2015 Seville municipal election

2015 Seville municipal election

←  2011 24 May 2015 2019  →
All 31 seats in the City Council of Seville 16 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	545,309 0.3%
Turnout	324,218 (59.5%) 3.2 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Juan Ignacio Zoido Juan Espadas Javier Millán Party PP PSOE–A C's Leader since 28 June 2006 24 May 2010 6 February 2015 Last election 20 seats, 49.3% 11 seats, 29.5% Did not contest Seats won 12 11 3 Seat change 8 0 3 Popular vote 106,321 103,461 29,888 Percentage 33.1% 32.2% 9.3% Swing 16.2 pp 2.7 pp New party   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Susana Serrano Daniel González Rojas Party Participa Sevilla IULV–CA Leader since 14 April 2015 14 February 2015 Last election Did not contest 2 seats, 7.1% Seats won 3 2 Seat change 3 0 Popular vote 28,969 19,203 Percentage 9.0% 6.0% Swing New party 1.1 pp
Mayor before election Juan Ignacio Zoido PP Elected mayor Juan Espadas PSOE

A municipal election was held in Seville on Sunday, 24 May 2015, to elect the 10th 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 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), 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
<100	3
101–250	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 twenty-fifth day prior to the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE). ^[10] The previous election was held on 22 May 2011, setting the date for election day on Sunday, 24 May 2015.

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 not bound to the open council system were officially called on 31 March 2015 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 24 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 Seville, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 signatures were required. ^[13] Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition. ^[14]

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)		Juan Ignacio Zoido	Conservatism Christian democracy	49.3%	20		[15]
	PSOE–A	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A)		Juan Espadas	Social democracy	29.5%	11		[16] [17]
	IULV–CA	List United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA) – Communist Party of Andalusia (PCA) – The Dawn Marxist Organization (La Aurora (OM)) – Republican Left (IR) – Open Left (IzAb)		Daniel González Rojas	Socialism Communism	7.1%	2		[18]
	Participa Sevilla	List We Can (Podemos)		Susana Serrano	Left-wing populism Direct democracy Democratic socialism	Did not contest			[19] [20]
	C's	List Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (C's)		Javier Millán	Liberalism	Did not contest			[21] [22]
	Ganemos Sevilla	List Andalusian Green Current (CVA)		Laureano Seco	Left-wing populism	Did not contest			[23] [24] [25]

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; 16 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Seville (17 until 1 January 2015).

Color key:

  Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls  Exit poll

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout			IULV						Lead
2015 municipal election	24 May 2015	—	59.5	33.1 12	32.2 11	6.0 2	1.4 0	0.8 0	9.0 3	9.3 3	4.1 0	0.9
TNS Demoscopia/RTVE–FORTA [p 1] [p 2]	24 May 2015	?	?	? 10/12	? 12/14	6.7 1/2	–	–	? 3/4	9.6 3/4	–	?
GAD3/Antena 3 [p 3]	11–22 May 2015	?	?	? 11/12	? 13/14	? 0/1	–	–	? 3/4	? 2	–	?
Sigma Dos/El Mundo [p 4] [p 5]	13–14 May 2015	500	?	34.8 12/13	32.6 11/12	7.4 2	–	–	6.1 2	10.4 3	4.2 0	2.2
Deimos/El Correo de Andalucía [p 6] [p 7]	11–14 May 2015	806	?	30.0 11	31.7 11	6.9 2	1.7 0	1.4 0	8.1 3	12.8 4	3.6 0	1.7
MyWord/Cadena SER [p 8] [p 9]	27 Apr–14 May 2015	800	?	31.6 10/12	32.2 10/12	4.3 0/1	0.7 0	1.3 0	15.0 4/6	11.4 4	[a]	0.6
JM&A/Público [p 10]	12 May 2015	?	?	? 13	? 10	–	–	–	? 6	? 4	–	?
JM&A/Público [p 11] [p 12]	3 May 2015	?	?	28.1 10	30.3 10	5.9 2	2.0 0	0.5 0	17.2 6	14.2 5	[a]	2.2
IMC/ABC [p 13]	29–30 Apr 2015	410	?	33.4 12/13	30.2 10/11	5.2 0/1	–	–	11.0 3/4	13.2 4/5	[a]	3.2
Commentia/Grupo Joly [p 14] [p 15]	27–29 Apr 2015	401	?	35.5 12	31.3 10	4.9 0/1	–	–	13.1 4/5	11.5 4	[a]	4.2
CIS [p 16] [p 17]	23 Mar–19 Apr 2015	997	?	32.4 11/12	28.5 10	5.0 1	–	1.0 0	[b]	12.6 4	13.4 4/5	3.9
Sigma Dos/El Mundo [p 18] [p 19]	26–27 Mar 2015	500	?	31.3 10/11	33.2 11/12	4.6 0/1	–	–	14.6 4/5	11.9 4	[a]	1.9
2015 regional election	22 Mar 2015	—	68.3	27.1 (9)	30.8 (11)	5.4 (1)	1.0 (0)	2.1 (0)	18.0 (6)	11.5 (4)	–	3.7
Llorente & Cuenca [26]	31 Oct 2014	?	?	? 14/15	? 9/10	? 3	–	? 0/1	? 6/8	–	–	?
2014 EP election	25 May 2014	—	47.6	27.8 (11)	30.0 (12)	9.6 (3)	1.4 (0)	8.0 (3)	9.8 (4)	2.3 (0)	–	2.2
Nexo [p 20] [p 21]	24 Mar–4 Apr 2014	402	54.2	42.9 16/18	29.2 11/12	9.3 3/4	–	5.3 2	–	–	–	13.7
2012 regional election	25 Mar 2012	—	65.1	42.8 (16)	37.4 (14)	9.4 (3)	2.5 (0)	4.6 (0)	–	–	–	5.1
2011 general election	20 Nov 2011	—	71.1	44.3 (16)	36.4 (13)	6.6 (2)	1.8 (0)	6.8 (2)	–	–	–	7.9
2011 municipal election	22 May 2011	—	62.7	49.3 20	29.5 11	7.1 2	4.8 0	3.3 0	–	–	–	19.8

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size			IULV						?	N	Lead
2015 municipal election	24 May 2015	—	19.5	19.0	3.5	0.8	0.5	5.3	5.5	2.4	—	40.5	0.5
MyWord/Cadena SER [p 9]	27 Apr–14 May 2015	800	18.9	15.9	4.5	1.1	1.4	12.9	9.4	[a]	25.6	5.0	3.0
CIS [p 16]	23 Mar–19 Apr 2015	997	15.1	19.3	3.4	–	0.1	[b]	6.4	9.9	34.1	7.9	4.2
2015 regional election	22 Mar 2015	—	18.4	20.9	3.7	0.7	1.4	12.2	7.8	–	—	31.7	2.5
2014 EP election	25 May 2014	—	13.1	14.1	4.5	0.7	3.8	4.6	1.1	–	—	52.4	1.0
2012 regional election	25 Mar 2012	—	27.7	24.2	6.1	1.6	3.0	–	–	–	—	34.9	3.5
2011 general election	20 Nov 2011	—	31.2	25.6	4.7	1.3	4.8	–	–	–	—	28.9	5.6
2011 municipal election	22 May 2011	—	30.4	18.1	4.4	2.9	2.0	–	–	–	—	37.3	12.3

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 16]	23 Mar–19 Apr 2015	997	17.8	26.4	4.7	0.5	[b]	8.3	11.2	8.7	22.4	8.6

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						Other/ None	?	Lead
CIS [p 16]	23 Mar–19 Apr 2015	997	17.0	41.8	[b]	0.3	1.6	1.2	38.1	24.8

Results

← Summary of the 24 May 2015 City Council of Seville election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	106,321	33.05	−16.26	12	−8
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A)	103,461	32.16	+2.71	11	±0
	Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (C's)	29,888	9.29	New	3	+3
	Participate Seville (Participa Sevilla)	28,969	9.01	New	3	+3
	United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA)	19,203	5.97	−1.18	2	±0
	Let's Win Seville (Ganemos Sevilla)	13,274	4.13	New	0	±0
	Andalusian Party (PA)	4,544	1.41	−3.37	0	±0
	Equo (Equo)	3,332	1.04	New	0	±0
	Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA)	3,290	1.02	+0.60	0	±0
	Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD)	2,711	0.84	−2.41	0	±0
	Vox (Vox)	1,495	0.46	New	0	±0
	Blank Seats (EB)	463	0.14	New	0	±0
	Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)	311	0.10	+0.02	0	±0
	Party of the Immigrant in Spain (PADIE)	182	0.06	New	0	±0
	Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)	168	0.05	New	0	±0
	Republican Candidacy (CR)	155	0.05	New	0	±0
	Internationalist Solidarity and Self-Management (SAIn)	139	0.04	−0.05	0	±0
	Andalusian Nationalist People (PNdeA)	89	0.03	New	0	±0
	Andalusian Popular Unity (UPAN)	61	0.02	−0.04	0	±0
Blank ballots		3,633	1.13	−1.65
Total		321,689			31	−2
Valid votes		321,689	99.22	+1.08
Invalid votes		2,529	0.78	−1.08
Votes cast / turnout		324,218	59.46	−3.27
Abstentions		221,091	40.54	+3.27
Registered voters		545,309
Sources [27] [28] [29]

Popular vote

PP			33.05%
PSOE–A			32.16%
C's			9.29%
Participa Sevilla			9.01%
IULV–CA			5.97%
Ganemos Sevilla			4.13%
PA			1.41%
eQuo			1.04%
PACMA			1.02%
Others			1.79%
Blank ballots			1.13%

Seats

PP			38.71%
PSOE–A			35.48%
C's			9.68%
Participa Sevilla			9.68%
IULV–CA			6.45%

Aftermath

Investiture
Ballot →		14 June 2015
Required majority →		16 out of 31
	Juan Espadas (PSOE–A) • PSOE–A (11) • Participa Sevilla (3) • IULV–CA (2)	16 / 31	Y
	Juan Ignacio Zoido (PP) • PP (12)	12 / 31	N
	Javier Millán (C's) • C's (3)	3 / 31	N
	Blank ballots	0 / 31
	Absentees	0 / 31
Sources [30]

Notes

1. Within Participa Sevilla.
2. Within Ganemos Sevilla.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "El PP perdería la mayoría absoluta en todas las capitales de Andalucía, según las encuestas a pie de urna". eldiario.es (in Spanish). 24 May 2015.
2. "Vuelco en Sevilla y Huelva, mientras que el PP empata con Podemos en Cádiz". Diario Sur (in Spanish). 24 May 2015.
3. "Encuestas y resultados - elecciones autonómicas y municipales del 24 de mayo de 2015". GAD3 (in Spanish). 28 May 2015.
4. "Zoido remonta y podría gobernar con el apoyo de C's en Sevilla". El Mundo (in Spanish). 16 May 2015.
5. "Intención de voto en el Ayto. de Sevilla. Gráfico". El Mundo (in Spanish). 16 May 2015.
6. "24M en Sevilla: Incertidumbre hasta el final". El Correo de Andalucía (in Spanish). 16 May 2015.
7. "SEVILLA, Mayo 2015. Sondeo Deimos". Electográfica (in Spanish). 17 May 2015.
8. "El PSOE ganaría las elecciones en Sevilla con el 32,2 % de los votos". Cadena SER (in Spanish). 18 May 2015.
9. "El ObSERvatorio de la Cadena SER. Estudio preelectoral de la ciudad de Sevilla (18/5/2015)" (PDF). MyWord (in Spanish). 18 May 2015.
10. "El PP depende de C's para gobernar en Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla y Málaga". Público (in Spanish). 15 May 2015.
11. "Ada Colau empata con Trias, Barberá se estrella en Valencia y Podemos tiene la llave en Sevilla". Público (in Spanish). 3 May 2015.
12. "Tracking de sondeos en las capitales: la derecha sólo puede esperar que Ciudadanos salve al PP". Público (in Spanish). 3 May 2015.
13. "Zoido volverá a ganar pero quedará a expensas de un pacto con Ciudadanos". ABC (in Spanish). 10 May 2015.
14. "Zoido necesitará pactos para volver a ser alcalde". Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). 10 May 2015.
15. "CIUDADES ANDALUZAS 24M, Abril 2015. Sondeo Commentia". Electográfica (in Spanish). 11 May 2015.
16. "Preelectoral elecciones municipales 2015. Sevilla (Estudio nº 3061. Marzo-Abril 2015)". CIS (in Spanish). 7 May 2015.
17. "El PP se echa a la calle para recuperar a las clases medias". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 8 May 2015.
18. "Empate en Sevilla entre PP y PSOE tras una debacle 'popular'". El Mundo (in Spanish). 7 April 2015.
19. "Encuesta electoral: Ayuntamiento de Sevilla. Gráfico". El Mundo (in Spanish). 7 April 2015.
20. "Un sondeo atribuye al PP el 42,9 por ciento del apoyo electoral y el 29,2 al PSOE". Europa Press (in Spanish). 24 April 2014.
21. "SEVILLA, Abril 2014. Nexo". Electográfica (in Spanish). 24 April 2014.

Other

1. Constitution (1978) , art. 140.
2. LBRL (1985) , art. 19.
3. LBRL (1985) , arts. 121–132.
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 233/2015, de 30 de marzo, por el que se convocan elecciones locales y a las Asambleas de Ceuta y Melilla para el 24 de mayo de 2015 (PDF) (Royal Decree 233/2015). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 30 March 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
13. LOREG (1985) , arts. 44 & 187.
14. LOREG (1985) , art. 44 bis.
15. Hernández, Marisol (13 February 2015). "El PP confirma a Cospedal, Herrera, Rudi y Diego como candidatos". El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
16. "Espadas insiste en su "decisión personal" de concurrir a las municipales". Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). Seville. Europa Press. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
17. "El PSOE proclama a Juan Espadas candidato a la Alcaldía de Sevilla sin pasar por primarias". ABC (in Spanish). 7 October 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
18. "Daniel González Rojas, elegido cabeza de lista de IU para la Alcaldía de Sevilla". ABC (in Spanish). 14 February 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
19. Marroco, Antonio (14 April 2015). "El sector crítico de Podemos Sevilla copa la lista de su marca blanca para las municipales". ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2025.
20. "Susana Serrano, militante de Podemos, es la candidata de Participa Sevilla" (in Spanish). Seville: Cadena SER. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
21. Rivera, Agustín (2 January 2015). "Ciudadanos prosigue su expansión y aprueba este mes la agrupación de Sevilla". El Confidencial (in Spanish). Málaga. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
22. "Ciudadanos presentará su candidatura a la Alcaldía de Sevilla". Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). Seville. Europa Press. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
23. "Laureano Seco, que rivalizó con Maíllo por la candidatura a la Junta, deja IU junto a miembros de la Corriente Verde". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Seville. Europa Press. 19 April 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
24. Baquero, Juan Miguel (28 April 2015). "Ganemos Sevilla versus Ganemos Sevilla, división sobre el albero político de las municipales". eldiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2025.
25. ""Campaña" de Equo en las redes para avisar del "falso Ganemos" y evitar "que se aproveche la confusión"". 20 minutos (in Spanish). Seville. Europa Press. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
26. "El reparto del poder territorial en España en 2015" (PDF). desarrollando-ideas.com (in Spanish). 31 October 2014.
27. Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones municipales en Sevilla (desde 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
28. "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior . Retrieved 5 November 2025.
29. "Acuerdo de 1 de julio de 2015, 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 233/2015, de 30 de marzo, y celebradas el 24 de mayo de 2015, según los datos que figuran en las actas de proclamación remitidas por cada una de las Juntas Electorales de Zona. Provincias: La Rioja, Salamanca, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Segovia, Sevilla, Soria, Tarragona, Teruel, Toledo" (PDF). Official State Gazette (in Spanish) (216): 79370–79777. 9 September 2015. ISSN   0212-033X . Retrieved 6 November 2025.
30. Lucio, Lourdes (14 June 2015). "El sevillano Juan Espadas, principal referente municipal del PSOE". El País (in Spanish). Seville. Retrieved 12 November 2025.

Bibliography

• Constitución Española (Constitution). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 29 December 1978 [version as of 27 September 2011]. 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 30 December 2013]. 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 31 March 2015]. BOE-A-1985-11672. Retrieved 4 November 2025.