A municipal election was held in Barcelona on 26 May 1991 to elect the 4th City Council of the municipality. All 43 seats in the City Council were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and 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, with amendments earlier in 1991 fixing election day for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The election decree was required to be issued between 54 and 60 days before the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE).. The previous local elections were held on 10 June 1987, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 26 May 1991.

Local assemblies could not be dissolved before the expiration of their term, except in cases of mismanagement that seriously harmed the public interest and implied a breach of constitutional obligations, in which case the Council of Ministers could—optionally—decide to call a by-election..

Elections to the assemblies of local entities were officially called on 2 April 1991 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 26 May..

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 political rights (provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence, nor were legally incapacitated), as well as resident non-nationals whose country of origin allowed reciprocal voting by virtue of a treaty.; ; .

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 8,000 signatures were required..

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

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PSC–PSOE Pasqual Maragall Social democracy 43.6% CiU Josep Maria Cullell Catalan nationalismCentrism 35.5% PP Enrique Lacalle ConservatismChristian democracy 7.6% IC Eulàlia Vintró Eco-socialismGreen politics 5.2%

Opinion polls The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll.

Voting intention estimates The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 22 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout IC Lead 1991 municipal election 26 May 1991 55.5 42.9 34.1 6.4 0.8 2.6 9.8 8.8 DYM/Cambio 16 20 May 1991?? 41.3 36.5 6.6 2.4 2.5 7.0 4.8 Producciones Cinco/Avui 19 May 1991 3,800? 40.6 36.7 5.8 – 3.1 8.1 3.9 OTR–IS/El Periódico 18 May 1991 800? 43.8 32.8 6.7 – 3.5 7.9 11.0 Opina/La Vanguardia 13–15 May 1991 1,501? 44.6 34.5 6.7 1.0 4.0 7.8 10.1 Metra Seis/El Independiente 12 May 1991 1,040? 43.9 34.0 7.0 1.6 2.2 7.8 9.9 Demoscopia/El País 4–7 May 1991 752? 42.5 36.1 5.6 – – 6.0 6.4 Opina/La Vanguardia 15–17 Apr 1991 1,569? 44.8 35.4 5.2 1.0 2.3 6.4 9.4 1989 general election 29 Oct 1989 68.5 28.4 34.2 8.1 4.9 2.8 14.8 5.8 1989 EP election 15 Jun 1989 53.7 28.7 29.3 5.6 3.9 3.5 12.7 0.6 1988 regional election 29 May 1988 59.9 25.2 48.0 7.8 4.0 4.0 7.4 22.8 1987 municipal election 10 Jun 1987 68.9 43.6 35.5 7.6 5.2 3.4 2.3 – 8.1

Results + ← Summary of the 26 May 1991 City Council of Barcelona election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE) 328,282 42.95 −0.66 20 −1 Convergence and Union (CiU) 260,344 34.06 −1.40 16 −1 People's Party (PP)1 74,804 9.79 +2.23 4 +1 Initiative for Catalonia (IC) 49,034 6.42 +1.26 3 +1 Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) 19,629 2.57 +0.26 0 ±0 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 6,454 0.84 −2.54 0 ±0 The Greens Ecologist–Humanist List (LVLE–H)2 6,120 0.80 +0.70 0 ±0 Green Barcelona (BV) 5,749 0.75 New 0 ±0 Party of the Communists of Catalonia (PCC) 3,168 0.41 New 0 ±0 Workers' Socialist Party (PST) 1,308 0.17 New 0 ±0 Revolutionary Workers' Party of Spain (PORE) 532 0.07 −0.06 0 ±0 Evangelical Social Action Party (PASE) 514 0.07 New 0 ±0 Alternative for Barcelona (AltBCN) 428 0.06 New 0 ±0 Alliance for the Republic (AxR)3 296 0.04 −0.03 0 ±0 Radical Centre of Catalonia (CRC) 294 0.04 New 0 ±0 Left Platform (PCE (m–l)–CRPE)4 210 0.03 −0.09 0 ±0 Centrist Unity (PED) 198 0.03 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 6,979 0.92 +0.17 Total 764,343 43 ±0 Valid votes 764,343 99.70 +0.48 Invalid votes 2,177 0.30 −0.48 Votes cast / turnout 766,520 55.50 −13.43 Abstentions 614,628 44.50 +13.43 Registered voters 1,381,148 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 5 July 1991 Required majority → 22 out of 43 Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

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