1991 Seville City Council election

The 1991 Seville City Council election, also the 1991 Seville municipal election, was held on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the 4th City Council of the municipality of Seville. All 31 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 Seville City Council election

26 May 1991
All 31 seats in the City Council of Seville 16 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	512,308 7.0%
Turnout	280,996 (54.8%) 6.5 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Luis Yáñez Alejandro Rojas-Marcos Soledad Becerril Party PSOE–A PA PP Leader since 1 March 1991 29 August 1986 24 March 1987 Last election 13 seats, 38.7% 7 seats, 20.9% 8 seats, 25.5%[lower-alpha 1] Seats won 12 9 8 Seat change 1 2 0 Popular vote 108,028 77,168 71,287 Percentage 38.6% 27.6% 24.4% Swing 0.1 pp 6.7 pp 1.1 pp   Fourth party   Leader Rosa Bendala Party IU–CA Leader since 1991 Last election 3 seats, 9.2% Seats won 2 Seat change 1 Popular vote 19,216 Percentage 6.9% Swing 2.3 pp
Mayor before election Manuel del Valle PSOE–A Elected Mayor Alejandro Rojas-Marcos 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] 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 Seville 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 Seville, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 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. 16 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Seville.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout							LV		ARM	Lead
1991 municipal election	26 May 1991	N/A	54.8	38.6 12	[lower-alpha 2]	27.6 9	6.9 2	0.3 0	[lower-alpha 2]	1.0 0	24.4 8	–	11.0
DYM/Cambio 16[p 1]	20 May 1991	?	?	40.4 13/14	[lower-alpha 2]	22.4 7/8	7.8 2	1.1 0	[lower-alpha 2]	–	24.4 8	–	16.0
Gruppo/ABC[p 2]	13–15 May 1991	1,000	?	36.7 12/13	[lower-alpha 2]	25.3 8	8.9 2/3	–	[lower-alpha 2]	–	24.4 8	–	11.4
Opina/La Vanguardia[p 3]	13–14 May 1991	1,003	?	38.5 12/13	[lower-alpha 2]	24.5 8/9	9.0 3	1.0 0	[lower-alpha 2]	–	24.0 8/9	–	14.0
Metra Seis/El Independiente[p 1]	12 May 1991	?	?	39.0 13	[lower-alpha 2]	23.3 7/8	9.1 3	1.0 0	[lower-alpha 2]	–	23.0 7/8	–	15.7
Demoscopia/El País[p 1][p 4][p 5]	4–7 May 1991	?	?	36.4 12/13	[lower-alpha 2]	22.4 7/8	8.8 3	2.0 0	[lower-alpha 2]	4.0 0	25.2 8/9	–	11.2
Gruppo/ABC[p 6][p 7]	26 Apr–2 May 1991	1,000	?	34.4 11/12	[lower-alpha 2]	26.7 8/9	9.3 3	–	[lower-alpha 2]	–	24.1 8	–	7.7
PP[p 8]	18–22 Mar 1991	1,111	?	? 10/11	[lower-alpha 2]	? 8/9	? 2	–	[lower-alpha 2]	–	? 10	–	?
1990 regional election[3]	23 Jun 1990	N/A	50.5	40.2 13	[lower-alpha 2]	17.8 6	11.0 3	0.3 0	[lower-alpha 2]	0.8 0	26.7 9	0.3 0	13.5
1989 general election[4]	29 Oct 1989	N/A	67.0	43.5 15	[lower-alpha 2]	11.9 4	11.2 2	2.1 0	[lower-alpha 2]	0.9 0	26.5 9	1.3 0	17.0
1989 EP election[5]	15 Jun 1989	N/A	49.8	40.5 14	[lower-alpha 2]	14.4 5	8.0 2	2.0 0	[lower-alpha 2]	1.2 0	22.5 8	5.7 2	18.0
Metra Seis/PA[p 9]	1–22 Dec 1988	?	?	26.0	19.0	32.0	14.0	4.0	–	–	–	–	6.0
1987 municipal election	10 Jun 1987	N/A	61.3	38.7 13	24.6 8	20.9 7	9.2 3	2.4 0	0.9 0	0.6 0	–	–	14.1

Results

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

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A)	108,028	38.57	–0.18	12	–1
	Andalusian Party (PA)	77,168	27.55	+6.70	9	+2
	People's Party (PP)^1	68,206	24.35	–1.13	8	±0
	United Left–Assembly for Andalusia (IU–CA)	19,216	6.86	–2.30	2	–1
	The Greens of Andalusia (LVA)	2,714	0.97	+0.37	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	877	0.31	–2.09	0	±0
	The Greens Ecologist–Humanist List (LVLE–H)^2	857	0.31	+0.25	0	±0
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	547	0.20	New	0	±0
	Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)	280	0.10	New	0	±0
	Andalusian Popular Unity (UPAN)	216	0.08	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		2,217	0.79	–0.04
Total		280,089			31	±0
Valid votes		280,089	99.68	+0.87
Invalid votes		907	0.32	–0.87
Votes cast / turnout		280,996	54.85	–6.44
Abstentions		231,312	45.15	+6.44
Registered voters		512,308
Sources[6][7][8]

Popular vote PSOE–A   38.57% PA   27.55% PP   24.35% IU–CA   6.86% Others   1.96% Blank ballots   0.79%

Seats PSOE–A   38.71% PA   29.03% PP   25.81% IU–CA   6.45%

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. "PSOE y PP suben en la intención de voto de los sevillanos". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.
3. "El alza del PA amenaza al PSOE en Sevilla". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 20 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. "El PSOE retrocede en su feudo sevillano". ABC (in Spanish). 12 May 1991.
7. "El PSOE podría sufrir un auténtico descalabro en Sevilla". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 12 May 1991.
8. "El PSOE pierde uno de cada cuatro votos, según una encuesta realizada por el Partido Popular". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 6 April 1991.
9. "Fuerte descenso del PSOE en Andalucía, según una encuesta presentada ayer por el PA". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 31 January 1989.

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 Information System. Parliament of Andalusia. June 1990. Seville Municipality". juntadeandalucia.es (in Spanish). Government of Andalusia. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
4. "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. October 1989. Seville Municipality". www.infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
5. "Electoral Results Consultation. European Parliament. June 1989. Seville Municipality". www.infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
6. "Local election results, 26 May 1991" (PDF). www.juntaelectoralcentral.es (in Spanish). Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
7. "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 1991. Seville Municipality". www.infoelectoral.mir.es (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
8. "Municipal elections in Seville since 1979". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 30 September 2017.