1983 Seville municipal election

1983 Seville municipal election

←  1979 8 May 1983 1987  →
All 31 seats in the City Council of Seville 16 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	454,851 6.3%
Turnout	274,080 (60.3%) 3.3 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Manuel del Valle Pedro Albert Lasierra Javier Aristu Party PSOE–A AP–PDP–UL PCE Leader since 1983 — — Last election 8 seats, 24.8% 0 seats, 1.2% [a] 6 seats, 18.4% Seats won 19 10 2 Seat change 11 10 4 Popular vote 153,002 80,542 24,099 Percentage 56.2% 29.6% 8.9% Swing 31.4 pp 28.4 pp 9.5 pp
Mayor before election Luis Uruñuela PSA–PA Elected mayor Manuel del Valle PSOE

A municipal election was held in Seville on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 2nd City Council of the municipality. All 31 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 Seville, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Seville.

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 Seville and in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights. ^[3]

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: ^[4]

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. ^[4]

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. ^[5]

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. ^{[6] [7]}

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. ^[8]

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 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	–	33.6	1.8	5.3	17.7	0.7	—N/a	40.4	15.9
Alef–Emopública/CIS [9]	17–25 Mar 1983	497	0.6	59.3	–	3.0	11.5	0.2	14.9	4.8	47.8
1982 general election	28 Oct 1982	—N/a	2.1	47.1	2.5	4.5	21.2 [b]	0.8	—N/a	18.1	25.9
1982 regional election	28 Oct 1982	—N/a	4.6	33.9	4.0	5.0	15.7 [b]	–	—N/a	34.1	18.2
1979 municipal election	3 Apr 1979	—N/a	15.4	14.0	13.3	10.4	0.7 [b]	–	—N/a	43.0	1.4

Results

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

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A)	153,002	56.22	+31.44	19	+11
	People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL)1	80,542	29.60	+28.43	10	+10
	Communist Party of Spain (PCE)	24,099	8.86	−9.57	2	−4
	Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA)	8,080	2.97	−20.51	0	−8
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	3,191	1.17	New	0	±0
	Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE)	1,460	0.54	−0.11	0	±0
	United Candidacy of Workers (CUT)	540	0.20	New	0	±0
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	n/a	n/a	−27.09	0	−9
Blank ballots		1,221	0.45	+0.32
Total		272,135			31	±0
Valid votes		272,135	99.29	−0.21
Invalid votes		1,945	0.71	+0.21
Votes cast / turnout		274,080	60.26	+3.28
Abstentions		180,771	39.74	−3.28
Registered voters		454,851
Sources [10] [11] [12]
Footnotes: 1 People's Coalition results are compared to Democratic Coalition totals in the 1979 election.

Popular vote

PSOE–A			56.22%
AP–PDP–UL			29.60%
PCE			8.86%
PSA–PA			2.97%
CDS			1.17%
Others			0.73%
Blank ballots			0.45%

Seats

PSOE–A			61.29%
AP–PDP–UL			32.26%
PCE			6.45%

Notes

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

References

1. Constitution (1978) , art. 140.
2. LBERL (1975) , basis 1.
3. LEL (1978) , art. 6.
4. LEL (1978) , arts. 5 & 10–11.
5. LEL (1978) , art. 28.
6. LEL (1978) , tran. prov. 2.
7. LEL (1983) , art. 3.
8. 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.
9. "Preelectoral municipales y autonómicas 1983 (III). Sevilla capital (Estudio nº 1351. Marzo 1983)". CIS (in Spanish). 25 March 1983.
10. Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones municipales en Sevilla (desde 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
11. "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior . Retrieved 5 November 2025.
12. "Anuario Estadístico de la ciudad de Sevilla 1999" (in Spanish). City Council of Seville. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.

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.
• 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.