1979 Seville City Council election

The 1979 Seville City Council election, also the 1979 Seville municipal election, was held on Tuesday, 3 April 1979, to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality of Seville. All 31 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with local elections all throughout Spain.

1979 Seville City Council election

3 April 1979 1983 →

All 31 seats in the City Council of Seville
16 seats needed for a majority
Registered427,951
Turnout243,827 (57.0%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Rafael López Palanco Antonio Rodríguez Almodóvar Luis Uruñuela
Party UCD PSOE PSA–PA
Leader since 1979 1979 1979
Seats won 9 8 8
Popular vote 65,725 60,116 56,957
Percentage 27.1% 24.8% 23.5%

  Fourth party
 
Leader Alonso Balosa
Party PCE
Leader since 1979
Seats won 6
Popular vote 44,704
Percentage 18.4%

Mayor before election

José Ramón Pérez de Lama
Independent

Elected mayor

Luis Uruñuela
PSA–PA

Electoral system

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The City Council of Seville (Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Sevilla) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Seville, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.[1][2] Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the municipality of Seville and in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights.

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.[1][2] Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:

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 mayor was indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause required that mayoral candidates earned the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party in the assembly was to be automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, the eldest one would be elected.[1]

Parties and candidates

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The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within fifteen days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one-thousandth of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election—with a compulsory minimum of 500 signatures—disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.[2]

Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:

Candidacy Parties and
alliances
Leading candidate Ideology Gov. Ref.
UCD   Rafael López Palanco Centrism  N
PSOE   Antonio Rodríguez Almodóvar Social democracy  N
PSA–PA   Luis Uruñuela Andalusian nationalism
Socialism
Marxism
 N
PCE   Alonso Balosa Eurocommunism  N

Results

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Summary of the 3 April 1979 City Council of Seville election results
 
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Total +/−
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 65,725 27.09 n/a 9 n/a
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 60,116 24.78 n/a 8 n/a
Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA) 56,957 23.48 n/a 8 n/a
Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 44,704 18.43 n/a 6 n/a
Party of Labour of Andalusia (PTA) 3,747 1.54 n/a 0 n/a
Democratic Coalition (CD) 2,850 1.17 n/a 0 n/a
New Force (FN) 2,243 0.92 n/a 0 n/a
Communist Organization of Spain (Red Flag) (OCE–BR) 1,745 0.72 n/a 0 n/a
Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE) 1,576 0.65 n/a 0 n/a
Communist Unification of Spain (UCE) 982 0.40 n/a 0 n/a
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (historical) (PSOEh) 891 0.37 n/a 0 n/a
Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) 456 0.19 n/a 0 n/a
Communist MovementOrganization of Communist Left (MCA–OIC) 290 0.12 n/a 0 n/a
Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT) 0 0.00 n/a 0 n/a
Blank ballots 325 0.13 n/a
Total 242,607 31 n/a
Valid votes 242,607 99.50 n/a
Invalid votes 1,220 0.50 n/a
Votes cast / turnout 243,827 56.98 n/a
Abstentions 184,124 43.02 n/a
Registered voters 427,951
Sources[3][4][5]
Popular vote
UCD
27.09%
PSOE
24.78%
PSA–PA
23.48%
PCE
18.43%
PTA
1.54%
CD
1.17%
Others
3.37%
Blank ballots
0.13%
Seats
UCD
29.03%
PSOE
25.81%
PSA–PA
25.81%
PCE
19.35%

References

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  1. ^ a b c Ley 39/1978, de 17 de julio, de elecciones locales (Law 39) (in Spanish). 17 July 1978. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Real Decreto-ley 20/1977, de 18 de marzo, sobre Normas Electorales (Royal Decree-Law 20) (in Spanish). 18 March 1977. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Statistic Yearbook of the city of Seville. 1999". www.sevilla.org (in Spanish). City Council of Seville. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. April 1979. Seville Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Elecciones municipales en Sevilla (1979 - 2015)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 September 2017.