2003 Spanish local elections

25 May 2003
65,510 councillors in 8,108 municipal councils 1,036 seats in 38 provincial deputations
Registered	34,386,462 2.4%
Turnout	23,270,072 (67.7%) 3.7 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José María Aznar Gaspar Llamazares Party PSOE PP IU–ICV–EA Leader since 22 July 2000 4 September 1989 29 October 2000 Last election 21,984 c., 34.4%[lower-alpha 1] 24,623 c., 34.4% 2,579 c., 7.6%[lower-alpha 2] Seats won 23,224 23,615 2,601 Seat change 1,240 1,008 22 Popular vote 7,999,178 7,875,762 1,730,732 Percentage 34.8% 34.3% 7.5% Swing 0.4 pp 0.1 pp 0.1 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jordi Pujol Xabier Arzalluz Jordi Carbonell Party CiU EAJ/PNV ERC–AM Leader since 19 September 1978 18 January 1985 1996 Last election 4,089 seats, 3.6% 1,206 c., 1.9% 677 seats, 1.1% Seats won 3,687 1,671 1,282 Seat change 402 465 605 Popular vote 791,932 514,850 419,961 Percentage 3.4% 2.2% 1.8% Swing 0.2 pp 0.3 pp 0.7 pp
Provincial results map for municipal elections

The 2003 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 25 May 2003, to elect all 65,510 councillors in the 8,108 municipalities of Spain and all 1,036 seats in 38 provincial deputations.^[1][2] The elections were held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities, as well as local elections in the three foral deputations of the Basque Country and the ten island councils in the Balearic and Canary Islands.

Electoral system

Municipal elections

Municipalities in Spain were local corporations with independent legal personality. They had a governing body, the municipal council or corporation, composed of a mayor, deputy mayors and a plenary assembly of councillors. Voting for the local assemblies was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all nationals over eighteen, registered in the corresponding municipality and in full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote. The mayor was in turn elected by the plenary assembly, with a legal clause providing for the candidate of the most-voted party to be automatically elected to the post in the event no other candidate was to gather an absolute majority of votes.

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. Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:

Councillors of municipalities with populations between 100 and 250 inhabitants were elected under an open list partial block voting, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties and for up to four candidates. Additionally, municipalities below 100 inhabitants, as well as those whose geographical location or the best management of municipal interests or other circumstances made it advisable, were to be organized through the open council system (Spanish: régimen de concejo abierto), in which voters would directly elect the local major.^[3][4][5]

The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of a determined amount of the electors registered in the municipality for which they sought election:

• At least 1 percent of the electors in municipalities below 5,000 inhabitants, provided that the number of signers was more than double that of councillors at stake.
• At least 100 signatures in municipalities between 5,001 and 10,000.
• At least 500 signatures in municipalities between 10,001 and 50,000.
• At least 1,500 signatures in municipalities between 50,001 and 150,000.
• At least 3,000 signatures in municipalities between 150,001 and 300,000.
• At least 5,000 signatures in municipalities between 300,001 and 1,000,000.
• At least 8,000 signatures in municipalities over 1,000,001.

Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.^[3][4]

Deputations and island councils

Provincial deputations were the governing bodies of provinces in Spain, having an administration role of municipal activities and composed of a provincial president, an administrative body, and a plenary. Basque provinces had foral deputations instead—called Juntas Generales—, whereas deputations for single-province autonomous communities were abolished: their functions transferred to the corresponding regional parliaments. For insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, deputations were replaced by island councils in each of the islands or group of islands. For Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza–Formentera this figure was referred to in Spanish as consejo insular (Catalan: consell insular), whereas for Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma its name was cabildo insular.

Most deputations were indirectly elected by local councillors from municipalities in each judicial district. Seats were allocated to provincial deputations based on the following scale:

Island councils and foral deputations were elected directly by electors under their own, specific electoral regulations.^[3][4]

Municipal elections

Provincial deputations

Notes

References