A municipal election was held in Barcelona on 25 May 2003 to elect the 7th City Council of the municipality. All 41 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 election day being fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The election decree was required to be issued no later than 54 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 13 June 1999, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 25 May 2003.

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 1 April 2003 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 25 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-national European citizens, and those 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–PM Joan Clos Social democracy 45.2% CiU Xavier Trias Catalan nationalismCentrism 21.7% PP Alberto Fernández Díaz ConservatismChristian democracy 14.9% ERC–AM Jordi Portabella Catalan independenceLeft-wing nationalismSocial democracy 6.5% ICV–EA–EPM Imma Mayol RegionalismEco-socialismGreen politics 7.6%

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; 21 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 2003 municipal election 25 May 2003 59.2 33.6 21.4 16.1 12.8 12.1 12.2 Sigma Dos/Antena 3 25 May 2003??????? ? Ipsos–Eco/RTVE 25 May 2003????? – – ? Opina/El País 19 May 2003?? 40.5 25.0 12.5 9.0 7.5 15.5 Vox Pública/El Periódico 12–13 May 2003 803? 42.5–43.5 19.5–20.5 12.5–13.5 10.0–11.0 10.5–11.5 23.0 Noxa/La Vanguardia 1 May 2003?? 42.2 22.1 12.3 11.2 8.0 20.1 CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 715? 43.8 18.5 11.5 12.0 9.4 25.3 Noxa/La Vanguardia 20 Jan 2003?? 45.0 26.1 10.6 10.4 5.8 18.9 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 65.6 37.6 34.6 12.8 8.2 3.2 1.3 3.0 1999 regional election 17 Oct 1999 62.3 45.2 21.7 14.9 6.5 6.3 1.3 23.5 1999 municipal election 13 Jun 1999 51.5 45.2 21.7 14.9 6.5 6.3 1.3 23.5

Voting preferences The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Lead 2003 municipal election 25 May 2003 19.8 12.6 9.5 7.6 7.1 40.8 7.2 Vox Pública/El Periódico 12–13 May 2003 803 34.9 13.7 7.0 7.8 7.6 22.2 3.7 21.2 CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 715 28.8 12.3 4.9 8.7 5.7 27.4 8.3 16.5 City Council Sep 2002 800 23.5 12.6 6.0 6.4 2.9 34.0 11.5 10.9 City Council Jun 2002 800 23.1 12.1 5.9 5.3 4.5 – 33.3 10.9 11.0 City Council Mar 2002 800 26.3 12.0 7.1 3.9 4.6 – 30.1 13.4 14.3 City Council Dec 2001 800 25.8 13.0 8.3 6.0 3.6 – 26.6 12.0 12.8 City Council Sep 2001 800 28.9 10.4 6.1 4.8 3.4 – 28.0 13.6 18.5 City Council Jun 2001 800 26.3 11.9 7.0 4.9 2.5 – 32.6 10.3 14.4 City Council Mar 2001 800 30.9 9.5 6.0 3.0 2.9 – 33.1 10.9 21.4 City Council Nov 2000 800 29.6 11.5 4.5 3.8 2.4 – 32.4 12.4 18.1 City Council Sep 2000 800 29.5 9.6 5.0 3.5 2.5 – 37.5 9.9 19.9 City Council Jun 2000 800 30.6 11.8 7.4 4.0 3.1 – 28.9 11.6 18.8 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 20.4 17.7 17.2 3.7 2.8 1.4 34.4 2.7 City Council Mar 2000 800 28.0 13.5 4.6 3.5 1.9 – 33.7 11.6 14.5 1999 regional election 17 Oct 1999 23.4 21.5 7.9 5.1 2.0 0.8 37.7 1.9 1999 municipal election 13 Jun 1999 23.2 11.1 7.6 3.3 3.3 0.7 48.5 12.1

Victory preferences The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a municipal election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None Lead CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 715 38.9 17.8 5.2 9.1 6.3 2.9 19.9 16.5

Victory likelihood The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a municipal election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None Lead Noxa/La Vanguardia 1 May 2003? 58.0 15.0 – – – 27.0 43.0 CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 715 70.5 9.5 1.0 0.3 0.1 0.1 18.4 61.0 Noxa/La Vanguardia 20 Jan 2003? 51.0 26.0 – – – 23.0 25.0

Preferred Mayor The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become mayor of Barcelona.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead Vox Pública/El Periódico 12–13 May 2003 803 39.5 13.3 4.1 6.2 6.7 10.1 20.0 26.2

Predicted Mayor The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood for each leader to become mayor.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead Vox Pública/El Periódico 12–13 May 2003 803 70.4 3.2 0.5 0.1 0.5 0.3 24.9 67.2

Results + ← Summary of the 25 May 2003 City Council of Barcelona election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Socialists' Party of Catalonia–Municipal Progress (PSC–PM) 254,223 33.60 −11.59 15 −5 Convergence and Union (CiU) 162,010 21.41 −0.28 9 −1 People's Party (PP) 121,991 16.12 +1.25 7 +1 Republican Left of Catalonia–Municipal Agreement (ERC–AM) 96,868 12.80 +6.28 5 +2 Initiative–Alternative Left–Agreement for Municipal Progress (ICV–EA–EPM)1 91,286 12.07 +4.44 5 +3 The Greens–Eco-pacifists of Catalonia (EV–Eco) 5,449 0.72 New 0 ±0 The Greens and More (ViM) 3,955 0.52 New 0 ±0 The Greens–Green Alternative (EV–AV) 3,209 0.42 New 0 ±0 Another Democracy is Possible (ODeP) 1,143 0.15 New 0 ±0 Unsubmissive Seats (Ei) 731 0.10 New 0 ±0 The Phalanx (FE) 604 0.08 −0.01 0 ±0 Catalan State (EC) 582 0.08 ±0.00 0 ±0 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 539 0.07 −0.04 0 ±0 Humanist Party of Catalonia (PHC) 503 0.07 ±0.00 0 ±0 Platform for Catalonia (PxC) 333 0.04 New 0 ±0 Internationalist Struggle (LI (LIT–CI)) 264 0.03 New 0 ±0 European Nation State (N) 198 0.03 ±0.00 0 ±0 Blank ballots 12,679 1.68 −0.21 Total 756,567 41 ±0 Valid votes 756,567 99.65 +0.09 Invalid votes 2,630 0.35 −0.09 Votes cast / turnout 759,197 59.24 +7.71 Abstentions 522,337 40.76 −7.71 Registered voters 1,281,534 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 14 June 2003 Required majority → 21 out of 41 Abstentions/Blank ballots Absentees Sources

2006 investiture Investiture Ballot → 8 September 2006 Required majority → 21 out of 41 Abstentions/Blank ballots Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography