1991 Valencia City Council election

1991 Valencia City Council election

←  1987 26 May 1991 1995  →
All 33 seats in the City Council of Valencia 17 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	591,436 7.2%
Turnout	375,043 (63.4%) 8.1 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Clementina Ródenas Rita Barberá Vicente González Lizondo Party PSOE PP UV Leader since 13 January 1989 1991 30 August 1982 Last election 13 seats, 36.8% 7 seats, 19.3% [lower-alpha 1] 7 seats, 19.9% Seats won 13 9 8 Seat change 0 2 1 Popular vote 139,272 95,238 80,500 Percentage 37.3% 25.5% 21.6% Swing 0.5 pp 6.2 pp 1.7 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Manuel Moret Luis Gil-Orozco Party EU CDS Leader since 1991 1991 Last election 2 seats (IU–UPV) [lower-alpha 2] 4 seats, 11.3% Seats won 3 0 Seat change 1 4 Popular vote 29,855 7,774 Percentage 8.0% 2.1% Swing n/a 9.2 pp
Mayor before election Clementina Ródenas PSOE Elected Mayor Rita Barberá PP

The 1991 Valencia City Council election, also the 1991 Valencia municipal election, was held on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the 4th City Council of the municipality of Valencia. All 33 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

Electoral system

The City Council of Valencia (Valencian : Ajuntament de València, Spanish : Ayuntamiento de Valencia) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Valencia, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly. ^[1] Elections to the local councils in Spain were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. ^[2] Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the municipality of Valencia and in full enjoyment of their political rights, as well as resident non-nationals whose country of origin allowed Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty.

Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each local council. ^{[1] [2]} Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:

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 mayor was indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause required that mayoral candidates earned the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party in the assembly was to be automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, the appointee would be determined by lot. ^[1]

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition 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 were seeking election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. For the case of Valencia, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 signatures were required. ^[2]

Opinion polls

The table below lists voting intention estimates 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. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 17 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Valencia.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout								LV		Lead
1991 municipal election	26 May 1991	—	73.4	37.3 13	21.6 8	[lower-alpha 3]	2.1 0	8.0 3	1.6 0	[lower-alpha 3]	2.4 0	25.5 9	11.8
Sigma Dos/El Mundo [p 1]	17 May 1991	?	?	35.3 13/14	20.2 7/8	[lower-alpha 3]	3.4 0	10.0 3	–	[lower-alpha 3]	4.1 0	24.2 9	11.1
Metra Seis/El Independiente [p 1]	12 May 1991	?	?	35.4 14	23.6 9	[lower-alpha 3]	3.2 0	8.2 3	2.5 0	[lower-alpha 3]	3.9 0	19.6 7	11.8
Opina/La Vanguardia [p 2]	10–11 May 1991	1,004	?	33.8 12/13	27.1 9/11	[lower-alpha 3]	3.4 0	8.8 3	2.9 0	[lower-alpha 3]	–	19.4 7/8	6.7
Demoscopia/El País [p 1] [p 3] [p 4]	4–7 May 1991	?	?	37.9 14	16.0 6	[lower-alpha 3]	2.8 0	7.5 3	–	[lower-alpha 3]	–	27.1 10	10.8
1989 general election [3]	29 Oct 1989	—	73.2	33.0 (12)	12.6 (4)	[lower-alpha 3]	6.7 (2)	11.0 (4)	1.3 (0)	[lower-alpha 3]	2.5 (0)	28.8 (11)	4.2
1989 EP election [4]	15 Jun 1989	—	60.8	33.6 (14)	13.1 (5)	[lower-alpha 3]	5.9 (2)	6.5 (2)	2.7 (0)	[lower-alpha 3]	1.5 (0)	23.9 (10)	9.7
1987 municipal election	10 Jun 1987	—	71.5	36.8 13	19.9 7	19.0 7	11.3 4	8.0 2		0.3 0	–	–	16.9

Results

← Summary of the 26 May 1991 City Council of Valencia election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	139,272	37.30	+0.55	13	±0
	People's Party (PP)1	95,238	25.50	+6.22	9	+2
	Valencian Union (UV)	80,500	21.56	+1.69	8	+1
	United Left of the Valencian Country (EU)2	29,855	8.00	n/a	3	+1
	The Greens (LV)	8,945	2.40	New	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	7,774	2.08	–9.26	0	–4
	Valencian People's Union (UPV)2	5,982	1.60	n/a	0	±0
	Valencian Radical Socialist Party (PRSV)	878	0.24	New	0	±0
	National Front (FN)	628	0.17	New	0	±0
	Left Platform (PCE (m–l)–CRPE)3	482	0.13	–0.02	0	±0
	Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)	386	0.10	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		3,711	0.99	–0.14
Total		373,418			33	±0
Valid votes		373,418	99.57	+0.90
Invalid votes		1,625	0.43	–0.90
Votes cast / turnout		375,043	63.41	–8.11
Abstentions		216,393	36.59	+8.11
Registered voters		591,436
Sources [5] [6] [7] [8]
Footnotes: 1 People's Party results are compared to the combined totals of People's Alliance and People's Democratic Party–Valencian Centrists in the 1987 election. 2 Within the United Left–Valencian People's Union alliance in the 1987 election. 3 Left Platform results are compared to Republican Popular Unity totals in the 1987 election.

Popular vote PSOE   37.30% PP   25.50% UV   21.56% EU   8.00% LV   2.40% CDS   2.08% UPV   1.60% Others   0.64% Blank ballots   0.99%

Seats PSOE   39.39% PP   27.27% UV   24.24% EU   9.09%

Notes

1. Aggregated data for AP and PDP–CV in the 1987 election.
2. Within the IU–UPV alliance in the 1987 election.
3. Within PP.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "Las elecciones de 26-5-91". CEPC (in Spanish). August 1991.
2. "UV y PP pueden gobernar Valencia si pactan". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 20 May 1991.
3. "El ascenso del PP hace peligrar al PSOE en Madrid, Sevilla y Valencia". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.
4. "Ficha técnica". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.

Other

1. "Ley 7/1985, de 2 de abril, Reguladora de las Bases del Régimen Local". Law No. 7 of 2 April 1985 (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 June 2020.
2. "Ley Orgánica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del Régimen Electoral General". Organic Law No. 5 of 19 June 1985 (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 January 2020.
3. "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. October 1989. Valencia Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
4. "Electoral Results Consultation. European Parliament. June 1989. Valencia Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
5. "Local election results, 26 May 1991" (PDF). Central Electoral Commission (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 February 2018.
6. "Municipal Elections. Valencia" (PDF). www.valencia.es (in Spanish). City Council of Valencia. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
7. "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 1991. Valencia Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
8. "Eleccions municipals a València (1979 - 2015)". Historia Electoral.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 30 September 2017.