.36 | 319 | –157 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Ganemos (2015)/meta/color"| | Let's Win (Ganemos) | 147,609 | 0.66 | New | 130 | +130 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Navarrese People's Union/meta/color"| | Navarrese People's Union (UPN) | 80,725 | 0.36 | –0.03 | 281 | –41 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:New Canaries/meta/color"| | New Canaries–Broad Front (NC–FA) | 74,745 | 0.33 | +0.08 | 90 | +28 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Regionalist Party of Cantabria/meta/color"| | Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC) | 71,952 | 0.32 | +0.01 | 325 | +3 | |||
| rowspan="3" bgcolor="Template:Més per Mallorca/meta/color"| | More (Més–MpM) | 66,795 | 0.30 | +0.13 | 153 | +66 | |||
| More for Menorca (MpM)6 | 6,376 | 0.03 | +0.01 | 23 | +16 | ||||
| bgcolor="Template:Asturias Forum/meta/color"| | Asturias Forum (FAC) | 65,567 | 0.29 | –0.25 | 83 | –75 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Vox (political party)/meta/color"| | Vox–Family and Life Party (Vox–PFyV) | 64,385 | 0.29 | New | 17 | +17 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Aragonese Party/meta/color"| | Aragonese Party (PAR) | 59,449 | 0.27 | –0.07 | 916 | –76 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals/meta/color"| | Anti-Bullfighting Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) | 53,118 | 0.24 | +0.12 | 0 | ±0 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Participatory Democracy/meta/color"| | Participatory Democracy (Participa) | 43,437 | 0.19 | New | 11 | +11 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Chunta Aragonesista/meta/color"| | Aragonese Union (CHA) | 42,119 | 0.19 | –0.05 | 163 | –21 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Equo/meta/color"| | Equo (eQuo)7 | 33,967 | 0.15 | –0.25 | 39 | –2 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Proposta per les Illes/meta/color"| | Proposal for the Isles (El Pi)8 | 31,913 | 0.14 | +0.02 | 90 | +18 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Geroa Bai/meta/color"| | Yes to the Future (GBai)9 | 29,593 | 0.13 | –0.03 | 59 | –11 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Citizens of Democratic Centre/meta/color"| | Citizens of Democratic Centre (CCD) | 28,846 | 0.13 | +0.10 | 46 | +33 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Platform for Catalonia/meta/color"| | Platform for Catalonia (PxC) | 27,384 | 0.12 | –0.17 | 8 | –59 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Alternativa Sí se puede/meta/color"| | Yes We Can Alternative (ASSP)10 | 25,691 | 0.11 | +0.03 | 40 | +20 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Yes We Can, Citizens' Alternative for Madrid/meta/color"| | Yes We Can, Citizens' Alternative for Madrid (SSPACxM) | 25,672 | 0.11 | New | 27 | +27 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:United (Canarian electoral alliance)/meta/color"| | United for Gran Canaria (Unidos)11 | 20,494 | 0.09 | +0.03 | 12 | +8 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Union for Leganés/meta/color"| | Union for Leganés (ULEG) | 19,463 | 0.09 | +0.03 | 6 | +2 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Blank Seats/meta/color"| | Blank Seats (EB) | 17,783 | 0.08 | New | 1 | +1 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Commitment to Galicia/meta/color"| | Commitment to Galicia–Transparent Councils (CxG–CCTT) | 17,592 | 0.08 | New | 41 | +41 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Leonese People's Union/meta/color"| | Leonese People's Union (UPL) | 16,946 | 0.08 | –0.01 | 139 | +4 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Citizens' Movement of Cartagena/meta/color"| | Citizens' Movement of Cartagena (MCC) | 14,545 | 0.06 | New | 5 | +5 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Ourensan Democracy/meta/color"| | Ourensan Democracy (DO) | 14,518 | 0.06 | +0.04 | 12 | +10 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Terra Galega/meta/color"| | Galician Land (TeGa) | 14,279 | 0.06 | ±0.00 | 29 | +6 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Extremaduran Coalition/meta/color"| | Extremadurans (eX)12 | 14,168 | 0.06 | +0.05 | 94 | +77 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Costa del Sol Sí Puede/meta/color"| | Costa del Sol Can... Tic Tac (CSSPTT) | 14,077 | 0.06 | New | 12 | +12 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Neighbors' Alternative/meta/color"| | Neighbors' Alternative (AV) | 13,885 | 0.06 | +0.02 | 18 | +7 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain/meta/color"| | Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) | 12,807 | 0.06 | +0.01 | 2 | +1 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Spain 2000/meta/color"| | Spain 2000 (E–2000) | 12,310 | 0.05 | –0.01 | 6 | +1 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Union of Independent Citizens/meta/color"| | Union of Independent Citizens (UCIN)13 | 12,042 | 0.05 | +0.02 | 50 | +17 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Canviem entre Tots/meta/color"| | Let's Change Between All (CET) | 11,187 | 0.05 | New | 14 | +14 | |||
| Yes We Can (SSP) | 11,152 | 0.05 | New | 16 | +16 | ||||
| bgcolor="Template:The Greens–Green Group/meta/color"| | The Greens–Green Group (LV–GV) | 11,145 | 0.05 | ±0.00 | 0 | –4 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Roque Aguayro/meta/color"| | Roque Aguayro (RA) | 10,744 | 0.05 | +0.01 | 17 | +3 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Riojan Party/meta/color"| | Riojan Party (PR+) | 9,704 | 0.04 | ±0.00 | 61 | +5 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Rivas Puede/meta/color"| | Rivas Can (Rivas Puede) | 9,513 | 0.04 | New | 6 | +6 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Mover Parla/meta/color"| | Move Parla (Mover Parla) | 9,131 | 0.04 | New | 6 | +6 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Party for Freedom (Spain)/meta/color"| | Party for Freedom–With Clean Hands (PxL) | 8,887 | 0.04 | New | 4 | +4 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Coalition for Melilla/meta/color"| | Coalition for Melilla (CpM) | 8,445 | 0.04 | +0.01 | 7 | +1 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Castilian Party/meta/color"| | Castilian Party–Commoners' Land (PCAS–TC) | 8,430 | 0.04 | –0.10 | 75 | –120 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Cordobese Union/meta/color"| | Cordobese Union (UCOR) | 8,227 | 0.04 | –0.07 | 1 | –4 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Catalan Solidarity for Independence/meta/color"| | Catalan Solidarity for Independence (SI) | 8,075 | 0.04 | –0.10 | 18 | –30 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Somos Coslada/meta/color"| | We Are Coslada (Somos Coslada) | 8,009 | 0.04 | New | 5 | +5 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Coalition for El Bierzo/meta/color"| | Coalition for El Bierzo (CB)14 | 7,846 | 0.04 | +0.03 | 38 | +34 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Left Movement/meta/color"| | Left Movement (MES) | 7,687 | 0.03 | New | 32 | +32 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Social Unity of Bierzo Electors/meta/color"| | Social Unity of Bierzo Electors (USE Bierzo) | 6,013 | 0.03 | New | 5 | +5 | |||
| bgcolor="Template:Confederation of the Greens/meta/color"| | The Greens of the Valencian Country (EVPV)15 | 5,241 | 0.02 | –0.03 | 5 | +5 | |||
| Others | 1,248,798 | 5.58 | — | 5,314 | +495 | ||||
| Blank ballots | 370,766 | 1.66 | –0.93 | ||||||
| Total | 22,395,963 | 100.00 | 67,515 | –715 | |||||
| Valid votes | 22,395,963 | 98.46 | +0.15 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 350,526 | 1.54 | –0.15 | ||||||
| Votes cast / turnout | 22,746,489 | 64.81 | –1.36 | ||||||
| Abstentions | 12,348,475 | 35.19 | +1.36 | ||||||
| Registered voters | 35,094,964 | ||||||||
| Sources[13][14] | |||||||||
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City control
The following table lists party control in provincial capitals, as well as in municipalities above or around 75,000.[15] Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.
Provincial deputations
Summary
Deputation control
The following table lists party control in provincial deputations.[1] Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.
References
- ^ a b c "Provincial deputation elections since 1979" (in Spanish). historiaelectoral.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ "Iglesias eludes the locals in order to arrive with strength to the general election". El Mundo (in Spanish). 22 September 2014.
- ^ "United Left plans to join the 'Ganemos'". El Mundo (in Spanish). 17 August 2014.
- ^ "Somos IU, against joining the Ganemos". El País (in Spanish). 6 November 2014.
- ^ "ICV, EUiA, Podemos, Guanyem and Procés Constituent work towards a joint list". Público (in Spanish). 25 November 2014.
- ^ "Equo joints the 'Ganemos' platforms for the locals". El País (in Spanish). 3 November 2014.
- ^ "We are part of Ganemos Madrid" (in Spanish). Porunmundomasjusto.es. 3 November 2014. Archived from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ "We are part of Ganemos Madrid". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 23 April 2015.
- ^ "Guanyem, ICV-EUiA and Podemos agree on their alliance in Barcelona". El País (in Spanish). 20 January 2015.
- ^ a b c General Electoral System Organic Law of 1985. Official State Gazette (Organic Law 5) (in Spanish). 19 June 1985. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ a b c "Representation of the people Institutional Act". juntaelectoralcentral.es. Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
- ^ Regulation of the Basis of Local Regimes Law of 1985. Official State Gazette (Law 7) (in Spanish). 2 April 1985. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 2015. National totals". infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ "Municipal elections (overall results 2015)" (in Spanish). historiaelectoral.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ "Municipal elections (city majors by party)". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Historia Electoral. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
| General elections |
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|---|---|
| Presidential elections | |
| European elections | |
| Local elections | |
| Regional elections | |
| Referendums | |
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