1995 Valencia municipal election

1995 Valencia municipal election

←  1991 28 May 1995 1999  →
All 33 seats in the City Council of Valencia 17 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	627,784 6.1%
Turnout	458,649 (73.1%) 9.7 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Rita Barberá Aurelio Martínez Manuel Moret Party PP PSOE EU–EV Leader since 1991 25 January 1995 1991 Last election 9 seats, 25.5% 13 seats, 37.3% 3 seats, 10.4% [a] Seats won 17 8 5 Seat change 8 5 2 Popular vote 223,963 110,071 67,532 Percentage 49.0% 24.1% 14.8% Swing 23.5 pp 13.2 pp 4.4 pp   Fourth party   Leader Juan Vicente Jurado Party UV–FICVA–CCV Leader since 1995 Last election 8 seats, 21.6% Seats won 3 Seat change 5 Popular vote 41,019 Percentage 9.0% Swing 12.6 pp
Mayor before election Rita Barberá PP Elected mayor Rita Barberá PP

A municipal election was held in Valencia on Sunday, 28 May 1995, to elect the 5th City Council of the municipality. All 33 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 Valencia, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Valencia. ^[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 Valencia 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 or within the framework of Community law. ^{[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 election day being fixed 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 no later than the fifty-fifth 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 26 May 1991, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 28 May 1995.

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 4 April 1995 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 28 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 Valencia, 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)		Aurelio Martínez	Social democracy	37.3%	13		[14]
	PP	List People's Party (PP)		Rita Barberá	Conservatism Christian democracy	25.5%	9		[15]
	UV– FICVA– CCV	List Valencian Union (UV) Independents' Federation of the Valencian Community (FICVA) Centrists of the Valencian Community (CCV)		Juan Vicente Jurado	Blaverism Conservatism	21.6%	8
	EU–EV	List United Left of the Valencian Country (EUPV) – Communist Party of the Valencian Country (PCPV) – Socialist Action Party (PASOC) – Republican Left (IR) The Greens (EV)		Manuel Moret	Socialism Communism	10.4% [a]	3

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; 17 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Valencia.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout					Lead
1995 municipal election	28 May 1995	—	73.1	24.1 8	49.0 17	9.0 3	14.8 5	24.9
Demoscopia/El País [p 1] [p 2]	10–15 May 1995	1,000	?	21.2 8	45.0 16	? 4	15.3 5	23.8
CIS [p 3] [p 4]	24 Apr–10 May 1995	300	72.3	21.8	51.6	11.2	11.6	29.8
Sigma Dos/El Mundo [p 2]	3–7 May 1995	500	?	21.2 7	42.4 15/16	? 5/6	15.2 5	21.2
Gruppo/ABC [p 5] [p 6]	9–14 Feb 1995	400	?	23.3 8	45.5 16/17	10.3 3	16.1 5/6	22.2
1994 EP election [16]	12 Jun 1994	—	63.6	22.9 (8)	47.7 (17)	7.8 (2)	16.0 (6)	24.8
1993 general election [17]	6 Jun 1993	—	81.2	31.1 (11)	42.7 (15)	8.2 (3)	12.6 (4)	11.6
1991 municipal election	26 May 1991	—	73.4	37.3 13	25.5 9	21.6 8	8.0 3	11.8

Results

← Summary of the 28 May 1995 City Council of Valencia election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	223,963	49.00	+23.50	17	+8
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	110,071	24.08	−13.22	8	−5
	United Left–The Greens (EU–EV)1	67,532	14.78	+4.38	5	+2
	Valencian Union–Independents–Centrists (UV–FICVA–CCV)	41,019	8.97	−12.59	3	−5
	Valencian People's Union–Nationalist Bloc (UPV–BN)	4,290	0.94	−0.66	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	1,645	0.36	−1.72	0	±0
	Valencianist Renewal (RV)	1,117	0.24	New	0	±0
	Autonomist Republican Party (PRA)	618	0.14	New	0	±0
	Valencian Nationalist Left (ENV)	481	0.11	New	0	±0
	Platform of Independents of Spain (PIE)	391	0.09	New	0	±0
	Humanist Platform (PH–LE)	346	0.08	New	0	±0
	Spanish Autonomous League (LAE)	221	0.05	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		5,371	1.18	+0.19
Total		457,065			33	±0
Valid votes		457,065	99.65	+0.08
Invalid votes		1,584	0.35	−0.08
Votes cast / turnout		458,649	73.06	+9.65
Abstentions		169,135	26.94	−9.65
Registered voters		627,784
Sources [18] [19] [20] [21]
Footnotes: 1 United Left–The Greens results are compared to the combined totals of United Left of the Valencian Country and The Greens in the 1991 election.

Popular vote

PP			49.00%
PSOE			24.08%
EU–EV			14.78%
UV–FICVA–CCV			8.97%
Others			1.99%
Blank ballots			1.18%

Seats

PP			51.52%
PSOE			24.24%
EU–EV			15.15%
UV–FICVA–CCV			9.09%

Aftermath

Government formation

Investiture
Ballot →		7 July 1995
Required majority →		17 out of 33
	Rita Barberá (PP) • PP (17) • UV (3)	20 / 33	Y
	Aurelio Martínez (PSOE) • PSOE (8)	8 / 33	N
	Manuel Moret (EUPV) • EUPV (5)	5 / 33	N
	Abstentions/Blank ballots	0 / 33
	Absentees	0 / 33
Sources [22] [23]

Notes

1. Results for EU (8.0%, 3 seats) and LV (2.4%, 0 seats) in the 1991 election.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "El PSOE se hunde en las principales ciudades". El País (in Spanish). 21 May 1995.
2. "El PP cree que la encuesta publicada por un diario madrileño tiene como objetivo alarmar a los electores e impulsar el voto de izquierda". ABC (in Spanish). 22 May 1995.
3. "Preelectoral Municipales Valencia (Estudio nº 2167. Abril-Mayo 1995)". CIS (in Spanish). 10 May 1995.
4. "Estudio CIS nº 2167. Ficha técnica" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 10 May 1995.
5. "El PP ganaría por mayoría absoluta en las tres capitales de provincia". ABC (in Spanish). 20 March 1995.
6. "Encuesta de Gruppo para ABC/Resultados municipales". ABC (in Spanish). 6 May 1995.

Other

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 489/1995, de 3 de abril, de convocatoria de elecciones locales y a las Asambleas de Ceuta y Melilla (PDF) (Royal Decree 489/1995). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 3 April 1995. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
13. LOREG (1985) , arts. 44 & 187.
14. Villena, Miguel Ángel (26 January 1995). "El independiente Aurelio Martínez será el 'alcaldable' por el PSOE en Valencia". El País (in Spanish). Valencia. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
15. Ruiz de Azúa, Victorino (11 November 1994). "Seis mujeres en las candidaturas del Partido Popular a las alcaldías de las principales ciudades". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
16. "Electoral Results Consultation. European Parliament. June 1994. Valencia Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
17. "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. June 1993. Valencia Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
18. Lozano, Carles. "Eleccions municipals a València (des de 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
19. "Consultes electorals. 1. Eleccions municipals" (PDF). City Council of Valencia (in Catalan). Retrieved 27 November 2025.
20. "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior . Retrieved 5 November 2025.
21. "Acuerdo de la Junta Electoral Central de 19 de julio de 1995, de publicación del resumen de los resultados de las elecciones locales convocadas por Real Decreto 489/1995, de 3 de abril, y celebradas el 28 de mayo de 1995, según los datos que figuran en las actas de proclamación remitidas por cada una de las Juntas Electorales de Zona" (PDF). Official State Gazette (in Spanish) (173 (Supplement)): 1–1166. 21 July 1995. ISSN   0212-033X . Retrieved 26 November 2025.
22. "Las desavenencias de la izquierda disparan en Valencia las expectativas del PP". El País. Valencia. 18 June 1995. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
23. Enguix, Salvador (8 July 1995). "Rita Barbera asegura que gobernar con UV en la alcaldía hace honor a la coherencia del PP". La Vanguardia . Valencia. Retrieved 30 November 2025.

Bibliography

• Constitución Española (Constitution). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 27 December 1978 [version as of 28 August 1992]. 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 31 December 1994]. 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 24 March 1995]. BOE-A-1985-11672. Retrieved 4 November 2025.