The People's Party (PP) emerged as the first force and, despite winning the popular vote to the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) by just three percentage points, was able to flip the control of a large number of major cities. This outcome prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call a snapgeneral election.
Electoral system
Municipal elections
Municipalities in Spain are local corporations with independent legal personality. They have a governing body, the municipal council or corporation, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.[1] Elections to the local councils in Spain are fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years.[2]
Voting for the local assemblies is on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprises all nationals over 18 years of age, registered and residing in the corresponding municipality and in full enjoyment of their political rights, as well as resident non-national European citizens and those whose country of origin allows Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty. Local councillors are elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed listproportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which includes blank ballots—being applied in each local council. Parties not reaching the threshold are not taken into consideration for seat distribution. Councillors are 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 are elected under an open listpartial 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 does not apply to municipalities which, as a result of their geographical location or the convenience of a better management of municipal interests or other circumstances, make it advisable to be organized through the open council system (Spanish: régimen de concejo abierto), in which voters will directly elect the local mayor.[1][2]
The mayor is indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause requires that mayoral candidates earn the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party in the assembly shall be automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, a toss-up will determine the appointee.
The electoral law allows for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election are required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors need to secure the signature of a determined amount of the electors registered in the municipality for which they seek election:
At least one percent of the electors in municipalities with a population below 5,000 inhabitants, provided that the number of signers is more than double that of councillors at stake.
At least 100 signatures in municipalities with a population between 5,001 and 10,000.
At least 500 signatures in municipalities with a population between 10,001 and 50,000.
At least 1,500 signatures in municipalities with a population between 50,001 and 150,000.
At least 3,000 signatures in municipalities with a population between 150,001 and 300,000.
At least 5,000 signatures in municipalities with a population between 300,001 and 1,000,000.
At least 8,000 signatures in municipalities with a population over 1,000,001.
Electors are disallowed from signing for more than one list of candidates.[2]
Most deputations are indirectly elected by local councillors from municipalities in each judicial district. Seats are 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 are elected directly by electors under their own, specific electoral regulations.[2]
During the month of May 2023, amidst the local elections campaign in Spain, numerous instances of vote-buying came to light in various municipalities across the country. These incidents implicated a wide range of political parties, including among others the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the People's Party (PP) and Coalition for Melilla (CpM). Despite the scandal starting in Melilla, it later expanded to other municipalities in the south of Spain.[8][9]
3 April: The election decree will be issued with the countersign of the Prime Minister, ratified by the King.
4 April: Publication of the election decree in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and beginning of a suspension period of events for the inauguration of public works, services or projects.
14 April: Deadline for parties and federations intending to enter into a coalition to inform the relevant electoral commission.
24 April: Deadline for parties, federations, coalitions, and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates to the relevant electoral commission.
26 April: Submitted lists of candidates are provisionally published in the BOE.
29 April: Deadline for citizens entered in the Register of Absent Electors Residing Abroad (CERA) and for citizens temporarily absent from Spain to apply for voting.
30 April: Deadline for parties, federations, coalitions, and groupings of electors to rectify irregularities in their lists.
1 May: Official proclamation of valid submitted lists of candidates.
23 May: Official start of legal ban on electoral opinion polling publication, dissemination or reproduction and deadline for CERA citizens to vote by mail.
24 May: Deadline for postal and temporarily absent voters to issue their votes.
26 May: Last day of official electoral campaigning and deadline for CERA citizens to vote in a ballot box in the relevant consular office or division.
27 May: Official 24-hour ban on political campaigning prior to the general election (reflection day).
28 May: Polling day (polling stations open at 9 am and close at 8 pm or once voters present in a queue at/outside the polling station at 8 pm have cast their vote). Provisional counting of votes starts immediately.
The following table lists party control in provincial capitals, as well as in municipalities with a population above or around 75,000. Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.
^ ab"Ley 7/1985, de 2 de abril, Reguladora de las Bases del Régimen Local". Law No. 7 of 2 April 1985 (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 July 2021. {cite book}: |work= ignored (help)
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