1999 Seville municipal election

1999 Seville municipal election

←  1995 13 June 1999 2003  →
All 33 seats in the City Council of Seville 17 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	586,032 4.8%
Turnout	331,068 (56.5%) 6.8 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Soledad Becerril Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín Alejandro Rojas-Marcos Party PP PSOE–A PA Leader since 24 March 1987 27 June 1998 29 August 1986 Last election 10 seats, 30.4% 10 seats, 28.5% 9 seats, 26.4% [a] Seats won 13 12 6 Seat change 3 2 3 Popular vote 118,072 115,968 58,093 Percentage 35.8% 35.2% 17.6% Swing 5.4 pp 6.7 pp 8.8 pp   Fourth party   Leader Luis Pizarro Party IULV–CA Leader since 1995 Last election 4 seats, 12.9% Seats won 2 Seat change 2 Popular vote 25,606 Percentage 7.8% Swing 5.1 pp
Mayor before election Soledad Becerril PP Elected mayor Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín PSOE

A municipal election was held in Seville on Sunday, 13 June 1999, to elect the 6th 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, as well as the 1999 European Parliament election.

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. ^[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 Seville 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-national European citizens and those 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 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), but a legal amendment introduced in 1998 allowed for local elections held in May 1995 to be held concurrently with European Parliament elections, provided that they were scheduled for within a four month-timespan. 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 28 May 1995, setting the date for election day concurrently with that year's European Parliament election on Sunday, 13 June 1999.

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 20 April 1999 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 13 June. ^[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 Seville, 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
	PP	List People's Party (PP)		Soledad Becerril	Conservatism Christian democracy	30.4%	10
	PSOE–A	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A)		Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín	Social democracy	28.5%	10		[14]
	PA	List Andalusian Party (PA)		Alejandro Rojas-Marcos	Andalusian nationalism Social democracy	26.4% [a]	9
	IULV–CA	List United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA) – Communist Party of Andalusia (PCA) – Socialist Action Party (PASOC) – Republican Left (IR) – Collective for the Unity of Workers–Andalusian Left Bloc (CUT–BAI) – Revolutionary Workers' Party (POR) – Workers' Revolutionary Party (PRT)		Luis Pizarro	Socialism Communism	12.9%	4		[15] [16] [17]

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 Seville.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout				IULV	Lead
1999 municipal election	13 Jun 1999	—	56.5	35.8 13	35.2 12	17.6 6	7.8 2	0.6
Eco Consulting/ABC [p 1] [p 2]	24 May–2 Jun 1999	400	?	31.2 10/11	28.8 9/10	27.2 9	11.4 3/4	2.4
Demoscopia/El País [p 3]	26 May–1 Jun 1999	?	?	36.2 12/13	32.3 11	19.7 6/7	10.1 3	3.9
Sigma Dos/El Mundo [p 4] [p 5]	22–26 May 1999	400	?	29.7 10/11	32.2 10/11	24.3 8/9	11.6 3/4	2.5
CIS [p 6] [p 7]	7–18 May 1999	559	?	39.5 13/14	34.2 11/12	14.4 4/5	9.4 3	5.3
ITEM/Tele 5 [p 8]	21–29 Apr 1999	600	?	46.0 15/16	39.0 13	? 2/3	? 2	7.0
1996 regional election	3 Mar 1996	—	77.6	37.0 (12)	39.9 (14)	9.4 (3)	13.2 (4)	2.9
1996 general election	3 Mar 1996	—	77.7	38.9 (14)	42.4 (15)	4.0 (0)	12.9 (4)	3.5
1995 municipal election	28 May 1995	—	63.3	30.4 10	28.5 10	26.2 9	12.9 4	1.9

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size				IULV	?	N	Lead
1999 municipal election	13 Jun 1999	—	20.1	19.8	9.9	4.4	—	43.5	0.3
CIS [p 9]	7–18 May 1999	559	22.7	21.6	8.8	4.5	32.6	7.9	1.1
1996 regional election	3 Mar 1996	—	28.3	30.5	7.2	10.1	—	22.4	2.2
1996 general election	3 Mar 1996	—	30.1	32.8	3.1	10.0	—	22.3	2.7
1995 municipal election	28 May 1995	—	19.2	18.0	16.5	8.1	—	36.7	1.2

Victory preferences

The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a municipal election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size				IULV	Other/ None	?	Lead
CIS [p 9]	7–18 May 1999	559	24.6	24.7	11.3	5.6	0.2	33.7	0.1

Victory likelihood

The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a municipal election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size				IULV	Other/ None	?	Lead
CIS [p 9]	7–18 May 1999	559	46.2	12.7	4.3	0.7	–	36.2	33.5

Preferred Mayor

The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become mayor of Seville.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size						Other/ None/ Not care	?	Lead
			Becerril PP	Borbolla PSOE–A	Monteseirín PSOE–A	R. Marcos PA	Pizarro IULV
CIS [p 9]	7–18 May 1999	559	31.4	–	17.4	15.6	4.5	0.7	30.3	14.0
Demoscopia/El Correo [p 10]	25 May–3 Jun 1998	800	26.8	13.7	1.8	18.1	1.8	37.8		8.7

Results

← Summary of the 13 June 1999 City Council of Seville election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	118,072	35.85	+5.41	13	+3
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A)	115,968	35.21	+6.67	12	+2
	Andalusian Party (PA)1	58,093	17.64	−8.75	6	−3
	United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA)	25,606	7.77	−5.10	2	−2
	The Greens–Andalusian Left (LV–IA)	2,594	0.79	New	0	±0
	Democratic Party of the New Left–Andalusia (PDNI–A)	608	0.18	New	0	±0
	Voice of the Andalusian People (VDPA)	279	0.08	−0.08	0	±0
	The Phalanx (FE)	264	0.08	New	0	±0
	Centrist Union–Democratic and Social Centre (UC–CDS)	235	0.07	New	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	211	0.06	−0.01	0	±0
	Andalusia Assembly (A)	138	0.04	New	0	±0
	Independent Spanish Phalanx (FEI)	130	0.04	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		7,170	2.18	+0.81
Total		329,368			33	±0
Valid votes		329,368	99.49	−0.12
Invalid votes		1,700	0.51	+0.12
Votes cast / turnout		331,068	56.49	−6.85
Abstentions		254,964	43.51	+6.85
Registered voters		586,032
Sources [18] [19] [20]
Footnotes: 1 Andalusian Party results are compared to the combined totals of Andalusian Party and Andalusian Progress Party in the 1995 election.

Popular vote

PP			35.85%
PSOE–A			35.21%
PA			17.64%
IULV–CA			7.77%
Others			1.35%
Blank ballots			2.18%

Seats

PP			39.39%
PSOE–A			36.36%
PA			18.18%
IULV–CA			6.06%

Aftermath

Government formation

Investiture
Ballot →		3 July 1999
Required majority →		17 out of 33
	Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín (PSOE–A) • PSOE–A (12) • PA (6)	18 / 33	Y
	Soledad Becerril (PP) • PP (13)	13 / 33	N
	Luis Pizarro (IULV–CA) • IULV–CA (2)	2 / 33	N
	Abstentions/Blank ballots	0 / 33
	Absentees	0 / 33
Sources [21]

Notes

1. Results for PA (26.2%, 9 seats) and PAP (0.2%, 0 seats) in the 1995 election.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "El PP avanza en Sevilla y podría repetir junto a los andalucistas en el Ayuntamiento". ABC (in Spanish). 5 June 1999.
2. "El PP, el PSOE, el PA e IU mantienen el número de concejales en Sevilla". ABC (in Spanish). 5 June 1999.
3. "El PP amplía su ventaja en Andalucía". El País (in Spanish). 6 June 1999.
4. "Sevilla: PSOE, PP y PA, al 'sprint'". El Mundo (in Spanish). 2 June 1999.
5. "ELECCIONES 13-J /BALANCE DE LAS ENCUESTAS". El Mundo (in Spanish). 6 June 1999.
6. "El PP conserva su poder municipal, autonómico y europeo, e IU se hunde". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 5 June 1999.
7. "Estudio CIS nº 2344. Ficha técnica". CIS (in Spanish). 4 June 1999.
8. "Una encuesta da al PP como claro vencedor en las ocho capitales". El País (in Spanish). 4 May 1999.
9. "Preelectoral elecciones municipales, 1999. Sevilla (Estudio nº 2344. Mayo 1999)". CIS (in Spanish). 4 June 1999.
10. "Becerril, preferida para la alcaldía de Sevilla, según una encuesta". El País (in Spanish). 19 June 1998.

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 606/1999, de 19 de abril, de convocatoria de elecciones Locales y a las Asambleas de Ceuta y Melilla (PDF) (Royal Decree 606/1999). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 19 April 1999. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
13. LOREG (1985) , arts. 44 & 187.
14. Díez, Anabel (28 June 1998). "Los candidatos oficialistas ganan las primarias". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
15. "Luis Pizarro resulta elegido por los afiliados de IU para la acaldía de Sevilla". El País (in Spanish). Seville. 24 October 1998. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
16. "Pizarro, candidato de IU a la alcaldía de Sevilla". El País (in Spanish). EFE. 8 November 1998. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
17. López Escudero, Ana (20 December 1998). "IU ratifica a 18 de sus candidatos a las 21 mayores ciudades andaluzas". El País (in Spanish). Málaga. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
18. Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones municipales en Sevilla (desde 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
19. "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior . Retrieved 5 November 2025.
20. "Acuerdo de 15 de julio de 1999, de la Junta Electoral Central, por el que se procede a la publicación del resumen de los resultados de las elecciones locales convocadas por Real Decreto 606/1999, de 19 de abril, y celebradas el 13 de junio, 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) (178 (Supplement)): 1–1182. 27 July 1999. ISSN   0212-033X . Retrieved 26 November 2025.
21. Constenla, Tereixa (4 July 1999). "Soledad Becerril reivindica el honor ante el viraje del PA que otorga la alcaldía de Sevilla al PSOE". El País (in Spanish). Seville. 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 22 April 1999]. 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 22 April 1999]. BOE-A-1985-11672. Retrieved 4 November 2025.