1987 Barcelona municipal election

Last updated
1987 Barcelona municipal election
Bandera de Barcelona de 2 barres.svg
  1983 10 June 1987 1991  

All 43 seats in the City Council of Barcelona
22 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered1,342,049 Decrease2.svg 1.3%
Turnout925,036 (68.9%)
Increase2.svg 1.5 pp
 First partySecond partyThird party
  (Maragall) Felipe Gonzalez recibe al alcalde de Barcelona. Pool Moncloa. 20 de septiembre de 1989 (cropped) (cropped).jpeg Portrait placeholder.svg Portrait placeholder.svg
Leader Pasqual Maragall Josep Maria Cullell Enrique Lacalle
Party PSC–PSOE CiU AP
Leader since2 December 198219871987
Last election21 seats, 45.8%13 seats, 27.4%5 seats (CP) [a]
Seats won21173
Seat changeSteady2.svg 0Increase2.svg 4Decrease2.svg 2
Popular vote400,280325,46369,419
Percentage43.6%35.5%7.6%
SwingDecrease2.svg 2.2 pp Increase2.svg 8.1 pp n/a

 Fourth partyFifth party
  Portrait placeholder.svg Portrait placeholder.svg
Leader Eulàlia Vintró Francisco Salvador Avila
Party IC PDP
Leader since19871987
Last election3 seats, 8.0% [b] 1 seat (CP) [a]
Seats won20
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 1Decrease2.svg 1
Popular vote47,4060
Percentage5.2%0.0%
SwingDecrease2.svg 2.8 pp n/a

Mayor before election

Pasqual Maragall
PSC

Elected Mayor

Pasqual Maragall
PSC

A municipal election was held in Barcelona on Wednesday, 10 June 1987, to elect the 3rd 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, as well as the 1987 European Parliament election.

Contents

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 Barcelona, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Barcelona. [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 political rights (provided that they were not sentenced—by a final court ruling—to deprivation of the right to vote, nor being legally incapacitated), as well as resident non-nationals whose country of origin allowed Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty. [3] [5] [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. [7] Each municipality constituted a multi-member constituency, entitled a number of seats based on the following scale: [8]

PopulationCouncillors
<2505
251–1,0007
1,001–2,0009
2,001–5,00011
5,001–10,00013
10,001–20,00017
20,001–50,00021
50,001–100,00025
>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. [9]

The mayor was indirectly elected by the local assembly. [3] 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. [10]

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 twenty-fifth day prior to the date of expiry of the city councils and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE), with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication. [11] The previous local elections were held on 8 May 1983, which meant that the city councils' terms would have expired on 8 May 1987. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 14 April 1987, with the election taking place up to the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible date for election day on Saturday, 13 June 1987.

Local councils could not be dissolved before the expiry 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—agree to call a by-election. [12]

Elections to local councils were officially called on 14 April 1987 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 10 June. [13]

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 Barcelona, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required. [14]

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

CandidacyParties and
alliances
Leading candidateIdeologyPrevious resultGov.Ref.
Vote %Seats
PSC–PSOE (Maragall) Felipe Gonzalez recibe al alcalde de Barcelona. Pool Moncloa. 20 de septiembre de 1989 (cropped) (cropped).jpeg Pasqual Maragall Social democracy 45.8%21Check-green.svg
CiU Portrait placeholder.svg Josep Maria Cullell Catalan nationalism
Centrism
27.4%13Dark Red x.svg
AP Portrait placeholder.svg Enrique Lacalle Conservatism
National conservatism

13.0%
[c]
6Dark Red x.svg
PDP Portrait placeholder.svg Francisco Salvador Avila Christian democracy Dark Red x.svg
IC Portrait placeholder.svg Eulàlia Vintró Eco-socialism
Green politics

8.0%
[b]
3Check-green.svg
ERC Portrait placeholder.svg Albert Alay Catalan nationalism
Left-wing nationalism
Social democracy
3.9%0Dark Red x.svg
CDS Antoni Fernandez i Teixido 2008 (cropped).jpg Antoni Fernández Teixidó Centrism
Liberalism
0.9%0Dark Red x.svg

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; 22 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona.

Results

Summary of the 10 June 1987 City Council of Barcelona election results
BarcelonaCouncilDiagram1987.svg
Parties and alliancesPopular voteSeats
Votes%±pp Total+/−
Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE)400,28043.61−2.1921±0
Convergence and Union (CiU)325,46335.46+8.0917+4
People's Alliance (AP)169,4197.56 n/a 3−2
Initiative for Catalonia (IC)247,4065.16−2.832−1
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)31,0283.38+2.440±0
Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC)21,2362.31−1.550±0
Green Alternative–Ecologist Movement of Catalonia (AV–MEC)3,9160.43New0±0
Ecologist Party of Catalonia–VERDE (PEC–VERDE)3,1160.34New0±0
Workers' Party of Spain–Communist Unity (PTE–UC)2,0780.23New0±0
Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)1,3880.15+0.020±0
Revolutionary Workers' Party of Spain (PORE)1,1520.13+0.030±0
Republican Popular Unity (UPR)31,0690.12+0.030±0
Humanist Platform (PH)9480.10New0±0
Communist Unification of Spain (UCE)8690.09New0±0
Internationalist Socialist Workers' Party (POSI)6360.07New0±0
Social Democratic Party of Catalonia (PSDC)5660.06New0±0
Communist Workers' League (LOC)4280.05New0±0
People's Democratic Party (PDP)100.00n/a0±0
Blank ballots6,8790.75+0.32
Total917,87743±0
Valid votes917,87799.23+0.87
Invalid votes7,1590.77−0.87
Votes cast / turnout925,03668.93+1.51
Abstentions417,01331.07−1.51
Registered voters1,342,049
Sources [15] [16] [17] [18]
Footnotes:
Popular vote
PSC–PSOE
43.61%
CiU
35.46%
AP
7.56%
IC
5.16%
CDS
3.38%
ERC
2.31%
Others
1.76%
Blank ballots
0.75%
Seats
PSC–PSOE
48.84%
CiU
39.53%
AP
6.98%
IC
4.65%

Aftermath

Government formation

Investiture
Ballot →30 June 1987
Required majority →22 out of 43
20 / 43
Yellow check.svg
Josep Maria Cullell (CiU)
  • CiU (17)
  • AP (3)
20 / 43
X mark.svg
Abstentions/Blank ballots
  • IC (2)
2 / 43
Absentees
1 / 43
Sources [15] [19]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Within the AP–PDP–UL alliance in the 1983 election: AP (5 seats) and PDP (1 seat). [1]
  2. 1 2 Results for PSUC (6.9%, 3 seats) and PCC (1.1%, 0 seats) in the 1983 election.
  3. Results for AP–PDP–UL in the 1983 election.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Within IC.
  5. Undecided and/or abstentionists excluded.
  6. Within UEC.
  7. 1 2 3 Within AP–PDP–UL/AP–PDP–PL.
  8. Results for UEC.

References

Opinion poll sources
  1. "Algunas encuestas electorales plantean un descenso exagerado del PSOE". ABC (in Spanish). 5 June 1987.
  2. "Maragall puede perder". ABC (in Spanish). 2 June 1987.
  3. "La última encuesta socialista da la mayoría absoluta al PSC en Barcelona". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 4 June 1987.
  4. "Maragall puede perder la alcaldía en beneficio de Cullell" (PDF). El País (in Spanish). 4 June 1987.
  5. "Los sondeos de PSC y CIU discrepan sobre el resultado electoral en Barcelona". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 10 May 1987.
  6. "Los socialistas podrían gobernar con mayoría absoluta". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 8 May 1987.
  7. "Un sondeo del CIS para el Gobierno da la mayoría del PSOE en Madrid y Barcelona" (PDF). El País (in Spanish). 4 June 1987.
Other
  1. "Juntas Electorales de Zona de Arenys de Mar, de Barcelona, de Berga, de Granollers y de L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. Candidaturas proclamadas (BOP Barcelona núm. 87, de 12 de abril de 1983)" (PDF). Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona (in Spanish) (87): 11. 12 April 1983. ISSN   2483-8039 . Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  2. Constitution (1978) , art. 140.
  3. 1 2 3 LBRL (1985) , art. 19.
  4. LBRL (1985) , add. prov. 6.
  5. Constitution (1978) , art. 13.
  6. LOREG (1985) , arts. 2–3 & 176.
  7. LOREG (1985) , arts. 163 & 180.
  8. LOREG (1985) , art. 179.
  9. LOREG (1985) , arts. 46, 48 & 182.
  10. LOREG (1985) , art. 196.
  11. LOREG (1985) , arts. 42 & 194.
  12. LBRL (1985) , art. 61.
  13. Real Decreto 508/1987, de 13 de abril, de convocatoria de elecciones locales (PDF) (Royal Decree 508/1987). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 13 April 1987. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  14. LOREG (1985) , arts. 44 & 187.
  15. 1 2 Lozano, Carles. "Eleccions municipals a Barcelona (des de 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  16. "Resultats electorals. Eleccions Municipals 1987. Barcelona (Municipi)". Government of Catalonia (in Catalan). Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  17. "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior . Retrieved 5 November 2025.
  18. "Resultados de las elecciones municipales celebradas el 10 de junio de 1987" (PDF). Official State Gazette (in Spanish) (172): 1–565. 20 July 1987. ISSN   0212-033X . Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  19. "Maragall gobernará Barcelona en minoría al fracasar el pacto con los comunistas". El País. Barcelona. 1 July 1987. Retrieved 29 November 2025.

Bibliography