1979 Seville City Council election

The 1979 Seville City Council election, also the 1979 Seville municipal election, was held on Tuesday, 3 April 1979, to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality of Seville. All 31 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with local elections all throughout Spain.

1979 Seville City Council election

3 April 1979
All 31 seats in the City Council of Seville 16 seats needed for a majority
Registered	427,951
Turnout	243,827 (57.0%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Rafael López Palanco — Luis Uruñuela Party UCD PSOE PSA–PA Leader since 1979 — 1979 Seats won 9 8 8 Popular vote 65,725 60,116 56,957 Percentage 27.1% 24.8% 23.5%   Fourth party   Leader — Party PCE Leader since — Seats won 6 Popular vote 44,704 Percentage 18.4%
Mayor before election José Ramón Pérez de Lama Independent Elected Mayor Luis Uruñuela PSA–PA

Electoral system

The City Council of Seville (Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Sevilla) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Seville, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.[1][2]

Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the municipality of Seville and in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights. Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of five 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.[1][2] 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

The mayor was indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause required that mayoral candidates earned the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party in the assembly was to be automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, the eldest one would be elected.[1]

The electoral law allowed 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 were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within fifteen days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one-thousandth of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election—with a compulsory minimum of 500 signatures—disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.[2]

Results

Summary of the 3 April 1979 City Council of Seville election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	65,725	27.09	n/a	9	n/a
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	60,116	24.78	n/a	8	n/a
	Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA)	56,957	23.48	n/a	8	n/a
	Communist Party of Spain (PCE)	44,704	18.43	n/a	6	n/a
	Party of Labour of Andalusia (PTA)	3,747	1.54	n/a	0	n/a
	Democratic Coalition (CD)	2,850	1.17	n/a	0	n/a
	New Force (FN)	2,243	0.92	n/a	0	n/a
	Communist Organization of Spain (Red Flag) (OCE–BR)	1,745	0.72	n/a	0	n/a
	Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE)	1,576	0.65	n/a	0	n/a
	Communist Unification of Spain (UCE)	982	0.40	n/a	0	n/a
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (historical) (PSOEh)	891	0.37	n/a	0	n/a
	Revolutionary Communist League (LCR)	456	0.19	n/a	0	n/a
	Communist Movement–Organization of Communist Left (MCA–OIC)	290	0.12	n/a	0	n/a
	Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT)	0	0.00	n/a	0	n/a
Blank ballots		325	0.13	n/a
Total		242,607			31	n/a
Valid votes		242,607	99.50	n/a
Invalid votes		1,220	0.50	n/a
Votes cast / turnout		243,827	56.98	n/a
Abstentions		184,124	43.02	n/a
Registered voters		427,951
Sources[3][4][5]

Popular vote UCD   27.09% PSOE   24.78% PSA–PA   23.48% PCE   18.43% PTA   1.54% CD   1.17% Others   3.37% Blank ballots   0.13%

Seats UCD   29.03% PSOE   25.81% PSA–PA   25.81% PCE   19.35%

References

1. "Ley 39/1978, de 17 de julio, de elecciones locales". Law No. 39 of 17 July 1978. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
2. "Real Decreto-ley 20/1977, de 18 de marzo, sobre Normas Electorales". Royal Decree-Law No. 20 of 18 March 1977. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
3. "Statistic Yearbook of the city of Seville. 1999". www.sevilla.org (in Spanish). City Council of Seville. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
4. "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. April 1979. Seville Municipality". www.infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
5. "Municipal elections in Seville since 1979". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 30 September 2017.