A municipal election was held in Madrid on 28 May 2023 to elect the 12th City Council of the municipality. All 57 seats in the City Council were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve 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 Madrid, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Madrid..

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 26 May 2019, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 28 May 2023.

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 4 April 2023 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 28 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), 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 <100 3 101–250 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..

Outgoing council The table below shows the composition of the political groups in the local assembly at the time of the election call.

+ Council composition in April 2023 Groups Parties Councillors Seats Total More Madrid Municipal Group Más Madrid 16 16 People's Party's Municipal Group PP 15 15 Citizens–Party of the Citizenry Municipal Group CS 11 11 Socialist Municipal Group in Madrid PSOE 8 8 Vox Municipal Group Vox 4 4 Mixed Group RM 2 3 INDEP 1

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 Madrid, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required.. Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required 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 MM–VQ Rita Maestre ProgressivismParticipatory democracyGreen politics 31.0% PP José Luis Martínez-Almeida ConservatismChristian democracy 24.3% CS Begoña Villacís Liberalism 19.2% PSOE Reyes Maroto Social democracy 13.7% Vox Javier Ortega Smith Right-wing populismUltranationalismNational conservatism 7.7% Podemos–IU–AV Roberto Sotomayor Left-wing populismDirect democracyDemocratic socialism 2.6% In March 2021, four Más Madrid city councillors, including former lieutenant mayor Marta Higueras, split into the Mixed Group to form "Recover Madrid" (), a platform aiming at "preserving the original project" of former mayor Manuela Carmena under a more moderate and pragmatic line, draining material and economic resources from the Más Madrid group, and becoming involved in controversial choices—such as the approval of Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida's 2022 budget—which saw one of Recupera Madrid's councillors, Felipe Llamas, resigning from his post in disagreement. The platform announced its intention to run in the election, selecting Luis Cueto as their candidate.

On 12 September 2022, Podemos announced its intention to contest the 2023 Madrid municipal election after not having done in the 2019 election, with athlete Roberto Sotomayor as the party's candidate.

Campaign Party slogans Party or alliance Original slogan English translation MM–VQ « Lo va a hacer Rita » "Rita will get it done" PP « Momento Madrid » "Madrid Momentum" CS « Somos de Villa » "We are of Villa" PSOE « Reyes de Madrid » "Reyes of Madrid" Vox « Cuida Madrid, cuida lo tuyo » "Take care of Madrid, take care of your own" Podemos–IU « Hay que arreglar Madrid corriendo » "We must fix Madrid quickly"

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.

Graphical summary

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; 29 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Madrid.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 2023 municipal election 28 May 2023 69.2 19.1 44.5 2.9 16.8 9.1 4.9 0.4 25.4 GAD3/RTVE–FORTA 12–27 May 2023?? 19.0 47.0 2.0 17.0 7.0 5.0 – 28.0 KeyData/Público 22 May 2023? 67.7 22.6 40.5 3.8 17.3 8.7 4.5 – 17.9 NC Report/La Razón 22 May 2023?? 24.8 41.0 – 17.1 8.6 – – 16.2 Target Point/El Debate 15–19 May 2023?? 23.7 40.1 4.1 15.1 9.0 5.0 – 16.4 DYM/Henneo 15–18 May 2023?? 23.3 41.0 – 18.7 8.2 4.8 – 17.7 40dB/Prisa 12–17 May 2023 800? 19.5 41.0 5.4 18.0 8.0 6.1 – 21.5 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 11–16 May 2023 1,400? 19.2 41.9 4.0 18.8 8.2 5.8 – 22.7 NC Report/La Razón 15 May 2023 1,000? 24.1 42.0 2.5 17.4 8.1 3.4 – 17.9 Sigma Dos/Antena 3 14 May 2023?? 20.2 41.2? 18.1? ? – 21.0 SocioMétrica/El Español 8–14 May 2023?? 22.3 41.0 4.3 17.5 9.1 4.4 – 18.7 Data10/Okdiario 9–11 May 2023 1,500? 21.9 38.8 4.5 18.4 10.3 3.6 – 16.9 Hamalgama Métrica/Vozpópuli 3–10 May 2023?? 23.1 42.1 2.7 18.0 8.4 4.3 – 19.0 PSOE 27 Apr 2023??????? ? –? CIS 10–26 Apr 2023 1,180? 26.7 38.0 4.3 16.0 7.4 4.5 – 11.3 GAD3/ABC 11–12 Apr 2023 600? 18.9 44.7 2.8 19.3 7.6 4.2 – 25.4 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 7–12 Apr 2023 577? 23.9 38.2 6.2 17.5 7.1 5.8 – 14.3 IMOP/El Confidencial 21–24 Mar 2023 800? 23.9 38.3 6.8 17.0 8.6 3.6 – 14.4 SocioMétrica/El Español 27 Feb–3 Mar 2023 800? 27.3 38.2 4.6 13.9 10.1 4.4 – 10.9 Data10/Okdiario 9–17 Feb 2023 1,000? 23.1 37.9 4.3 18.6 9.4 4.1 – 14.8 KeyData/Público 16 Feb 2023? 67.7 24.9 38.6 5.1 16.1 8.7 4.8 – 13.7 GAD3/PP 4–10 Jan 2023 1,004? 18.3 45.1 3.9 17.2 6.7 6.4 0.5 26.8 Metroscopia/Cs 4 Dec 2022 1,000??? 4.8?? ? –? Data10/Okdiario 14 Nov 2022 1,000? 27.5 32.1 7.6 13.5 11.4 6.4 – 4.6 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 25 Oct–3 Nov 2022 996? 27.0 37.9 6.0 18.3 7.9 – – 10.9 40dB/MM 6–13 Oct 2022?? 28.5 37.7 6.2 18.1 7.5 – – 9.2 GAD3/PP 6–8 Jul 2022 1,003? 16.6 45.6 2.6 19.4 7.9 5.2 0.8 26.2 40dB/MM 30 Jun 2022?? 29.7 37.1 7.3 15.1 8.0 – – 7.4 NC Report/La Razón 6–12 May 2022 1,000 71.0 25.1 41.6 5.9 12.5 10.0 – – 16.5 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 9–11 May 2022 1,400? 26.9 35.3 6.7 15.1 11.8 – – 8.4 SocioMétrica/El Español 26–29 Apr 2022 800? 26.6 40.2 7.2 11.2 9.9 – – 13.6 Data10/Okdiario 19–20 Apr 2022 1,000? 29.8 31.2 9.3 12.2 10.4 5.8 – 1.4 EM-Analytics/Electomanía 1 Mar–13 Apr 2022 845? 33.3 26.7 10.3 12.8 10.6 3.8 1.1 6.6 EM-Analytics/Electomanía 17–18 Feb 2022 876? 31.3 27.9 9.3 13.0 11.7 4.3 1.1 3.4 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 3–6 Nov 2021 622? 25.1 35.4 8.4 12.2 6.9 9.8 – 10.3 2021 regional election 4 May 2021 75.6 17.9 45.3 3.7 16.1 8.1 7.5 – 27.4 EM-Analytics/Electomanía 17 Mar 2021 1,000? 14.3 42.0 2.1 22.1 9.2 8.5 – 19.9 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 1 Jul–25 Sep 2020?? 22.9 35.5 7.6 23.4 7.8 1.1 – – 12.1 Sigma Dos/Telemadrid 19–22 Jun 2020?? 18.6 38.5 8.2 21.6 5.7 5.1 – 16.9 Hamalgama Métrica/Okdiario 8–11 May 2020 1,000? 18.9 34.5 10.1 17.3 8.6 7.9 – 15.6 GAD3/ABC 24–29 Apr 2020 631? 8.2 44.7 5.2 25.9 7.0 6.2 – 18.8 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 26–31 Mar 2020 800? 16.9 30.8 10.7 25.7 12.0 1.8 – – 5.1 November 2019 general election 10 Nov 2019 74.0 6.3 27.3 8.9 26.4 16.0 13.0 – 0.9 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 10 Oct 2019 1,500? 8.8 25.6 13.5 25.5 12.2 10.9 – 0.1 2019 municipal election 26 May 2019 68.2 31.0 24.3 19.2 13.7 7.7 2.6 – – 6.7

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Lead 2023 municipal election 28 May 2023 13.1 30.6 2.0 11.5 6.2 3.4 30.8 17.5 40dB/Prisa 12–17 May 2023 800 12.4 33.8 6.4 15.2 8.2 4.6 12.4 4.0 18.6 CIS 10–26 Apr 2023 1,180 16.7 30.3 1.7 12.5 5.7 4.8 23.1 2.0 13.6 2021 regional election 4 May 2021 13.5 34.1 2.8 12.1 6.1 5.6 24.4 20.6 November 2019 general election 10 Nov 2019 4.7 20.1 6.5 19.4 11.8 9.6 26.0 0.7 2019 municipal election 26 May 2019 21.1 16.5 13.0 9.3 5.2 1.8 – 31.8 4.6

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead 40dB/Prisa 12–17 May 2023 800 13.3 36.8 9.7 14.7 7.8 3.6 6.8 7.3 22.1

Results