1979 Valencia City Council election

The 1979 Valencia City Council election, also the 1979 Valencia municipal election, was held on Tuesday, 3 April 1979, to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality of Valencia. All 33 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with local elections all throughout Spain.

1979 Valencia City Council election

3 April 1979 1983 →

All 33 seats in the City Council of Valencia
17 seats needed for a majority
Registered552,034
Turnout344,145 (62.3%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Miguel Pastor Fernando Martínez Castellano Pedro Zamora
Party UCD PSOE PCPV
Leader since 1979 1979 1979
Seats won 13 13 6
Popular vote 124,683 122,482 54,124
Percentage 36.8% 36.1% 16.0%

Mayor before election

Miguel Ramón Izquierdo
Independent

Elected mayor

Fernando Martínez Castellano
PSOE

Electoral system

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The City Council of Valencia (Valencian: Ajuntament de València, Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Valencia) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Valencia, 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 Valencia 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]

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]

Results

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Summary of the 3 April 1979 City Council of Valencia election results
 
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Total +/−
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 124,683 36.76 n/a 13 n/a
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 122,482 36.11 n/a 13 n/a
Communist Party of the Valencian Country (PCPV) 54,124 15.96 n/a 6 n/a
Valencian Regional Union (URV) 17,342 5.11 n/a 1 n/a
Communist Movement of the Valencian Country (MCPV) 4,131 1.22 n/a 0 n/a
Nationalist Party of the Valencian Country (PNPV) 4,010 1.18 n/a 0 n/a
Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT) 2,838 0.84 n/a 0 n/a
Workers' Communist Party (PCT) 1,820 0.54 n/a 0 n/a
Communist Unification of Spain (UCE) 1,656 0.49 n/a 0 n/a
Valencian Front Socialist–Republican Alliance (ARSFV) 1,394 0.41 n/a 0 n/a
Republican Left (IR) 1,313 0.39 n/a 0 n/a
Left Bloc for National Liberation of the Valencian Country (BEANPV) 1,181 0.35 n/a 0 n/a
Liberal Party (PL) 618 0.18 n/a 0 n/a
Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) 508 0.15 n/a 0 n/a
Blank ballots 1,102 0.32 n/a
Total 339,202 33 n/a
Valid votes 339,202 98.56 n/a
Invalid votes 4,943 1.44 n/a
Votes cast / turnout 344,145 62.34 n/a
Abstentions 207,889 37.66 n/a
Registered voters 552,034
Sources[3][4][5]
Popular vote
UCD
36.76%
PSOE
36.11%
PCPV
15.96%
URV
5.11%
MCPV
1.22%
PNPV
1.18%
Others
3.34%
Blank ballots
0.32%
Seats
UCD
39.39%
PSOE
39.39%
PCPV
18.18%
URV
3.03%

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. ^ "Municipal Elections. Valencia" (PDF). www.valencia.es (in Spanish). City Council of Valencia. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. April 1979. Valencia Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Eleccions municipals a València (1979 - 2015)". Historia Electoral.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 30 September 2017.