Madrid City Council election, 2003

Madrid City Council election, 2003
Madrid
25 May 2003
All 55 seats in the Madrid City Council
28 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered 2,484,328 Decrease0.2%
Turnout 1,711,613 (68.9%)
Increase8.9 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Trinidad Jiménez Inés Sabanés
Party PP PSM–PSOE IU
Leader since 16 October 2002 2 June 2002 23 June 1998
Last election 28 seats, 49.5% 20 seats, 36.0% 5 seats, 8.7%
Seats won 30 21 4
Seat change Increase2 Increase1 Decrease1
Popular vote 874,264 625,148 123,015
Percentage 51.3% 36.7% 7.2%
Swing Increase1.8 pp Increase0.7 pp Decrease1.5 pp
Mayor before election

José María Álvarez del Manzano
PP

 Elected Mayor

Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón
PP

The 2003 Madrid City Council election was held on Sunday, 25 May 2003, to elect the 7th Madrid City Council, the unicameral local legislature of the municipality of Madrid. At stake were all seats in the City Council, determining the Mayor of Madrid. The number of members increased from 53 to 55 compared to the previous election.

The People's Party (PP) under President of the Community of Madrid Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, who was succeeding the retiring José María Álvarez del Manzano, managed to revert the near-tie situation predicted by opinion polls between his party and the PSOE-IU bloc. Gallardón went on to win a comfortable absolute majority both in votes and seats, reverting the 1999 result in which it had seemed that party's support had begun to decline. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) under Trinidad Jiménez obtained its best result since it was ousted from power in 1989, despite it not being enough to recover the mayoralty. United Left (IU) continued on its long-term decline and lost another seat, scoring its worst result since 1987.

A remarkable event for this election was that both main parties' contenders (Ruiz-Gallardón and Jiménez) were cousins, despite belonging to opposing parties.

Electoral system

The number of seats in the Madrid City Council was determined by the population count. According to the municipal electoral law, the population-seat relationship on each municipality was to be established on the following scale:

Inhabitants Seats
<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

Additionally, for populations greater than 100,000, 1 seat was to be added per each 100,000 inhabitants or fraction, according to the most updated census data, and adding 1 more seat if the resulting seat count gives an even number. As the updated population census for the 2003 election was 3,016,788, the Madrid City Council size was set to 55 seats.

All City Council members were elected in a single multi-member district, consisting of the Madrid municipality, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 5% of valid votes in all of the municipality (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.

The Spanish municipal electoral law established a clause stating that, if no candidate was to gather an absolute majority of votes to be elected as mayor of a municipality, the candidate of the most-voted party would be automatically elected to the post.[1]

Opinion polls

Vote

Poll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. Poll results use the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. However, if such date is unknown, the date of publication will be given instead.

Seats

Opinion polls showing seat projections are displayed in the table below. The highest seat figures in each polling survey have their background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. 28 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Madrid City Council.

Results

← Summary of the 25 May 2003 Madrid City Council election results →
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Won +/−
People's Party (PP) 874,264 51.30 Increase1.82 30 Increase2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 625,148 36.68 Increase0.68 21 Increase1
United Left (IU) 123,015 7.22 Decrease1.45 4 Decrease1
The Greens (LV) 26,448 1.55 Increase0.85 0 ±0
The Greens of the Madrid Community (LVCM) 9,944 0.58 New 0 ±0
Republican Left (IR) 3,553 0.21 New 0 ±0
Family and Life Party (PFyV) 3,094 0.18 New 0 ±0
The Falange (FE) 2,174 0.13 Increase0.02 0 ±0
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 2,136 0.13 Decrease0.32 0 ±0
Blank ballots 27,304 1.60 Decrease1.30
Total 1,704,141 100.00 55 Increase2
Valid votes 1,704,141 99.56 Increase0.14
Invalid votes 7,472 0.44 Decrease0.14
Votes cast / turnout 1,711,613 68.90 Increase8.86
Abstentions 772,715 31.10 Decrease8.86
Registered voters 2,484,328
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Vote share
PP
  
 51.30%
PSOE
  
 36.68%
IU
  
 7.22%
LV
  
 1.55%
Others
  
 1.65%
Blank ballots
  
 1.60%
City council seats
PP
  
 54.55%
PSOE
  
 38.18%
IU
  
 7.27%

References

  1. ↑ "Organic Law 5/1985, of 19 June, of the General Electoral Regime. Title III, Special Provisions for Municipal Elections.".
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