1983 Madrid municipal election

1983 Madrid municipal election

←  1979 8 May 1983 1987  →
All 57 seats in the City Council of Madrid 29 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	2,380,846 0.1%
Turnout	1,685,115 (70.8%) 4.8 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Enrique Tierno Galván Jorge Verstrynge Adolfo Pastor Party PSOE AP–PDP–PL PCE Leader since 1979 1983 1983 Last election 25 seats, 39.5% Did not contest 9 seats, 14.7% Seats won 30 23 4 Seat change 5 23 5 Popular vote 808,350 631,183 113,112 Percentage 48.4% 37.8% 6.8% Swing 8.9 pp New party 7.9 pp
Mayor before election Enrique Tierno Galván PSOE Elected Mayor Enrique Tierno Galván PSOE

A municipal election was held in Madrid on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 2nd City Council of the municipality. All 57 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.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) won with an absolute majority of 30 councillors and 48.7% of the vote, the only time to date it would do so. The People's Coalition, the electoral alliance led by the People's Alliance (AP) and including the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL), consolidated its gains made in the 1982 Spanish general election and emerged as the second political force in the city, with 38.0% and 23 seats in the City Council. Meanwhile, the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) vote fell as a result of PSOE's growth, losing over half of its councillors down to 4. ^[1] The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) had collapsed in the October general election and was disbanded in early 1983. Several UCD split parties such as Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) or former Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez' Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) contested the election but failed to win any representation.

As a result of the election, Enrique Tierno Galván, was re-elected as Mayor of Madrid for a second term in office. Tierno Galván would die halfway throughout his term of natural causes, being substituted by party colleague Juan Barranco.

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] [3]} In the case of Madrid, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Madrid. ^{[4] [5]}

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. ^[6]

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: ^[7]

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. ^[7]

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. ^[8]

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. ^{[9] [10]}

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. ^[11]

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; 29 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Madrid.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout							Lead
1983 municipal election	8 May 1983	—N/a	70.8	–	48.4 30	6.8 4	37.8 23	3.0 0	2.6 0	10.6
Sofemasa/El País [p 1] [p 2]	23–26 Apr 1983	?	78.0	–	56.7 37/39	8.5 4/5	20.9 15/17	3.9 0	1.1 0	35.8
AP [a] [p 3]	14 Mar 1983	3,082	71	–	44.8 27	6.1 3	43.8 27	<5.0 0	–	1.0
1982 general election	28 Oct 1982	—N/a	86.9	3.5 (0)	48.1 (33)	4.5 (0)	35.7 [b] (24)	4.7 (0)	–	12.4
1979 municipal election	3 Apr 1979	—N/a	66.0	40.3 25	39.5 25	14.7 9	–	–	–	0.8

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	–	33.7	4.7	26.3	2.1	1.8	—N/a	30.6	7.4
Alef–Emopública/CIS [p 4]	17–25 Mar 1983	498	–	45.7	4.2	8.7	0.8	0.2	32.6	6.8	37.0
1982 general election	28 Oct 1982	—N/a	3.0	41.1	3.8	30.5 [b]	4.1	–	—N/a	13.1	10.6
1979 municipal election	3 Apr 1979	—N/a	26.6	26.1	9.7	–	–	–	—N/a	34.0	0.5

Results

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

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	808,350	48.44	+8.95	30	+5
	People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL)	631,183	37.82	New	23	+23
	Communist Party of Spain (PCE)	113,112	6.78	−7.91	4	−5
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	50,824	3.05	New	0	±0
	Liberal Democratic Party (PDL)	44,159	2.65	New	0	±0
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	5,721	0.34	New	0	±0
	Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE)	3,284	0.20	−0.13	0	±0
	Natural Culture (CN)	2,281	0.14	New	0	±0
	Revolutionary Communist League (LCR)	1,543	0.09	−0.02	0	±0
	Popular Struggle Coalition (CLP)	859	0.05	New	0	±0
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	n/a	n/a	−40.29	0	−25
Blank ballots		7,402	0.44	+0.44
Total		1,668,718			57	−2
Valid votes		1,668,718	99.03	−0.97
Invalid votes		16,397	0.97	+0.97
Votes cast / turnout		1,685,115	70.78	+4.80
Abstentions		695,731	29.22	−4.80
Registered voters		2,380,846
Sources [12] [13] [14]

Popular vote

PSOE			48.44%
AP–PDP–UL			37.82%
PCE			6.78%
CDS			3.05%
PDL			2.65%
Others			0.82%
Blank ballots			0.44%

Seats

PSOE			52.63%
AP–PDP–UL			40.35%
PCE			7.02%

Notes

1. Undecided and/or abstentionists excluded.
2. Results for AP–PDP.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "El PSOE tendrá tres veces más votos que AP en las dos elecciones". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.
2. "Ficha técnica de los sondeos". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.
3. "Una encuesta de Alianza Popular les aproxima en votos al PSOE". Hoja del Lunes de Madrid (in Spanish). 14 March 1983.
4. "Preelectoral municipales y autonómicas 1983 (III). Madrid capital (Estudio nº 1351. Marzo 1983)" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 25 March 1983.

Other

1. "El PSOE consume la mayoría absoluta de concejales Madrid a costa de la baja del PCE". El País (in Spanish). 9 May 1983. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
2. Constitution (1978) , art. 140.
3. LBERL (1975) , basis 1.
4. LBERL (1975) , final prov. 1.
5. Decree 1674 of 11 July (1963) , art. 3.
6. LEL (1978) , art. 6.
7. LEL (1978) , arts. 5 & 10–11.
8. LEL (1978) , art. 28.
9. LEL (1978) , tran. prov. 2.
10. LEL (1983) , art. 3.
11. 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.
12. Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones Municipales en Madrid (desde 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
13. "Municipio de Madrid. Elecciones al Ayuntamiento de Madrid de 8 de mayo de 1983. Censo electoral, abstención y votos a candidaturas por mesas" (in Spanish). City Council of Madrid . Retrieved 25 December 2025.
14. "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 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.
• 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.