2003 Barcelona City Council election

Barcelona City Council election, 2003

25 May 2003
All 41 seats in the Barcelona City Council 21 seats needed for a majority
Registered	1,281,534 5.3%
Turnout	759,197 (59.2%) 7.7 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Joan Clos Xavier Trias Alberto Fernández Díaz Party PSC CiU PP Leader since 26 September 1997 25 April 2002 16 July 2002 Last election 20 seats, 45.2% 10 seats, 21.7% 6 seats, 14.9% Seats won 15 9 7 Seat change 5 1 1 Popular vote 254,223 162,010 121,991 Percentage 33.6% 21.4% 16.1% Swing 11.6 pp 0.3 pp 1.2 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Jordi Portabella Imma Mayol Party ERC Initiative for Catalonia Greens–United and Alternative Left Leader since 1999 1998 Last election 3 seats, 6.5% 2 seats, 7.6% Seats won 5 5 Seat change 2 3 Popular vote 96,868 91,286 Percentage 12.8% 12.1% Swing 6.3 pp 4.4 pp
Mayor before election Joan Clos PSC Elected Mayor Joan Clos PSC

The 2003 Barcelona City Council election was held on Sunday, 25 May 2003, to elect the 7th Barcelona City Council, the unicameral local legislature of the municipality of Barcelona. At stake were all 41 seats in the City Council, determining the Mayor of Barcelona.

Electoral system

The number of seats in the Barcelona 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 2003 election was 1,527,190, the Barcelona City Council size was set to 41 seats.

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

Results

← Summary of the 25 May 2003 Barcelona City Council election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
width="1" bgcolor="Template:Socialists' Party of Catalonia/meta/color" |	Socialists' Party of Catalonia-Municipal Progress (PSC-PM)	254,223	33.60	11.59	15	5
bgcolor="Template:Convergence and Union/meta/color" |	Convergence and Union (CiU)	162,010	21.41	0.28	9	1
bgcolor="Template:People's Party of Catalonia/meta/color" |	People's Party of Catalonia (PPC)	121,991	16.12	1.25	7	1
bgcolor="Template:Republican Left of Catalonia/meta/color" |	Republican Left of Catalonia-Municipal Agreement (ERC-AM)	96,868	12.80	6.28	5	2
bgcolor="Template:Initiative for Catalonia Greens–United and Alternative Left/meta/color" |	Initiative for Catalonia Greens-Progress Agreement (ICV-EUiA-EP)	91,286	12.07	4.44	5	3
	The Greens-Ecopacifists (EV-EC)	5,449	0.72	New	0	±0
	The Greens and More (ViM)	3,955	0.52	New	0	±0
	The Greens-Green Alternative (EV-AV)	3,209	0.42	New	0	±0
	Another Democracy is Possible (OtraDem)	1,143	0.15	New	0	±0
bgcolor="Template:Blank Seats/meta/color" |	Unsubmissive Seats (Ei)	731	0.10	New	0	±0

Parties with less than 0.1% of the vote		3,023	0.40	–	0	±0
	The Falange (FE)	604	0.08	0.01	0	±0
	Catalan State (EC)	582	0.08	±0.00	0	±0
bgcolor="Template:Democratic and Social Centre (Spain)/meta/color" |	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	539	0.07	0.04	0	±0
bgcolor="Template:Humanist Party (Spain)/meta/color"|	Humanist Party (PH)	503	0.07	±0.00	0	±0
bgcolor="Template:Platform for Catalonia/meta/color" |	Platform for Catalonia (PxC)	333	0.04	New	0	±0
	Internationalist Fight (LI (LIT-CI))	264	0.03	New	0	±0
	European National State (N)	198	0.03	±0.00	0	±0

	Blank ballots	12,679	1.68	0.21
Total		756,567	100.00		41	±0
Valid votes		756,567	99.65	0.09
Invalid votes		2,630	0.35	0.09
Votes cast / turnout		759,197	59.24	7.71
Abstentions		522,337	40.76	7.71
Registered voters		1,281,534
Source: Ministry of the Interior

Vote share PSC-PM   33.60% CiU   21.41% PPC   16.12% ERC-AM   12.80% ICV-EUiA-EP   12.07% Others   2.32% Blank ballots   1.68%

City council seats PSC-PM   36.59% CiU   21.95% PPC   17.07% ERC-AM   12.20% ICV-EUiA-EPM   12.20%