1983 Valencia City Council election

The 1983 Valencia City Council election, also the 1983 Valencia municipal election, was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 2nd City Council of the municipality of Valencia. All 33 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

1983 Valencia City Council election

8 May 1983
All 33 seats in the City Council of Valencia 17 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	553,067 0.2%
Turnout	386,699 (69.9%) 7.6 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ricard Pérez Casado Martín Luis Quirós Pedro Zamora Party PSOE AP–PDP–UV–UL PCE–PCPV Leader since 5 October 1979 1983 1979 Last election 13 seats, 36.1% Did not contest 6 seats, 16.0% Seats won 18 13 2 Seat change 5 13 4 Popular vote 186,445 141,689 28,863 Percentage 48.8% 37.1% 7.6% Swing 12.7 pp New party 8.4 pp
Mayor before election Ricard Pérez Casado PSOE Elected Mayor Ricard Pérez Casado PSOE

Electoral system

The City Council of Valencia (Valencian: Ajuntament de Valencia, Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Valencia) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Valencia, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.[1][2][3]

Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the municipality of Valencia 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][3] 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][2]

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.[3]

Opinion polls

The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 17 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Valencia.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout				URV		Lead
1983 municipal election	8 May 1983	N/A	69.9	–	48.8 18	7.6 2	1.2 0	37.1 13	11.7
Sofemasa/El País[p 1][p 2]	23–26 Apr 1983	?	?	–	51.2 21/22	11.0 4/5	–	17.0 7/8	34.2
1982 general election[4]	28 Oct 1982	N/A	84.6	3.4 0	48.0 19	4.5 0	0.9 0	35.2 14	12.8
1979 municipal election	3 Apr 1979	N/A	62.3	36.8 13	36.1 13	16.0 6	5.1 1	–	0.7

Results

← Summary of the 8 May 1983 City Council of Valencia election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	186,445	48.83	+12.72	18	+5
	People's Coalition–Valencian Union (AP–PDP–UV–UL)	141,689	37.11	New	13	+13
	Communist Party of the Valencian Country (PCE–PCPV)	28,863	7.56	–8.40	2	–4
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	7,360	1.93	New	0	±0
	Valencian People's Union (UPV)^1	5,685	1.49	+0.31	0	±0
	Valencian Regional Union (URV)	4,717	1.24	–3.87	0	–1
	Liberal Democratic Party (PDL)	3,225	0.84	New	0	±0
	Valencian Independent Organization (OIV)	1,651	0.43	New	0	±0
	Popular Struggle Coalition (CLP)	523	0.14	New	0	±0
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	n/a	n/a	–36.76	0	–13
Blank ballots		1,656	0.43	+0.11
Total		381,814			33	±0
Valid votes		381,814	98.74	+0.18
Invalid votes		4,885	1.26	–0.18
Votes cast / turnout		386,699	69.92	+7.58
Abstentions		166,368	30.08	–7.58
Registered voters		553,067
Sources[5][6][7]

Popular vote PSOE   48.83% AP–PDP–UV–UL   37.11% PCE–PCPV   7.56% CDS   1.93% UPV   1.49% URV   1.24% Others   1.41% Blank ballots   0.43%

Seats PSOE   54.55% AP–PDP–UV–UL   39.39% PCE–PCPV   6.06%

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "Los socialistas pueden alcanzar los dos tercios del Parlamento autónomo". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.
2. "Ficha técnica de los sondeos". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.

Other

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. "Ley Orgánica 6/1983, de 2 de marzo, por la que se modifican determinados artículos de la Ley 39/1978, de 17 de julio, de Elecciones Locales". Organic Law No. 6 of 2 March 1983. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
3. "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.
4. "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. October 1982. Valencia Municipality". www.infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
5. "Municipal Elections. Valencia" (PDF). www.valencia.es (in Spanish). City Council of Valencia. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
6. "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 1983. Valencia Municipality". www.infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
7. "Municipal elections in Valencia since 1979". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 30 September 2017.