A municipal election was held in Valencia on 27 May 2007 to elect the 8th City Council of the municipality. All 33 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 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, 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 25 May 2003, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 27 May 2007.

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 3 April 2007 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 27 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 Valencia, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 signatures were required.. Amendments earlier in 2007 required a balanced composition of men and women in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition..

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

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PP Rita Barberá ConservatismChristian democracy 51.2% PSPV–PSOE Carmen Alborch Social democracy 30.8% EUPV–V–IR Amadeu Sanchis SocialismCommunism 8.1% UV–LVEP Vicente González-Lizondo Sánchez BlaverismConservatism 3.6% CVa Juan García Sentandreu BlaverismAnti-immigration colspan="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; 17 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Valencia.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout CVa Lead 2007 municipal election 27 May 2007 68.4 56.7 33.8 4.8 0.8 1.4 22.9 PP 21 May 2007 818? 55.9 31.9 5.7 – – 24.0 Grup Marest/Levante-EMV 10–16 May 2007?? 44.4 37.5 7.4 3.3 5.0 6.9 Opina/El País 14 May 2007 600? 56.0 36.0 5.5 – – 20.0 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 2–9 May 2007 400? 51.7 34.8 6.8 – – 16.9 Grup Marest/Levante-EMV 28 Mar–5 Apr 2007 1,000 70 45.2 34.4 7.6 3.7 2.7 4.5 10.8 PP 12 Mar 2007????? – – –? PSPV 12 Mar 2007????? – – –? PP 12 Feb 2007????? – – –? PP 13–24 Oct 2006 818? 55.9 29.6 5.9 <4.0 <4.0 – 26.3 PSPV 22–29 May 2006 900? 47.8 36.5 7.4 – – – 11.3 PSPV 16 Jan 2006????? – – –? PP 15 Oct–15 Nov 2005 800? 53.6 29.3 9.8 2.0 1.3 – 24.32004 EP election 13 Jun 2004 52.4 53.4 37.4 4.6 0.7 0.7 – 16.02004 general election 14 Mar 2004 77.9 48.5 39.0 5.9 – 1.0 – 9.5 2003 municipal election 25 May 2003 68.5 51.2 30.8 7.3 3.6 2.6 – 20.4

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size CVa Lead 2007 municipal election 27 May 2007 38.6 23.0 3.3 0.5 0.9 31.6 15.62004 EP election 13 Jun 2004 28.0 19.6 2.4 0.4 0.4 – 47.6 8.42004 general election 14 Mar 2004 37.6 30.2 4.6 – 0.8 – 22.1 7.4 2003 municipal election 25 May 2003 34.9 21.1 5.0 2.5 1.8 – 31.5 13.8

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 PP 13–24 Oct 2006 818 51.3 24.4 24.3 26.9

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 Grup Marest/Levante-EMV 28 Mar–5 Apr 2007 1,000 66.5 – – –? PP 13–24 Oct 2006 818 70.8 15.4 13.8 55.4 PP 15 Oct–15 Nov 2005 800 87.0 12.7 0.3 74.3

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead PP 13–24 Oct 2006 818 56.0 – 22.0 – 22.0 34.0 PP 15 Oct–15 Nov 2005 800 64.0 21.4 – 9.7 4.9 42.6

Results + ← Summary of the 27 May 2007 City Council of Valencia election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP) 235,158 56.67 +5.52 21 +2 Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV–PSOE)1 140,187 33.78 +0.36 12 ±0 United Left–The Greens–Republican Left: Municipal Agreement (EUPV–V–IR)2 19,808 4.77 −3.32 0 −2 Valencian Coalition (CVa) 5,615 1.35 New 0 ±0 Valencian Union–The Eco-pacifist Greens (UV–LVEP) 3,279 0.79 −2.83 0 ±0 Republican Left of the Valencian Country–Municipal Agreement (ERPV–AM) 1,070 0.26 +0.10 0 ±0 Spain 2000 (E–2000) 775 0.19 ±0.00 0 ±0 For a Fairer World (PUM+J) 650 0.16 New 0 ±0 Movement for Change and Liberties (MpCL) 546 0.13 New 0 ±0 Social Democratic Party (PSD) 539 0.13 New 0 ±0 Ordinary Citizens (CiCa) 504 0.12 New 0 ±0 Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) 370 0.09 New 0 ±0 United for Valencia (UxV) 369 0.09 New 0 ±0 National Democracy (DN) 255 0.06 New 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 213 0.05 −0.02 0 ±0 The Greens of Europe (LVdE) 0 0.00 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 5,644 1.36 −0.27 Total 414,982 33 ±0 Valid votes 414,982 99.56 −0.16 Invalid votes 1,820 0.44 +0.16 Votes cast / turnout 416,802 68.42 −0.08 Abstentions 192,419 31.58 +0.08 Registered voters 609,221 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 16 June 2007 Required majority → 17 out of 33 Abstentions/Blank ballots Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography