A municipal election was held in Barcelona on 3 April 1979 to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality. All 43 seats in the City Council were up for election. It was held concurrently with local elections all across Spain.
Overview Under the 1978 Constitution, the governance of municipalities in Spain—part of the country's local government system—was centered on the figure of city councils (), local corporations with independent legal personality composed of a mayor, a government council and an elected legislative assembly.; . The mayor was indirectly elected by the local assembly, requiring an absolute majority; otherwise, the candidate from the most-voted party automatically became mayor (ties were resolved by drawing lots).. In the case of Barcelona, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Barcelona. ( by ).
Date The term of local assemblies in Spain expired four years after the date of their previous election. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the day after the expiration date of the assemblies, with election day taking place 65 days after the decree's publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE)..
Elections to the assemblies of local entities were officially called on 27 January 1979 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 3 April.
Electoral system Voting for local assemblies was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered and residing in the municipality and with full civil and political rights..
Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a five percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each municipality. Each municipality was a multi-member constituency, with a number of seats 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 law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes..
Parties and candidates The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 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, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list. In the case of Barcelona, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 5,000 signatures were required..
Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:
Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology PSC–PSOE Narcís Serra Social democracy CC–UCD Carlos Güell de Sentmenat Centrism CiU Xavier Millet Catalan nationalismCentrism PSUC Josep Miquel Abad CommunismCatalanism ERC Joan Hortalà Catalan nationalismLeft-wing nationalismSocial democracy
Results + Summary of the 3 April 1979 City Council of Barcelona election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE) 272,512 34.05 n/a 16 n/a Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) 151,288 18.90 n/a 9 n/a Convergence and Union (CiU) 148,806 18.59 n/a 8 n/a Centrists of Catalonia (CC–UCD) 133,885 16.73 n/a 8 n/a Republican Left of Catalonia–National Front of Catalonia (ERC–FNC) 41,845 5.23 n/a 2 n/a Democratic Coalition (CD) 24,039 3.00 n/a 0 n/a Workers' Party of Catalonia–Communist Unity (PTC–UC) 8,832 1.10 n/a 0 n/a Communist Movement–Organization of Communist Left (MC–OEC) 4,259 0.53 n/a 0 n/a Socialist Party of National Liberation (PSAN) 3,123 0.39 n/a 0 n/a Social Christian Democracy of Catalonia (DSCC) 2,950 0.37 n/a 0 n/a Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) 1,939 0.24 n/a 0 n/a Catalan Left Bloc (BEC) 0 0.00 n/a 0 n/a Democratic Municipal Action (AMD) 0 0.00 n/a 0 n/a New Force (FN) 0 0.00 n/a 0 n/a Republican Left (IR) 0 0.00 n/a 0 n/a List for Workers' Courts (LCO) 0 0.00 n/a 0 n/a Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT) 0 0.00 n/a 0 n/a Blank ballots 2,547 0.32 n/a Total 800,428 43 n/a Valid votes 800,428 99.63 n/a Invalid votes 2,991 0.37 n/a Votes cast / turnout 803,419 54.27 n/a Abstentions 677,034 45.73 n/a Registered voters 1,480,453 Sources
Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 19 April 1979 Required majority → 22 out of 43 Abstentions/Blank ballots Absentees Sources
1982 investiture Investiture Ballot → 2 December 1982 Required majority → 22 out of 43 Sources
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