1979 Madrid municipal election

1979 Madrid municipal election

3 April 1979 1983  →
All 59 seats in the City Council of Madrid 30 seats needed for a majority
Registered	2,378,941
Turnout	1,569,610 (66.0%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader José Luis Álvarez Enrique Tierno Galván Ramón Tamames Party UCD PSOE PCE Leader since 18 October 1978 26 November 1978 1979 Seats won 25 25 9 Popular vote 632,329 619,772 230,651 Percentage 40.3% 39.5% 14.7%
Mayor before election Luis María Huete (acting) UCD Elected Mayor Enrique Tierno Galván PSOE

A municipal election was held in Madrid on Tuesday, 3 April 1979, to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality. All 59 seats in the City Council were up for election. It was held concurrently with local elections all across Spain.

The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) emerged as the most voted party, but in a seat tie with the second force, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), at 25 seats. As neither had an absolute majority of seats, it was up to the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 9 seats to decide which party was to govern in Madrid.

Finally, an agreement between the PSOE and PCE resulted in Enrique Tierno Galván being named as the first democratically elected Mayor of Madrid.

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] [2]} In the case of Madrid, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Madrid. ^{[3] [4]}

Electoral system

Voting for local assemblies was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered and residing in the municipality of Madrid and in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights. ^[5]

Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional voting system, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes (which included blank ballots) being applied in each municipality. Each municipality constituted a multi-member constituency, entitled a number of seats based on the following scale: ^[6]

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 vacated seats; instead, any vacancies that occurred after the proclamation of candidates and into the legislative term were to be covered by the successive candidates in the list and, when required, by the designated substitutes. ^[6]

The mayor was indirectly elected by the local assembly. A legal clause required candidates to earn the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party was to be automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, the appointee was to be determined by lot. ^[7]

Election date

The term of city councils in Spain expired four years after the date of their previous election. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the day after the date of expiry of the city councils, with election day taking place on the sixty-fifth day from publication. ^[8]

Elections to local councils were officially called on 27 January 1979 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 3 April. ^[9]

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 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 sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. In the case of Madrid, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 5,000 signatures were required. ^[10]

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

Candidacy		Parties and alliances	Leading candidate		Ideology	Gov.	Ref.
	UCD	List Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)		José Luis Álvarez	Centrism		[11] [12] [13]
	PSOE	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)		Enrique Tierno Galván	Social democracy		[14] [15] [16] [17]
	PCE	List Communist Party of Spain (PCE)		Ramón Tamames	Eurocommunism

Results

Summary of the 3 April 1979 City Council of Madrid election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	632,329	40.29	n/a	25	n/a
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	619,772	39.49	n/a	25	n/a
	Communist Party of Spain (PCE)	230,651	14.69	n/a	9	n/a
	Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT)	37,396	2.38	n/a	0	n/a
	Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)	25,038	1.60	n/a	0	n/a
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (historical) (PSOEh)	5,317	0.34	n/a	0	n/a
	Communist Unification of Spain (UCE)	5,251	0.33	n/a	0	n/a
	Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE)	5,241	0.33	n/a	0	n/a
	Communist Movement–Organization of Communist Left (MC–OIC)	2,401	0.15	n/a	0	n/a
	Socialist Party (PS)	2,298	0.15	n/a	0	n/a
	Liberal Party (PL)	2,132	0.14	n/a	0	n/a
	Revolutionary Communist League (LCR)	1,784	0.11	n/a	0	n/a
Blank ballots		0	0.00	n/a
Total		1,569,610			59	n/a
Valid votes		1,569,610	100.00	n/a
Invalid votes		0	0.00	n/a
Votes cast / turnout		1,569,610	65.98	n/a
Abstentions		809,331	34.02	n/a
Registered voters		2,378,941
Sources [18] [19]

Popular vote

UCD			40.29%
PSOE			39.49%
PCE			14.69%
ORT			2.38%
FE–JONS			1.60%
Others			1.56%
Blank ballots			0.00%

Seats

UCD			42.37%
PSOE			42.37%
PCE			15.25%

Aftermath

Government formation

Investiture
Ballot →		19 April 1979
Required majority →		30 out of 59
	Enrique Tierno Galván (PSOE) • PSOE (25) • PCE (9)	34 / 59	Y
	José Luis Álvarez (UCD) • UCD (25)	25 / 59	N
	Abstentions/Blank ballots	0 / 59
	Absentees	0 / 59
Sources [18] [20]

References

1. Constitution (1978) , art. 140.
2. LBERL (1975) , basis 1.
3. LBERL (1975) , final prov. 1.
4. Decree 1674 of 11 July (1963) , art. 3.
5. LEL (1978) , art. 6.
6. LEL (1978) , arts. 5 & 10–11.
7. LEL (1978) , art. 28.
8. LEL (1978) , art. 3 & tran. prov. 2.
9. Real Decreto 117/1979, de 26 de enero, de convocatoria de Elecciones Locales (PDF) (Royal Decree 117/1979). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 26 January 1979. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
10. LEL (1978) , arts. 14–15.
11. "Al alcalde le gustaría presentarse a las elecciones". El País (in Spanish). 14 May 1978. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
12. "José Luis Alvarez, candidato oficial de UCD a la alcaldía". El País (in Spanish). 19 October 1978. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
13. Fuente Lafuente, Ismael (3 January 1979). "José Luis Alvarez dimitirá como alcalde el próximo día 9". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 January 2026.
14. "Enrique Tierno podría ser candidato a alcalde y presidente honorífico del PSOE". El País (in Spanish). 9 February 1978. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
15. García, Sebastián (11 April 1978). "El IV Congreso Nacional del PSP aprobó su fusión con el PSOE". El País (in Spanish). Torremolinos. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
16. "Los otros alcaldables, también a por el escaño de diputado". El País (in Spanish). 3 January 1979. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
17. "Un Gobierno "fuerte y eficaz" idea central de la campaña del PSOE". El País (in Spanish). 12 January 1979. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
18. Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones Municipales en Madrid (desde 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
19. "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior . Retrieved 5 November 2025.
20. "Enrique Tierno, alcalde de Madrid: "Desde mañana empezará la convivencia"". El País. 20 April 1979. Retrieved 4 January 2026.

Bibliography

• Constitución Española (Constitution). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 27 December 1978 [version as of 29 December 1978]. BOE-A-1978-31229. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
• Decreto 1674/1963, de 11 de julio, por el que se aprueba el texto articulado de la Ley que establece un régimen especial para el Municipio de Madrid (PDF) (Decree 1674/1963). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 11 July 1963. BOE-A-1963-14593. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
• Ley 41/1975, de 19 de noviembre, de Bases del Estatuto de Régimen Local (Law 41/1975). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 19 November 1975. BOE-A-1975-23920. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
• Ley 39/1978, de 17 de julio, de elecciones locales (Law 39/1978). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 17 July 1978. BOE-A-1978-18636. Retrieved 17 December 2025.