1987 Barcelona municipal election
Election in the Spanish municipality of Barcelona
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A municipal election was held in Barcelona on 10 June 1987 to elect the 3rd City Council of the municipality. All 43 seats in the City Council were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain, as well as the 1987 European Parliament election.
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1.3%
1.5 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10 June 1987
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All 43 seats in the City Council of Barcelona 22 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opinion polls | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Registered | 1,342,049 1.3% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 925,036 (68.9%) 1.5 pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overview
Under the 1978 Constitution, the governance of municipalities in Spain—part of the country's local government system—was centered on the figure of city councils (Spanish: ayuntamientos), local corporations with independent legal personality composed of a mayor, a government council and an elected legislative assembly.[2] The mayor was indirectly elected by the local assembly, requiring an absolute majority; otherwise, the candidate from the most-voted party automatically became mayor (ties were resolved by drawing lots).[3] In the case of Barcelona, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Barcelona.[4]
Date
The term of local assemblies in Spain expired four years after the date of their previous election. The election decree was required to be issued no later than 25 days prior to the scheduled expiration date of the assemblies and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE), with election day taking place between 54 and 60 days after the decree's publication.[5] The previous local elections were held on 8 May 1983, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 8 May 1987. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 14 April 1987, setting the latest possible date for election day on 13 June 1987.
Local assemblies could not be dissolved before the expiration of their term, except in cases of mismanagement that seriously harmed the public interest and implied a breach of constitutional obligations, in which case the Council of Ministers could—optionally—decide to call a by-election.[6]
Elections to the assemblies of local entities were officially called on 14 April 1987 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 10 June.[7]
Electoral system
Voting for local assemblies was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered and residing in the municipality and with full political rights (provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence, nor were legally incapacitated), as well as resident non-nationals whose country of origin allowed reciprocal voting by virtue of a treaty.[8]
Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a five percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each municipality.[9] Each municipality was a multi-member constituency, with a number of seats based on the following scale:[10]
| 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 law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes.[11]
Parties and candidates
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 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 sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list. In the case of Barcelona, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required.[12]
Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:
| Candidacy | Parties and alliances |
Leading candidate | Ideology | Previous result | Gov. | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vote % | Seats | ||||||||
| PSC–PSOE | List
|
|
Pasqual Maragall | Social democracy | 45.8% | 21 |  |
||
| CiU | List |
 |
Josep Maria Cullell | Catalan nationalism Centrism |
27.4% | 13 |  |
||
| AP | List
|
|
Enrique Lacalle | Conservatism National conservatism |
13.0% [a] |
6 | |
||
| PDP | List |
|
Francisco Salvador Avila | Christian democracy | |
[13] [14] | |||
| IC | List |
|
Eulàlia Vintró | Eco-socialism Green politics |
8.0% [b] |
3 | |
||
| ERC | List |
|
Albert Alay | Catalan nationalism Left-wing nationalism Social democracy |
3.9% | 0 | |
||
| CDS | List |
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Antoni Fernández Teixidó | Centrism Liberalism |
0.9% | 0 | |
||
Opinion polls
The tables below list opinion polling results 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 poll.
Voting intention estimates
The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 municipal election | 10 Jun 1987 | N/a | 68.9 | 43.6 21 |
35.5 17 |
– | [c] | 2.3 0 |
3.4 0 |
7.6 3 |
5.2 2 |
8.1 |
| Sigma Dos/Diario 16[p 1] | 4 Jun 1987 | ? | ? | ? 19/21 |
? 14/16 |
– | [c] | – | – | ? 5/6 |
? 2/3 |
? |
| DYM/Cambio 16 | 4 Jun 1987 | ? | ? | ? 21/23 |
? 13/14 |
– | [c] | – | ? 1/2 |
? 2/4 |
? 2/3 |
? |
| ABC[p 2] | 2 Jun 1987 | ? | ? | ? 20/22 |
? 17/19 |
– | [c] | – | – | ? 3/5 |
– | ? |
| Central de Campo/PSC[p 3] | 1–2 Jun 1987 | 800 | ? | ? 23/24 |
? 14/15 |
– | [c] | – | – | ? 3/4 |
? 2 |
? |
| Demoscopia/El País[p 4] | 22–26 May 1987 | ? | 68 | 32.9 15 |
33.6 16 |
– | [c] | 2.8 0 |
5.9 2 |
15.5 7 |
7.7 3 |
0.7 |
| DYM/La Vanguardia[p 5] | 27–29 Apr 1987 | 1,001 | ? | 46.8 23 |
29.1 14 |
– | [c] | 4.2 0 |
2.7 0 |
7.6 3 |
6.8 3 |
17.7 |
| Line Staff/CiU[d][p 6] | 4–10 Apr 1987 | 1,478 | ? | 39.1 | 30.0 | – | [c] | 2.7 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 9.1 |
| CIS[p 7] | 25 Mar–5 Apr 1987 | 802 | ? | 48.6 25 |
29.5 15 |
– | [c] | – | – | 5.8 3 |
– | 19.1 |
| 1986 general election | 22 Jun 1986 | N/a | 67.4 | 34.4 (18) |
34.1 (18) |
14.7 (7) |
[e] | 3.1 (0) |
4.9 (0) |
[f] | 4.2[g] (0) |
0.3 |
| 1984 regional election | 29 Apr 1984 | N/a | 64.4 | 26.4 (13) |
49.0 (25) |
10.3 (5) |
5.0 (0) |
4.7 (0) |
– | [f] | – | 22.6 |
| 1983 municipal election | 8 May 1983 | N/a | 67.4 | 45.8 21 |
27.4 13 |
13.0 6 |
6.9 3 |
3.9 0 |
0.9 0 |
[f] | – | 18.4 |
Results
 | ||||||
| Parties and alliances | Popular vote | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Total | +/− | ||
| Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE) | 400,280 | 43.61 | −2.19 | 21 | ±0 | |
| Convergence and Union (CiU) | 325,463 | 35.46 | +8.09 | 17 | +4 | |
| People's Alliance (AP)1 | 69,419 | 7.56 | n/a | 3 | −2 | |
| Initiative for Catalonia (IC)2 | 47,406 | 5.16 | −2.83 | 2 | −1 | |
| Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 31,028 | 3.38 | +2.44 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) | 21,236 | 2.31 | −1.55 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Green Alternative–Ecologist Movement of Catalonia (AV–MEC) | 3,916 | 0.43 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Ecologist Party of Catalonia–VERDE (PEC–VERDE) | 3,116 | 0.34 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Workers' Party of Spain–Communist Unity (PTE–UC) | 2,078 | 0.23 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) | 1,388 | 0.15 | +0.02 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Revolutionary Workers' Party of Spain (PORE) | 1,152 | 0.13 | +0.03 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Republican Popular Unity (UPR)3 | 1,069 | 0.12 | +0.03 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Humanist Platform (PH) | 948 | 0.10 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Communist Unification of Spain (UCE) | 869 | 0.09 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Internationalist Socialist Workers' Party (POSI) | 636 | 0.07 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Social Democratic Party of Catalonia (PSDC) | 566 | 0.06 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Communist Workers' League (LOC) | 428 | 0.05 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| People's Democratic Party (PDP)1 | 0 | 0.00 | n/a | 0 | ±0 | |
| Blank ballots | 6,879 | 0.75 | +0.32 | |||
| Total | 917,877 | 43 | ±0 | |||
| Valid votes | 917,877 | 99.23 | +0.87 | |||
| Invalid votes | 7,159 | 0.77 | −0.87 | |||
| Votes cast / turnout | 925,036 | 68.93 | +1.51 | |||
| Abstentions | 417,013 | 31.07 | −1.51 | |||
| Registered voters | 1,342,049 | |||||
| Sources[15][16][17][18] | ||||||
Footnotes:
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Aftermath
Notes
- Undecided and/or abstentionists excluded.
- Within AP–PDP–UL/AP–PDP–PL.