A municipal election was held in Valencia on 3 April 1979 to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality. All 33 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 Valencia, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Valencia.
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 Valencia, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 2,000 signatures were required..
Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:
Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology UCD Miguel Pastor Centrism PSOE Fernando Martínez Castellano Social democracy PCE Pedro Zamora Eurocommunism URV Miguel Ramón Izquierdo ValencianismBlaverism
Results + 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
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