1991 Barcelona City Council election

The 1991 Barcelona City Council election, also the 1991 Barcelona municipal election, was held on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the 4th City Council of the municipality of Barcelona. All 43 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.

1991 Barcelona City Council election

26 May 1991
All 43 seats in the City Council of Barcelona 22 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	1,381,148 2.9%
Turnout	766,520 (55.5%) 13.4 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Pasqual Maragall Josep Maria Cullell Enrique Lacalle Party PSC–PSOE CiU PP Leader since 2 December 1982 1987 1987 Last election 21 seats, 43.6% 17 seats, 35.5% 3 seats, 7.6%[lower-alpha 1] Seats won 20 16 4 Seat change 1 1 1 Popular vote 328,282 260,344 74,804 Percentage 42.9% 34.1% 9.8% Swing 0.7 pp 1.4 pp 2.2 pp   Fourth party   Leader Eulàlia Vintró Party IC Leader since 1987 Last election 2 seats, 5.2% Seats won 3 Seat change 1 Popular vote 49,034 Percentage 6.4% Swing 1.2 pp
Mayor before election Pasqual Maragall PSC Elected Mayor Pasqual Maragall PSC

Electoral system

The City Council of Barcelona (Catalan: Ajuntament de Barcelona, Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Barcelona) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Barcelona, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.[1] Elections to the local councils in Spain were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years.[2]

Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the municipality of Barcelona and in full enjoyment of their political rights, as well as resident non-nationals whose country of origin allowed Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty. 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, a toss-up would determine the appointee.[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 ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of a determined amount of the electors registered in the municipality for which they were seeking election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. For the case of Barcelona, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required.[2]

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. 22 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout				IC				Lead
1991 municipal election	26 May 1991	N/A	55.5	42.9 20	34.1 16	[lower-alpha 2]	6.4 3	0.8 0	2.6 0	9.8 4	8.8
DYM/Cambio 16[p 1]	20 May 1991	?	?	41.3 19/21	36.5 17/18	[lower-alpha 2]	6.6 2/3	2.4 0	2.5 0	7.0 3	4.8
Producciones Cinco/Avui[p 2]	19 May 1991	3,800	?	40.6 20	36.7 18	[lower-alpha 2]	5.8 2	–	3.1 0	8.1 3	3.9
OTR–IS/El Periódico[p 2]	18 May 1991	800	?	43.8 21/22	32.8 15/16	[lower-alpha 2]	6.7 3	–	3.5 0	7.9 3	11.0
Opina/La Vanguardia[p 3]	13–15 May 1991	1,501	?	44.6 21/22	34.5 16/17	[lower-alpha 2]	6.7 2/3	1.0 0	4.0 0	7.8 3/4	10.1
Metra Seis/El Independiente[p 1][p 2]	12 May 1991	1,040	?	43.9 21	34.0 16	[lower-alpha 2]	7.0 3	1.6 0	2.2 0	7.8 3	9.9
Demoscopia/El País[p 1][p 4][p 5]	4–7 May 1991	752	?	42.5 21	36.1 17/18	[lower-alpha 2]	5.6 2	–	–	6.0 2/3	6.4
Opina/La Vanguardia[p 6]	15–17 Apr 1991	1,569	?	44.8 21/22	35.4 17/18	[lower-alpha 2]	5.2 2/3	1.0 0	2.3 0	6.4 2/3	9.4
1989 general election[3]	29 Oct 1989	N/A	68.5	28.4 14	34.2 18	[lower-alpha 2]	8.1 4	4.9 0	2.8 0	14.8 7	5.8
1989 EP election[4]	15 Jun 1989	N/A	53.7	28.7 16	29.3 17	[lower-alpha 2]	5.6 3	3.9 0	3.5 0	12.7 7	0.6
1988 regional election[5]	29 May 1988	N/A	59.9	25.2 12	48.0 24	[lower-alpha 2]	7.8 4	4.0 0	4.0 0	7.4 3	22.8
1987 municipal election	10 Jun 1987	N/A	68.9	43.6 21	35.5 17	7.6 3	5.2 2	3.4 0	2.3 0	–	8.1

Results

← Summary of the 26 May 1991 City Council of Barcelona election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE)	328,282	42.95	–0.66	20	–1
	Convergence and Union (CiU)	260,344	34.06	–1.40	16	–1
	People's Party (PP)^1	74,804	9.79	+2.23	4	+1
	Initiative for Catalonia (IC)	49,034	6.42	+1.26	3	+1
	Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC)	19,629	2.57	+0.26	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	6,454	0.84	–2.54	0	±0
	The Greens Ecologist–Humanist List (LVLE–H)^2	6,120	0.80	+0.70	0	±0
	Green Barcelona (BV)	5,749	0.75	New	0	±0
	Party of the Communists of Catalonia (PCC)	3,168	0.41	New	0	±0
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	1,308	0.17	New	0	±0
	Revolutionary Workers' Party of Spain (PORE)	532	0.07	–0.06	0	±0
	Evangelical Social Action Party (PASE)	514	0.07	New	0	±0
	Alternative for Barcelona (AltBCN)	428	0.06	New	0	±0
	Alliance for the Republic (AxR)^3	296	0.04	–0.03	0	±0
	Radical Centre of Catalonia (CRC)	294	0.04	New	0	±0
	Left Platform (PCE (m–l)–CRPE)^4	210	0.03	–0.09	0	±0
	Centrist Unity (PED)	198	0.03	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		6,979	0.92	+0.17
Total		764,343			43	±0
Valid votes		764,343	99.70	+0.48
Invalid votes		2,177	0.30	–0.48
Votes cast / turnout		766,520	55.50	–13.43
Abstentions		614,628	44.50	+13.43
Registered voters		1,381,148
Sources[6][7][8][9]

Popular vote PSC–PSOE   42.95% CiU   34.06% PP   9.79% IC   6.42% ERC   2.57% Others   3.30% Blank ballots   0.92%

Seats PSC–PSOE   46.51% CiU   37.21% PP   9.30% IC   6.98%

Notes

1. Aggregated data for AP and PDP in the 1987 election.
2. Within PP.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "Las elecciones de 26-5-91". CEPC (in Spanish). August 1991.
2. "Sondejos". Generalitat de Catalunya (in Catalan). Retrieved 5 July 2017.
3. "La orientación del voto en Barcelona no asegura la mayoría absoluta a Maragall". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.
4. "El ascenso del PP hace peligrar al PSOE en Madrid, Sevilla y Valencia". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.
5. "Ficha técnica". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.
6. "La orientación del voto augura el mismo mapa político en el Ayuntamiento de Barcelona". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 21 April 1991.

Other

1. "Ley 7/1985, de 2 de abril, Reguladora de las Bases del Régimen Local". Law No. 7 of 2 April 1985. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 June 2020.
2. "Ley Orgánica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del Régimen Electoral General". Organic Law No. 5 of 19 June 1985. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 January 2020.
3. "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. October 1989. Barcelona Municipality". www.infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
4. "Electoral Results Consultation. European Parliament. June 1989. Barcelona Municipality". www.infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
5. "Electoral results. Parliament of Catalonia election 1988. Barcelona (Municipality)". resultats.dadeselectorals.gencat.cat (in Catalan). Government of Catalonia. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
6. "Election Results. Municipal Elections 1991. Barcelona". resultats.dadeselectorals.gencat.cat (in Catalan). Government of Catalonia. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
7. "Local election results, 26 May 1991" (PDF). www.juntaelectoralcentral.es (in Spanish). Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
8. "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 1991. Barcelona Municipality". www.infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
9. "Municipal elections in Barcelona since 1979". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 30 September 2017.