Local elections in Spain
The 2023 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 28 May 2023, to elect all 66,976 councillors in the municipalities of Spain, all 1,191 provincial seats in 41 provinces (including 38 indirectly-elected provincial deputations and the three directly-elected Basque General Assemblies) and 233 seats in eleven island councils (seven Canarian island cabildos and four Balearic island councils, all directly-elected). The elections were held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve autonomous communities.
The elections took place following a period of instability dominated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and its political and economical consequences, including the worst worldwide recession since the Great Depression resulting from the massive lockdowns enforced to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, as well as the economic impact of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The People's Party (PP) emerged as the first political force and was able to flip the control of a large number of major cities, despite winning the popular vote to the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) by just three percentage points. This outcome prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call a snap general election for July, which led to an insufficient PP victory and to Sánchez's re-election.
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 the elected plenary assembly. Voting for the local assemblies was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered and residing in the corresponding municipality and in full enjoyment of their political rights, 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.
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 below 250 inhabitants were elected under an open list partial block voting, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties: for up to four candidates in municipalities with populations between 100 and 250 inhabitants; and for up to two candidates in municipalities below 100. This did not apply to municipalities which, as a result of their geographical location or the convenience of a better management of municipal interests or other circumstances, made it advisable to be organized through the open council system (), in which voters directly elected the local mayor.
The mayor was indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause required that mayoral candidates earn 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, a toss-up would determine the appointee.
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 General Assemblies ()—, whereas deputations for single-province autonomous communities were abolished and their functions transferred to the corresponding regional parliaments in 1982–1983. 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, Ibiza and Formentera this figure was referred to in Spanish as "consejo 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.
Election date.
Elections to the local councils in Spain are fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. In the event that no candidacy is presented in a local council, a by-election will be held in that council within six months; if that election still results in no candidacy being presented, a management committee will be formed by all continuing council members and designated citizens to fill any vacancies.
The 2023 local elections were called for 28 May 2023, with election re-runs being called for 26 November in those councils where no candidacy was presented and in those whose results were annulled by invalidating irregularities.
Parties and candidates.
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 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:
Electors were disallowed from signing for more than one list of candidates.
Campaign.
Alleged vote-buying.
During the month of May 2023, amidst the local elections campaign in Spain, numerous instances of vote-buying came to light in various municipalities across the country. These incidents implicated a wide range of political parties, including among others the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the People's Party (PP) and Coalition for Melilla (CpM). Despite the scandal starting in Melilla, it later expanded to other municipalities in the south of Spain.
Timetable.
The key dates are listed below (all times are CET. The Canary Islands use WET (UTC+0) instead):
Results.
City control.
The following table lists party control in provincial capitals, as well as in municipalities with a population above or around 75,000. Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.
Deputation control.
The following table lists party control in provincial deputations. Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.
Aftermath.
Immediately after the outcome of the elections, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a snap general election to be held on 23 July. Political parties from across the spectrum were caught by surprise, particularly the leaders of the opposition People's Party (PP), who were reportedly feeling upset over the election call preventing them from politically capitalizing on their local elections' gains.
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