Spanish local elections, 2007

Spanish local elections, 2007

27 May 2007

66,131 seats in 8,111 local councils 1,038 seats in 38 provincial deputations 153 seats in 3 Juntas Generales in the Basque Country 153 seats in 7 cabildos in the Canary Islands Registered 35,153,523 2.2% Turnout 22,488,232 (64.0%) 3.7 pp   First party Second party Third party   Leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero Mariano Rajoy Artur Mas Party PSOE PP CiU Leader since 22 July 2000 2 September 2003 7 January 2002 Last election 23,224 seats, 34.8% 23,615 seats, 34.3% 3,687 seats, 3.4% Seats won 24,029 23,348 3,387 Seat change 805 267 300 Popular vote 7,760,865 7,916,075 723,325 Percentage 34.9% 35.6% 3.3% Swing 0.1 pp 1.3 pp 0.1 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Gaspar Llamazares Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira Josu Jon Imaz Party IU ERC EAJ/PNV Leader since 29 October 2000 July 2004 18 January 2004 Last election 2,198 seats, 6.1% 1,282 seats, 1.8% 892 seats, 1.8% Seats won 2,034 1,591 1,043 Seat change 164 309 151 Popular vote 1,217,030 347,601 310,036 Percentage 5.5% 1.6% 1.4% Swing 0.6 pp 0.2 pp 0.4 pp

The 2007 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 27 May 2007, throughout all 8,111 Spain municipalities, simultaneously with regional elections in 13 of the 17 autonomous communities—all except for Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia, and Galicia. All 65,869 councillors were up for election, as well as 153 seats of the 3 Basque Juntas Generales, 153 seats of the 7 Canarian cabildos and the indirectly-elected 1,038 seats of the 38 provincial deputations.

The results saw few changes overall; most incumbent governments retained their majority, with only a few exceptions. The PP government in the Balearics fell, and a coalition led by PSOE took power.

While the elections were seen as a first indication of how the Spanish general election, 2008 might turn out, the results proved to be inconclusive. In 2003, the PSOE had a slight edge with 34.8 against the PP's 34.3; in this election, the PP had 35.6 to the PSOE's 34.9. Turnout was slightly lower, with 63.8 instead of 67.7 four years earlier.

Electoral system

Local councils

The number of seats in each city council was determined by the population count. According to the municipal electoral law, the population-seat relationship on each municipality was to be established on the following scale:

Population	Seats
<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

Additionally, for populations greater than 100,000, 1 seat was to be added per each 100,000 inhabitants or fraction, according to the most updated census data, and adding 1 more seat if the resulting seat count gives an even number.

All city council members were elected in single multi-member districts, consisting of the municipality's territory, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 5% of valid votes in all of the municipality (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.

The Spanish municipal electoral law established a clause stating that, if no candidate was to gather an absolute majority of votes to be elected as mayor of a municipality, the candidate of the most-voted party would be automatically elected to the post.^[1]

Provincial deputations

The provincial deputations were elected indirectly by a council which in turn was elected from the judicial districts. The apportionment of deputies per province depends on population and was given as follows:

Population	Seats
<500,000	25
500,001–1,000,000	27
1,000,001–3,500,000	31
>3,500,000	51

Results

Municipal elections

Summary of the 27 May 2007 Spanish local election results

Parties and coalitions			Votes			Councillors
			#	%	Swing	Councillors	+/−
	People's Party	PP	7,916,075	35.62	+1.33	23,348	−267
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	PSOE	7,760,865	34.92	+0.09	24,029	+805
	United Left	IU	1,217,030	5.48	−0.59	2,034	−164
	Convergence and Union	CiU	723,325	3.25	−0.19	3,867	−300
	Republican Left of Catalonia	ERC	347,601	1.56	−0.27	1,591	+309
	Galician Nationalist Bloc	BNG	315,279	1.42	0.00	661	+66
	Basque Nationalist Party	PNV	310,036	1.39	−0.39	1,043	+151
	Initiative for Catalonia Greens	ICV	258,179	1.17	−0.30	451	+54
	Andalusian Party	PA	234,885	1.06	−0.39	469	−56
	Canarian Coalition	CC	217,407	0.98	−0.26	404	−54
	Compromís pel País Valencià	CPV	105,754	0.48	−0.13	277	−21
	Basque Nationalist Action	EAE-ANV	94,253	0.42	+0.42	432	+432
	Aragonese Party	PAR	94,079	0.42	+0.05	983	+76
	Others		1,959,138	8.81		6,966
	Blank ballots		427,061	1.92	+0.16
Total			22,225,879	100.00		66,131	+621
Valid votes			22,225,879	98.83	+0.13
Invalid votes			262,353	1.17	−0.13
Votes cast / turnout			22,488,232	63.97	−3.70
Abstentions			12,665,291	36.03	+3.70
Registered voters			35,153,523
Source: Ministry of the Interior

References

1. "Organic Law 5/1985, of 19 June, of the General Electoral Regime. Title III, Special Provisions for Municipal Elections.".