1983 Seville municipal election
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8 May 1983
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All 31 seats in the City Council of Seville 16 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Registered | 454,851  6.3% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 274,080 (60.3%) 3.3 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A municipal election was held in Seville on 8 May 1983 to elect the 2nd City Council of the municipality. All 31 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 (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 Seville, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Seville.
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 within from 55 to 70 days after the decree's publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE).[3]
Elections to the assemblies of local entities were officially called on 10 March 1983 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 8 May.[4]
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.[5]
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:[6]
| 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.[7]
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 preferences
The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
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 |
Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 municipal election | 8 May 1983 | N/a | – | 33.6 | 1.8 | 5.3 | 17.7 | 0.7 | N/a | 40.4 | 15.9 |
| Alef–Emopública/CIS[8] | 17–25 Mar 1983 | 497 | 0.6 | 59.3 | – | 3.0 | 11.5 | 0.2 | 14.9 | 4.8 | 47.8 |
| 1982 general election | 28 Oct 1982 | N/a | 2.1 | 47.1 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 21.2[b] | 0.8 | N/a | 18.1 | 25.9 |
| 1982 regional election | 28 Oct 1982 | N/a | 4.6 | 33.9 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 15.7[b] | – | N/a | 34.1 | 18.2 |
| 1979 municipal election | 3 Apr 1979 | N/a | 15.4 | 14.0 | 13.3 | 10.4 | 0.7[b] | – | N/a | 43.0 | 1.4 |
Results
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| Parties and alliances | Popular vote | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Total | +/− | ||
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A) | 153,002 | 56.22 | +31.44 | 19 | +11 | |
| People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL)1 | 80,542 | 29.60 | +28.43 | 10 | +10 | |
| Communist Party of Spain (PCE) | 24,099 | 8.86 | −9.57 | 2 | −4 | |
| Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA) | 8,080 | 2.97 | −20.51 | 0 | −8 | |
| Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 3,191 | 1.17 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE) | 1,460 | 0.54 | −0.11 | 0 | ±0 | |
| United Candidacy of Workers (CUT) | 540 | 0.20 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) | n/a | n/a | −27.09 | 0 | −9 | |
| Blank ballots | 1,221 | 0.45 | +0.32 | |||
| Total | 272,135 | 31 | ±0 | |||
| Valid votes | 272,135 | 99.29 | −0.21 | |||
| Invalid votes | 1,945 | 0.71 | +0.21 | |||
| Votes cast / turnout | 274,080 | 60.26 | +3.28 | |||
| Abstentions | 180,771 | 39.74 | −3.28 | |||
| Registered voters | 454,851 | |||||
| Sources[9][10][11] | ||||||
Footnotes:
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Aftermath
Government formation
| Investiture | |||
| Ballot → | 23 May 1983 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Required majority → | 16 out of 31 | ||
|
19 / 31 |
 | |
10 / 31 |
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2 / 31 |
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| Abstentions/Blank ballots | 0 / 31 | ||
| Absentees | 0 / 31 | ||
| Sources[12] | |||
Notes
References
- ↑ Constitution (1978), art. 140; LBERL (1975), bases 1 & 4.
- ↑ LEL (1978), art. 28.
- ↑ LEL (1978), art. 3 & trans. prov. 2 (am. by LEL (1983), art. 2).
- ↑ Royal Decree 448/1983 (1983), arts. 1–2
- ↑ LEL (1978), art. 6.
- ↑ LEL (1978), arts. 5 & 10–11.
- ↑ LEL (1978), art. 11.
- ↑ "Preelectoral municipales y autonómicas 1983 (III). Sevilla capital (Estudio nº 1351. Marzo 1983)". CIS (in Spanish). 25 March 1983.
- ↑ Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones municipales en Sevilla (desde 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
- ↑ "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Archived from the original on 5 August 2024. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
- ↑ "Anuario Estadístico de la ciudad de Sevilla 1999" (in Spanish). City Council of Seville. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
- ↑ Aguilar, José (25 May 1983). "Guerra afirma que la dirección del PSOE no ha pactado con AP ninguna alcaldía andaluza". El País (in Spanish). Seville. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
Bibliography
- Ley 41/1975, de 19 de noviembre, de Bases del Estatuto de Régimen Local (Law 41/1975). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 19 November 1975. BOE-A-1975-23920. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
- Ley 39/1978, de 17 de julio, de elecciones locales (Law 39/1978). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 17 July 1978. BOE-A-1978-18636. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
- Constitución Española (Constitution). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 27 December 1978 [version as of 29 December 1978]. BOE-A-1978-31229. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
- Ley Orgánica 6/1983, de 2 de marzo, por la que se modifican determinados artículos de la Ley 39/1978, de 17 de julio, de Elecciones Locales (Organic Law 6/1983). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 2 March 1983. BOE-A-1983-6573. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
- Real Decreto 448/1983, de 9 de marzo, de convocatoria de Elecciones Locales (Royal Decree 448/1983). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 9 March 1983. BOE-A-1983-7296. Retrieved 2 January 2026.