1979 Madrid municipal election

1979 Madrid municipal election
3 April 1979
All 59 seats in the City Council of Madrid
30 seats needed for a majority
Registered2,378,941
Turnout1,569,610 (66.0%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader José Luis Álvarez Enrique Tierno Galván Ramón Tamames
Party UCD PSOE PCE
Leader since 18 October 1978 26 November 1978 1979
Seats won 25 25 9
Popular vote 632,329 619,772 230,651
Percentage 40.3% 39.5% 14.7%
Mayor before election

Luis María Huete (acting)
UCD

 Mayor after election

Enrique Tierno Galván
PSOE

A municipal election was held in Madrid on 3 April 1979 to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality. All 59 seats in the City Council were up for election. It was held concurrently with local elections all across Spain.

The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) emerged as the most voted party, but in a seat tie with the second force, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), at 25 seats. As neither had an absolute majority of seats, it was up to the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 9 seats to decide which party was to govern in Madrid.

Finally, an agreement between the PSOE and PCE resulted in Enrique Tierno Galván being named as the first democratically elected Mayor of Madrid.

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 (Spanish: ayuntamientos), local corporations with independent legal personality composed of a mayor, a government council and an elected legislative assembly.[1] 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).[2] In the case of Madrid, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Madrid.[3]

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).[4]

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.[5]

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.[6]

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:[7]

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.[8]

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 5,000 signatures were required.[9]

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

Candidacy Parties and
alliances		 Leading candidate Ideology Gov. Ref.
UCD José Luis Álvarez Centrism Yes [10]
[11]
[12]
PSOE Enrique Tierno Galván Social democracy No [13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
PCE Ramón Tamames Eurocommunism No

Results

Summary of the 3 April 1979 City Council of Madrid election results →
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Total +/−
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 632,32940.29n/a 25n/a
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 619,77239.49n/a 25n/a
Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 230,65114.69n/a 9n/a
Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT) 37,3962.38n/a 0n/a
Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) 25,0381.60n/a 0n/a
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (historical) (PSOEh) 5,3170.34n/a 0n/a
Communist Unification of Spain (UCE) 5,2510.33n/a 0n/a
Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE) 5,2410.33n/a 0n/a
Communist Movement–Organization of Communist Left (MC–OIC) 2,4010.15n/a 0n/a
Socialist Party (PS) 2,2980.15n/a 0n/a
Liberal Party (PL) 2,1320.14n/a 0n/a
Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) 1,7840.11n/a 0n/a
Blank ballots 00.00n/a
Total 1,569,610 59n/a
Valid votes 1,569,610100.00n/a
Invalid votes 00.00n/a
Votes cast / turnout 1,569,61065.98n/a
Abstentions 809,33134.02n/a
Registered voters 2,378,941
Sources[17][18]
Popular vote
UCD
 
 40.29%
PSOE
 
 39.49%
PCE
 
 14.69%
ORT
 
 2.38%
FE–JONS
 
 1.60%
Others
 
 1.56%
Blank ballots
 
 0.00%
Seats
UCD
 
 42.37%
PSOE
 
 42.37%
PCE
 
 15.25%

Aftermath

Government formation

Investiture
Ballot → 19 April 1979
Required majority → 30 out of 59
34 / 59
 check
25 / 59
 X mark
Abstentions/Blank ballots
0 / 59
Absentees
0 / 59
Sources[17][19]

References

  1. ↑ Constitution (1978), art. 140; LBERL (1975), bases 1 & 4.
  2. ↑ LEL (1978), art. 28.
  3. ↑ LBERL (1975), final prov. 1 (suppl. by Decree 1674 of 11 July (1963), art. 3).
  4. ↑ LEL (1978), art. 3 & trans. prov. 2.
  5. ↑ Royal Decree 117/1979 (1979), arts. 1–2
  6. ↑ LEL (1978), art. 6.
  7. ↑ LEL (1978), arts. 5 & 10–11.
  8. ↑ LEL (1978), art. 11.
  9. ↑ LEL (1978), arts. 14–15.
  10. ↑ "Al alcalde le gustaría presentarse a las elecciones". El País (in Spanish). 14 May 1978. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
  11. ↑ "José Luis Alvarez, candidato oficial de UCD a la alcaldía". El País (in Spanish). 19 October 1978. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
  12. ↑ Fuente Lafuente, Ismael (3 January 1979). "José Luis Alvarez dimitirá como alcalde el próximo día 9". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 January 2026.
  13. ↑ "Enrique Tierno podría ser candidato a alcalde y presidente honorífico del PSOE". El País (in Spanish). 9 February 1978. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
  14. ↑ García, Sebastián (11 April 1978). "El IV Congreso Nacional del PSP aprobó su fusión con el PSOE". El País (in Spanish). Torremolinos. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
  15. ↑ "Los otros alcaldables, también a por el escaño de diputado". El País (in Spanish). 3 January 1979. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
  16. ↑ "Un Gobierno "fuerte y eficaz" idea central de la campaña del PSOE". El País (in Spanish). 12 January 1979. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
  17. 1 2 Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones Municipales en Madrid (desde 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  18. ↑ "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Archived from the original on 18 December 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
  19. ↑ "Enrique Tierno, alcalde de Madrid: "Desde mañana empezará la convivencia"". El País. 20 April 1979. Retrieved 4 January 2026.

Bibliography

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