1991 Zaragoza municipal election

1991 Zaragoza municipal election

←  1987 26 May 1991 1995  →
All 31 seats in the City Council of Zaragoza 16 seats needed for a majority
Registered	466,213 7.0%
Turnout	263,294 (56.5%) 10.3 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Antonio González Triviño Ángel Cristóbal Montes Ana María Cortés Party PSOE PP PAR Leader since 27 January 1986 1991 1991 Last election 13 seats, 38.7% 5 seats, 15.5% [a] 8 seats, 23.1% Seats won 15 7 6 Seat change 2 2 2 Popular vote 112,106 56,947 47,780 Percentage 42.9% 21.8% 18.3% Swing 4.2 pp 6.3 pp 4.8 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Ricardo Berdié Rafael de Miguel Party CAA–IU CDS Leader since 1991 1983 Last election 2 seats, 7.2% 3 seats, 10.7% Seats won 3 0 Seat change 1 3 Popular vote 24,594 7,499 Percentage 9.4% 2.9% Swing 2.2 pp 7.8 pp
Mayor before election Antonio González Triviño PSOE Elected mayor Antonio González Triviño PSOE

A municipal election was held in Zaragoza on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the 4th 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 throughout 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 Zaragoza, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Zaragoza. ^[3]

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 Zaragoza 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. ^{[2] [4] [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. ^[6] 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. ^[8]

The mayor was indirectly elected by the local assembly. ^[2] 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. ^[9]

Election date

The term of city councils in Spain expired four years after the date of their previous election, with amendments earlier in 1991 fixing election day for the fourth Sunday of May every four years (as of 2025, this has been the year before a leap year). The election decree was required to be issued between the fifty-fourth and sixtieth day prior to the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE). ^[10] The previous local elections were held on 10 June 1987, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 26 May 1991.

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. ^[11]

Elections to local councils were officially called on 2 April 1991 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 26 May. ^[12]

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 Zaragoza, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 signatures were required. ^[13]

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

Candidacy		Parties and alliances	Leading candidate		Ideology	Previous result		Gov.	Ref.
						Vote %	Seats
	PSOE	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)		Antonio González Triviño	Social democracy	38.7%	13
	PAR	List Aragonese Party (PAR)		Ana María Cortés	Regionalism Centrism	23.1%	8
	PP	List People's Party (PP)		Angel Cristóbal Montes	Conservatism Christian democracy	15.5% [a]	5
	CDS	List Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)		Rafael de Miguel	Centrism Liberalism	10.7%	3
	CAA–IU	List Communist Party of Aragon (PCE–A) Socialist Action Party (PASOC) Republican Left (IR)		Ricardo Berdié	Socialism Communism	7.2%	2

Results

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

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	112,106	42.87	+4.19	15	+2
	People's Party (PP)1	56,947	21.78	+6.26	7	+2
	Aragonese Party (PAR)	47,780	18.27	−4.81	6	−2
	Aragon Alternative Convergence–United Left (CAA–IU)	24,594	9.40	+2.21	3	+1
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	7,499	2.87	−7.86	0	−3
	Aragonese Union (CHA)	6,082	2.33	+1.57	0	±0
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	1,574	0.60	New	0	±0
	Social Aragonese Movement (MAS)	716	0.27	New	0	±0
	Left Municipal Platform (PMI)	387	0.15	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		3,815	1.46	−0.04
Total		261,500			31	±0
Valid votes		261,500	99.32	+0.68
Invalid votes		1,794	0.68	−0.68
Votes cast / turnout		263,294	56.48	−10.35
Abstentions		202,919	43.52	+10.35
Registered voters		466,213
Sources [14] [15] [16]
Footnotes: 1 People's Party results are compared to the combined totals of People's Alliance and People's Democratic Party in the 1987 election.

Popular vote

PSOE			42.87%
PP			21.78%
PAR			18.27%
CAA–IU			9.40%
CDS			2.87%
CHA			2.33%
Others			1.02%
Blank ballots			1.46%

Seats

PSOE			48.39%
PP			22.58%
PAR			19.35%
CAA–IU			9.68%

Aftermath

Investiture
Ballot →		15 June 1991
Required majority →		16 out of 31
	Antonio González Triviño (PSOE) • PSOE (15)	15 / 31	Y
	Ángel Cristóbal Montes (PP) • PP (7)	7 / 31	N
	Ana María Cortés (PAR) • PAR (6)	6 / 31	N
	Ricardo Berdié (IU) • IU (3)	3 / 31	N
	Abstentions/Blank ballots	0 / 31
	Absentees	0 / 31
Sources [17]

Notes

1. Results for AP (14.9%, 5 seats) and PDP (0.6%, 0 seats) in the 1987 election.

References

1. Constitution (1978) , art. 140.
2. LBRL (1985) , art. 19.
3. LBRL (1985) , add. prov. 6.
4. Constitution (1978) , art. 13.
5. LOREG (1985) , arts. 2–3 & 176.
6. LOREG (1985) , arts. 163 & 180.
7. LOREG (1985) , art. 179.
8. LOREG (1985) , arts. 46, 48 & 182.
9. LOREG (1985) , art. 196.
10. LOREG (1985) , arts. 42 & 194.
11. LBRL (1985) , art. 61.
12. Real Decreto 391/1991, de 1 de abril, de convocatoria de elecciones locales (PDF) (Royal Decree 391/1991). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 1 April 1991. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
13. LOREG (1985) , arts. 44 & 187.
14. Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones municipales en Zaragoza (desde 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
15. "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior . Retrieved 5 November 2025.
16. "Resumen de los resultados de las elecciones locales convocadas por Real Decreto 391/1991, de 1 de abril, y celebradas el 26 de mayo de 1991, según los datos que figuran en las actas remitidas por cada una de las Juntas Electorales de Zona" (PDF). Official State Gazette (in Spanish) (173 (Supplement)): 1–1052. 20 July 1991. ISSN   0212-033X . Retrieved 26 November 2025.
17. Ortega, Javier (16 June 1991). "González Triviño ofrece a la oposición participar en el gobierno de Zaragoza". El País (in Spanish). Zaragoza. Retrieved 30 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.
• Ley 7/1985, de 2 de abril, Reguladora de las Bases del Régimen Local (Law 7/1985). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 2 April 1985 [version as of 27 March 1991]. BOE-A-1985-5392. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
• Ley Orgánica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del Régimen Electoral General (Organic Law 5/1985). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 19 June 1985 [version as of 14 March 1991]. BOE-A-1985-11672. Retrieved 4 November 2025.