A municipal election was held in Zaragoza on 25 May 2003 to elect the 7th 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 Zaragoza, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Zaragoza.

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 Zaragoza, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 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 PP José Atarés ConservatismChristian democracy 42.3% PSOE Juan Alberto Belloch Social democracy 29.8% CHA Antonio Gaspar Aragonese nationalismEco-socialism 13.6% PAR Manuel Lorenzo Blasco RegionalismCentrism 7.7% IU Jesús Lacasa SocialismCommunism 4.4%

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; 16 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Zaragoza.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 2003 municipal election 25 May 2003 66.2 32.7 33.9 18.3 7.0 4.0 1.2 Sigma Dos/Antena 3 25 May 2003???????? Ipsos–Eco/RTVE 25 May 2003??????? Tie C&J/El Periódico 12–15 May 2003?? 33.4 35.0 18.0 7.9 3.6 1.6 Opina/El País 11–12 May 2003 800? 35.0 32.0 18.0?? 3.0 CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 472 66.0 31.2 34.7 17.6 9.8 5.5 3.5 C&J/El Periódico 10–16 Apr 2003?? 28.9 37.7 16.3 9.9? 8.8 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 71.2 48.1 26.6 15.1 3.4 4.2 21.5 1999 municipal election 13 Jun 1999 58.5 42.3 29.8 13.6 7.7 4.4 12.5

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Lead 2003 municipal election 25 May 2003 21.5 22.3 12.1 4.6 2.6 33.8 0.8 C&J/El Periódico 12–15 May 2003? 17.8 19.2 – 4.2 1.9 33.1 1.4 CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 472 14.0 19.7 8.3 4.7 3.0 39.9 8.7 5.7 C&J/El Periódico 10–16 Apr 2003? 17.0 22.2 – 5.8 – – – 5.2 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 34.0 18.9 10.7 2.4 3.0 28.8 15.1 1999 municipal election 13 Jun 1999 24.6 17.3 7.9 4.5 2.5 41.5 7.3

Results + ← Summary of the 25 May 2003 City Council of Zaragoza election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 114,952 33.90 +4.12 12 +2 People's Party (PP) 110,747 32.66 −9.64 11 −4 Aragonese Union (CHA) 62,211 18.34 +4.77 6 +2 Aragonese Party (PAR) 23,690 6.99 −0.75 2 ±0 United Left of Aragon (IU) 13,474 3.97 −0.38 0 ±0 The Greens–SOS Nature (LV–SOS) 2,413 0.71 New 0 ±0 Aragonese Initiative (INAR) 1,110 0.33 New 0 ±0 Family and Life Party (PFyV) 748 0.22 New 0 ±0 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 636 0.19 New 0 ±0 Republican Left (IR) 356 0.10 New 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 225 0.07 −0.18 0 ±0 Blank ballots 8,560 2.52 +0.51 Total 339,122 31 ±0 Valid votes 339,122 99.44 −0.06 Invalid votes 1,917 0.56 +0.06 Votes cast / turnout 341,039 66.19 +7.73 Abstentions 174,193 33.81 −7.73 Registered voters 515,232 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 14 June 2003 Required majority → 16 out of 31 Abstentions/Blank ballots Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography