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2015 Barcelona municipal election

Election in the Spanish municipality of Barcelona From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A municipal election was held in Barcelona on 24 May 2015 to elect the 10th City Council of the municipality. All 41 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.

Registered1,161,140 Decrease 0.2%
Turnout703,590 (60.6%)
Increase 7.6 pp
Quick facts All 41 seats in the City Council of Barcelona 21 seats needed for a majority, Registered ...
2015 Barcelona municipal election

← 2011
24 May 2015
2019 →

All 41 seats in the City Council of Barcelona
21 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered1,161,140 Decrease 0.2%
Turnout703,590 (60.6%)
Increase 7.6 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Ada Colau Xavier Trias Carina Mejías
Party BComú–E CiU C's
Leader since 14 March 2015 17 May 2002 16 December 2014
Last election 5 seats, 10.4%[a] 14 seats, 28.7% 0 seats, 1.9%
Seats won 11 10 5
Seat change Increase 6 Decrease 4 Increase 5
Popular vote 176,612 159,393 77,272
Percentage 25.2% 22.8% 11.0%
Swing Increase 14.8 pp Decrease 5.9 pp Increase 9.1 pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Alfred Bosch Jaume Collboni Alberto Fernández Díaz
Party ERC–MES–BcnCO–A–AM PSC–CP PP
Leader since 11 July 2014 5 May 2014 17 July 2002
Last election 2 seats, 5.6% 11 seats, 22.1% 9 seats, 17.2%
Seats won 5 4 3
Seat change Increase 3 Decrease 7 Decrease 6
Popular vote 77,120 67,489 61,004
Percentage 11.0% 9.6% 8.7%
Swing Increase 5.4 pp Decrease 12.5 pp Decrease 8.5 pp

Mayor before election

Xavier Trias
CiU

Mayor after election

Ada Colau
BComú

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The election was won by the Barcelona en Comú (BComú) citizen platform, supported by Podemos, Initiative for Catalonia Greens–United and Alternative Left (ICV–EUiA) and Constituent Process (Procés Constituent) and led by Ada Colau popular activist and former spokeswoman of the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH). Incumbent mayor Xavier Trias of the Convergence and Union (CiU) federation, who had campaigned for a second consecutive term in office, saw his support reduced from 14 to 10 out of 41 seats in the council. Citizens (C's) became the third largest political force in the city, whereas Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) obtained its second best historical result. On the other hand, both the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) and the People's Party (PP) were severely mauled. The PSC, which had won every municipal election in Barcelona and had controlled the local government up until 2011, fell to fifth place and below 10% of the share, while the PP achieved its worst result since the People's Alliance (AP) result in the 1987 election. The Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) also entered the City Council for the first time in history, winning 3 seats and 7.4% of the votes.

Colau went on to become the first female mayor of Barcelona in history with the support of the BComú, ERC, the PSC and one of the CUP councillors.

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.[1] 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).[2] In the case of Barcelona, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Barcelona.[3]

Date

The term of local assemblies in Spain expired four years after the date of their previous election, with election day being fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The election decree was required to be issued no later than 54 days before the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE).[4] The previous local elections were held on 22 May 2011, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 24 May 2015.

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.[5]

Elections to the assemblies of local entities were officially called on 31 March 2015 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 24 May.[6]

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-national European citizens, and those whose country of origin allowed reciprocal voting by virtue of a treaty.[7]

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.[8] Each municipality was a multi-member constituency, with a number of seats based on the following scale:[9]

More information Population, Councillors ...
Population Councillors
<100 3
101–250 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
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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.[10]

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.[11] Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition.[12]

Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:

More information Candidacy, Parties and alliances ...
Candidacy Parties and
alliances
Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Gov. Ref.
Vote % Seats
CiU Xavier Trias Catalan nationalism
Centrism
28.7% 14 Yes [13]
PSC–CP
List
Jaume Collboni Social democracy 22.1% 11 No [14]
[15]
[16]
PP
List
Alberto Fernández Díaz Conservatism
Christian democracy
17.2% 9 No [17]
BComú–E Ada Colau Left-wing populism
Participatory democracy

10.4%
[a]
5 No [18]
[19]
[20]
ERC–MES–
BcnCO
–A–AM
List
Alfred Bosch Catalan independence
Left-wing nationalism
Social democracy
5.6% 2 No [21]
[22]
CUP–
Capgirem–PA
List
María José Lecha Catalan independence
Anti-capitalism
Socialism
2.0% 0 No [23]
[24]
C's Carina Mejías Liberalism 1.9% 0 No [25]
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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; 21 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona.

Color key:

  Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls   Exit poll

More information Polling firm/Commissioner, Fieldwork date ...
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Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Color key:

  Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls

More information Polling firm/Commissioner, Fieldwork date ...
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Victory preferences

The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a municipal election taking place.

More information Polling firm/Commissioner, Fieldwork date ...
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Victory likelihood

The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a municipal election taking place.

More information Polling firm/Commissioner, Fieldwork date ...
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Preferred Mayor

The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become mayor of Barcelona.

Color key:

  Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls

More information Polling firm/Commissioner, Fieldwork date ...
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Results

More information Parties and alliances, Popular vote ...
← Summary of the 24 May 2015 City Council of Barcelona election results →
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Total +/−
Barcelona in Common (Let's Win Barcelona)–Agreement (BComú–E)1 176,61225.21+14.82 11+6
Convergence and Union (CiU) 159,39322.75−5.98 10−4
Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (C's) 77,27211.03+9.09 5+5
ERC–MES–Barcelona Open City–Advance–AM (ERC–MES–BcnCO–A–AM) 77,12011.01+5.42 5+3
Socialists' Party of Catalonia–Progress Candidacy (PSC–CP) 67,4899.63−12.51 4−7
People's Party (PP) 61,0048.71−8.53 3−6
Popular Unity Candidacy–Let's Reverse Barcelona (CUP–Capgirem–PA) 51,9457.42+5.47 3+3
Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) 5,7200.82+0.11 0±0
The Greens–The Ecologist Alternative (EV–AE) 5,6840.81New 0±0
Better Barcelona (RI.cat–SI)2 2,6260.37−0.76 0±0
Blank Seats (EB) 1,9570.28−1.39 0±0
Platform for Catalonia (PxC) 1,6170.23−0.34 0±0
Vox–Family and Life Party (Vox–PFiV)3 1,5200.22+0.13 0±0
United Free Citizens (CILUS) 9890.14New 0±0
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) 8110.12−0.12 0±0
Communist Party of the Catalan People (PCPC) 6560.09−0.07 0±0
Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE de las JONS) 4550.07+0.01 0±0
Humanist Party (PH) 4390.06−0.04 0±0
United for Declaring Catalan Independence (UPDIC) 2860.04New 0±0
Libertarian Party (P–LIB) 2730.04New 0±0
Internationalist Solidarity and Self-Management (SAIn) 1660.02−0.02 0±0
The National Coalition (LCN) 990.01New 0±0
Blank ballots 6,3630.91−3.56
Total 700,496 41±0
Valid votes 700,49699.56+1.26
Invalid votes 3,0940.44−1.26
Votes cast / turnout 703,59060.59+7.60
Abstentions 457,55039.41−7.60
Registered voters 1,161,140
Sources[27][28][29][30]
Footnotes:
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Popular vote
BComú–E
 
25.21%
CiU
 
22.75%
C's
 
11.03%
ERC–BcnCO–AM
 
11.01%
PSC–CP
 
9.63%
PP
 
8.71%
CUP–Capgirem
 
7.42%
Others
 
3.33%
Blank ballots
 
0.91%
Seats
BComú–Entesa
 
26.83%
CiU
 
24.39%
C's
 
12.20%
ERC–BcnCO–AM
 
12.20%
PSC–CP
 
9.76%
PP
 
7.32%
CUP–Capgirem
 
7.32%

Aftermath

Government formation

More information Ballot →, 13 June 2015 ...
Investiture
Ballot → 13 June 2015
Required majority → 21 out of 41
21 / 41
checkY
10 / 41
X markN
5 / 41
X markN
3 / 41
X markN
Abstentions/Blank ballots
2 / 41
Absentees
0 / 41
Sources[27][31]
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Notes

  1. Results for ICV–EUiA–E in the 2011 election.
  2. Within BComú.
  3. Does not include non-resident citizens.

References

Bibliography

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Timelines

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