1983 Barcelona municipal election

1983 Barcelona municipal election

←  1979 8 May 1983 1987  →
All 43 seats in the City Council of Barcelona 22 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	1,359,589 8.2%
Turnout	916,684 (67.4%) 13.1 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Pasqual Maragall Ramon Trias Alexandre Pedrós Party PSC–PSOE CiU AP–PDP–PL Leader since 2 December 1982 1983 1983 Last election 16 seats, 34.0% 8 seats, 18.6% 0 seats, 3.0% [a] Seats won 21 13 6 Seat change 5 5 6 Popular vote 412,991 246,780 117,052 Percentage 45.8% 27.4% 13.0% Swing 11.8 pp 8.8 pp 10.0 pp   Fourth party   Leader Jordi Solé Tura Party PSUC Leader since 1983 Last election 9 seats, 18.9% Seats won 3 Seat change 6 Popular vote 62,421 Percentage 6.9% Swing 12.0 pp
Mayor before election Pasqual Maragall PSC Elected Mayor Pasqual Maragall PSC

A municipal election was held in Barcelona on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 2nd 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.

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 Barcelona, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Barcelona. ^{[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 Barcelona 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 between the fifty-fifth and the seventieth day from publication. ^{[8] [9]}

Elections to local councils were officially called on 10 March 1983 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 8 May. ^[10]

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 also displayed below (or in place of) the voting estimates 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							Lead
1983 municipal election	8 May 1983	—N/a	67.4	45.8 21	6.9 3	27.4 13	–	3.9 0	13.0 6	18.4
Sofemasa/El País [p 1] [p 2]	23–26 Apr 1983	?	?	43.7 20/21	8.9 4/5	22.1 11/12	–	5.6 2	11.0 5	21.6
1982 general election [11]	28 Oct 1982	—N/a	81.0	40.9 (22)	4.5 (0)	23.3 (12)	1.6 (0)	4.5 (0)	18.6 [b] (9)	17.6
1980 regional election [12]	20 Mar 1980	—N/a	57.9	20.9 (10)	16.1 (8)	28.7 (15)	10.2 (5)	10.8 (5)	3.9 [b] 0	7.8
1979 municipal election	3 Apr 1979	—N/a	54.3	34.0 16	18.9 9	18.6 8	16.7 8	5.2 2	3.0 [b] 0	15.1

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size								?	N	Lead
1983 municipal election	8 May 1983	—N/a	30.4	4.6	18.2	–	2.6	8.6	0.6	—N/a	32.6	12.2
Alef–Emopública/CIS [p 3]	17–25 Mar 1983	517	41.6	3.3	11.1	–	2.1	4.8	0.2	26.2	7.0	30.5
1982 general election [11]	28 Oct 1982	—N/a	32.8	3.6	18.7	1.3	3.6	14.9 [b]	1.9	—N/a	19.0	14.1
1980 regional election [12]	20 Mar 1980	—N/a	12.0	9.3	16.5	5.9	6.2	2.2 [b]	–	—N/a	42.1	4.5
1979 municipal election	3 Apr 1979	—N/a	18.4	10.2	10.1	9.0	2.8	1.6 [b]	–	—N/a	45.7	8.2

Results

← Summary of the 8 May 1983 City Council of Barcelona election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE)	412,991	45.80	+11.75	21	+5
	Convergence and Union (CiU)	246,780	27.37	+8.78	13	+5
	People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL)1	117,052	12.98	+9.98	6	+6
	Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC)	62,421	6.92	−11.98	3	−6
	Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC)	34,777	3.86	−1.37	0	−2
	Party of the Communists of Catalonia (PCC)	9,653	1.07	New	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	8,518	0.94	New	0	±0
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	2,699	0.30	New	0	±0
	Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)	1,194	0.13	New	0	±0
	Revolutionary Workers' Party of Spain (PORE)	864	0.10	New	0	±0
	Popular Struggle Coalition (CLP)	848	0.09	New	0	±0
	Conservatives of Catalonia (CiC)	0	0.00	New	0	±0
	Centrists of Catalonia (CC–UCD)	n/a	n/a	−16.73	0	−8
Blank ballots		3,847	0.43	+0.11
Total		901,644			43	±0
Valid votes		901,644	98.36	−1.27
Invalid votes		15,040	1.64	+1.27
Votes cast / turnout		916,684	67.42	+13.15
Abstentions		442,905	32.58	−13.15
Registered voters		1,359,589
Sources [13] [14] [15]
Footnotes: 1 People's Coalition results are compared to Democratic Coalition totals in the 1979 election.

Popular vote

PSC–PSOE			45.80%
CiU			27.37%
AP–PDP–UL			12.98%
PSUC			6.92%
ERC			3.86%
PCC			1.07%
Others			1.57%
Blank ballots			0.43%

Seats

PSC–PSOE			48.84%
CiU			30.23%
AP–PDP–UL			13.95%
PSUC			6.98%

Notes

1. Data for CD in the 1979 election.
2. Results for CD (1979), SC (1980) and AP–PDP (1982).

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "El PSC-PSOE gana en Cataluña, y en Barcelona con coalición". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.
2. "Ficha técnica de los sondeos". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.
3. "Preelectoral municipales y autonómicas 1983 (III). Barcelona capital (Estudio nº 1351. Marzo 1983)" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 25 March 1983.

Other

1. Constitution (1978) , art. 140.
2. LBERL (1975) , basis 1.
3. LBERL (1975) , final prov. 1.
4. Decree 1166 of 23 May (1960) , art. 2.
5. LEL (1978) , art. 6.
6. LEL (1978) , arts. 5 & 10–11.
7. LEL (1978) , art. 28.
8. LEL (1978) , tran. prov. 2.
9. LEL (1983) , art. 3.
10. Real Decreto 448/1983, de 9 de marzo, de convocatoria de Elecciones Locales (PDF) (Royal Decree 448/1983). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 9 March 1983. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
11. "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. October 1982. Barcelona Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
12. "Electoral results. Parliament of Catalonia election 1980. Barcelona (Municipality)". Government of Catalonia (in Catalan). Retrieved 13 July 2020.
13. Lozano, Carles. "Eleccions municipals a Barcelona (des de 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
14. "Resultats electorals. Eleccions Municipals 1983. Barcelona (Municipi)" (in Catalan). Government of Catalonia . Retrieved 6 November 2025.
15. "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior . Retrieved 5 November 2025.

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 1166/1960, de 23 de mayo, por el que se establece un régimen especial para el Municipio de Barcelona, conforme a lo autorizado por el artículo 94 de la vigente Ley de Régimen Local (PDF) (Decree 1166/1960). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 23 May 1960. BOE-A-1960-9155. 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.
• Ley Orgánica 6/1983, de 2 de marzo, por la que se modifican determinados artículos de la Ley 39/1978, de 17 de julio, de Elecciones Locales (PDF) (Organic Law 6/1983). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 2 March 1983. BOE-A-1983-6573. Retrieved 18 December 2025.