1995 Barcelona municipal election

1995 Barcelona municipal election
28 May 1995
All 41 seats in the City Council of Barcelona
21 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered1,368,148 Decrease 0.9%
Turnout906,038 (66.2%)
Increase 10.7 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Pasqual Maragall Miquel Roca Enrique Lacalle
Party PSC–PSOE CiU PP
Leader since 2 December 1982 7 July 1994 1987
Last election 20 seats, 42.9% 16 seats, 34.1% 4 seats, 9.8%
Seats won 16 13 7
Seat change Decrease 4 Decrease 3 Increase 3
Popular vote 347,083 276,276 150,284
Percentage 38.4% 30.6% 16.6%
Swing Decrease 4.5 pp Decrease 3.5 pp Increase 6.8 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Eulàlia Vintró Pilar Rahola
Party IC–EV ERC
Leader since 1987 11 March 1995
Last election 3 seats, 7.6%[a] 0 seats, 2.6%
Seats won 3 2
Seat change Steady 0 Increase 2
Popular vote 68,813 46,272
Percentage 7.6% 5.1%
Swing Increase 1.2 pp Increase 2.5 pp
Mayor before election

Pasqual Maragall
PSC

 Mayor after election

Pasqual Maragall
PSC

A municipal election was held in Barcelona on 28 May 1995 to elect the 5th City Council of the municipality. All 41 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.

The unveiling of numerous corruption scandals throughout 1994 affecting Felipe González's Socialist government marked the electoral campaign. For the first time in 16 years, a real possibility for change in the local government resulted in a heated race between Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) candidate and incumbent Mayor Pasqual Maragall and Convergence and Union (CiU) candidate Miquel Roca. Another factors influencing the political debate were the People's Party (PP) rise in opinion polls as well as Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) recovery.

The election resulted in a surprising comfortable win for PSC and Pasqual Maragall, which was elected for a fourth consecutive term in office with 16 seats and 38.4%. On the other hand, CiU suffered from the PP growth and obtained its worst result since 1983, winning 13 seats and 30.6%. The People's Party nearly doubled its 1991 result with 7 seats and 16.6%, while both Initiative for Catalonia (IC) and ERC improved their electoral performances, with the latter narrowly surpassing the 5% threshold to enter the City Council.

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 Barcelona, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Barcelona.[3]

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).[4] The previous local elections were held on 26 May 1991, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 28 May 1995.

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.[5]

Elections to the assemblies of local entities were officially called on 4 April 1995 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 28 May.[6]

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-nationals whose country of origin allowed reciprocal voting by virtue of a treaty or within the framework of Community Law.[7]

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.[8] Each municipality was a multi-member constituency, with a number of seats based on the following scale:[9]

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.[10]

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 Barcelona, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required.[11]

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

Candidacy Parties and
alliances		 Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Gov. Ref.
Vote % Seats
PSC–PSOE
List
 Pasqual Maragall Social democracy 42.9% 20 Yes [12]
CiU Miquel Roca Catalan nationalism
Centrism		 34.1% 16 No [13]
PP
List
 Enrique Lacalle Conservatism
Christian democracy		 9.8% 4 No [14]
IC–EV Eulàlia Vintró Eco-socialism
Green politics
7.6%
[a]		 3 Yes
ERC Pilar Rahola Catalan independence
Left-wing nationalism
Social democracy		 2.6% 0 No [15]

Campaign

Debates

1995 Barcelona municipal election debates
Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s)     P  Present[b]    S  Surrogate[c]  
 NI  Not invited   I  Invited    A  Absent invitee 
PSC CiU Audience Ref.
22 May Antena 3 Manuel Campo Vidal P
Maragall		 P
Roca		 [16]
[17]

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; 21 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona (22 in the 1991 election).

Color key:

  Exit poll

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Victory preferences

The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a municipal election taking place.

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.

Preferred Mayor

The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become mayor of Barcelona.

Results

← Summary of the 28 May 1995 City Council of Barcelona election results →
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Total +/−
Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE) 347,08338.39−4.56 16−4
Convergence and Union (CiU) 276,27630.56−3.50 13−3
People's Party (PP) 150,28416.62+6.83 7+3
Initiative for Catalonia–The Greens (IC–EV)1 68,8137.61+0.03 3±0
Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) 46,2725.12+2.55 2+2
Ecologist Alternative of Catalonia (AEC) 3,3040.37New 0±0
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 1,2560.14−0.70 0±0
Revolutionary Workers' Party (POR) 7260.08+0.01 0±0
Civic Platform–New Socialist Party (PC–NPS) 5710.06New 0±0
Workers' Revolutionary Party (PRT)2 3760.04−0.13 0±0
Platform of Independents of Spain (PIE) 3200.04New 0±0
Humanist Platform (PH)3 2980.03−0.77 0±0
European Nation State (N) 1810.02New 0±0
Blank ballots 8,2630.91−0.01
Total 904,023 41−2
Valid votes 904,02399.78+0.08
Invalid votes 2,0150.22−0.08
Votes cast / turnout 906,03866.22+10.71
Abstentions 462,11033.78−10.71
Registered voters 1,368,148
Sources[18][19][20][21]
Footnotes:
Popular vote
PSC–PSOE
 
 38.39%
CiU
 
 30.56%
PP
 
 16.62%
IC–EV
 
 7.61%
ERC
 
 5.12%
Others
 
 0.78%
Blank ballots
 
 0.91%
Seats
PSC–PSOE
 
 39.00%
CiU
 
 31.71%
PP
 
 17.07%
IC–EV
 
 7.32%
ERC
 
 4.88%

Aftermath

Government formation

Investiture
Ballot → 17 June 1995
Required majority → 21 out of 41
16 / 41
 check
Enrique Lacalle (PP)
  • • PP (7)
7 / 41
 X mark
2 / 41
 X mark
Abstentions/Blank ballots
16 / 41
Absentees
0 / 41
Sources[18][22]

1997 investiture

Investiture
Ballot → 26 September 1997
Required majority → 21 out of 41
21 / 41
 check
13 / 41
 X mark
Enrique Lacalle (PP)
  • • PP (7)
7 / 41
 X mark
Abstentions/Blank ballots
0 / 41
Absentees
0 / 41
Sources[18][23]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Results for IC (6.4%, 3 seats), BV (0.8%, 0 seats) and PCC (0.4%, 0 seats) in the 1991 election.
  2. ↑ Denotes a main invitee attending the event.
  3. ↑ Denotes a main invitee not attending the event, sending a surrogate in their place.
  4. ↑ Undecided and/or abstentionists excluded.
  5. 1 2 3 Does not include non-resident citizens.

References

Opinion poll sources

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Sondejos". Generalitat de Catalunya (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Encuesta Vox Públicza 21/05/1995". El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). 21 May 1995.
  3. ↑ "Maragall adelanta a Roca". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 21 May 1995.
  4. ↑ "El PSOE se hunde en las principales ciudades". El País (in Spanish). 21 May 1995.
  5. 1 2 "El PP cree que la encuesta publicada por un diario madrileño tiene como objetivo alarmar a los electores e impulsar el voto de izquierda". ABC (in Spanish). 22 May 1995.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Preelectoral Municipales Madrid (Estudio nº 2172. Abril-Mayo 1995)". CIS (in Spanish). 10 May 1995.
  7. ↑ "Estudio CIS nº 2172. Ficha técnica". CIS (in Spanish). 10 May 1995.
  8. ↑ "CiU gana por dos puntos al PSC aunque Maragall adelanta a Roca en valoración". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 23 April 1995.
  9. ↑ "Roca sale por delante en la batalla de Barcelona". El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). 9 April 1995.
  10. ↑ "Una encuesta del PP otorga ligera ventaja a Roca y señala que Lacalle doblará sus votos". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 9 March 1995.
  11. ↑ "Roca toma ventaja sobre Maragall y el PP duplicaría sus concejales". ABC (in Spanish). 24 April 1995.
  12. ↑ "Encuesta de Gruppo para ABC/Resultados municipales". ABC (in Spanish). 6 May 1995.
  13. ↑ "Roca saca un punto de ventaja a Maragall pero el 39% todavía no sabe a quién votará". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 18 December 1994.
  14. ↑ "Un sondeo da ligera ventaja electoral a Roca sobre Maragall". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 7 November 1994.
  15. ↑ "Percepción de la realidad sociopolítica en Cataluña (I) (Estudio nº 2137. Febrero-marzo 1995)". CIS (in Spanish). 6 March 1995.
  16. ↑ "Estudio CIS nº 2137. Ficha técnica". CIS (in Spanish). 6 March 1995.

Other

  1. ↑ Constitution (1978), art. 140; LBRL (1985), art. 19.
  2. ↑ LBRL (1985), art. 19; LOREG (1985), art. 196.
  3. ↑ LBRL (1985), add. prov. 6 (suppl. by Decree 1166 of 23 May (1960), art. 2).
  4. ↑ LOREG (1985), arts. 42 & 194.
  5. ↑ LBRL (1985), art. 61.
  6. ↑ Royal Decree 489/1995 (1995), art. 1.
  7. ↑ Constitution (1978), art. 13; LBRL (1985), art. 19; LOREG (1985), arts. 2–3 & 176.
  8. ↑ LOREG (1985), arts. 163 & 180.
  9. ↑ LOREG (1985), art. 179.
  10. ↑ LOREG (1985), arts. 46, 48 & 182.
  11. ↑ LOREG (1985), arts. 44 & 187.
  12. ↑ "Maragall se presentará a la reelección". El País (in Spanish). 19 April 1994. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  13. ↑ "Convergencia Democràtica proclama a Roca candidato a la alcaldía" (in Spanish). Barcelona: Servimedia. 7 July 1994. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  14. ↑ Ruiz de Azúa, Victorino (11 November 1994). "Seis mujeres en las candidaturas del Partido Popular a las alcaldías de las principales ciudades". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  15. ↑ Mauri, Luis (12 March 1995). "Rahola se impone como candidata de ERC a la alcaldía de Barcelona por escaso margen". El País (in Spanish). Barcelona. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  16. ↑ "Debate Maragall-Roca, en Antena 3". El País (in Spanish). 22 May 1995. Retrieved 30 July 2026.
  17. ↑ Pastor, Carles (23 May 1995). "Maragall y Roca se emplearon a fondo en un debate muy igualado". El País (in Spanish). Barcelona. Retrieved 30 July 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 Lozano, Carles. "Eleccions municipals a Barcelona (des de 1979)". Historia Electoral.com (in Catalan). Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  19. ↑ "Resultats electorals. Eleccions Municipals 1995. Barcelona (Municipi)" (in Catalan). Government of Catalonia. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
  20. ↑ "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales" (in Spanish). Ministry of the Interior. Archived from the original on 5 August 2024. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
  21. ↑ "Acuerdo de la Junta Electoral Central de 19 de julio de 1995, de publicación del resumen de los resultados de las elecciones locales convocadas por Real Decreto 489/1995, de 3 de abril, y celebradas el 28 de mayo de 1995, según los datos que figuran en las actas de proclamación remitidas por cada una de las Juntas Electorales de Zona" (PDF). Official State Gazette (in Spanish) (173 (Supplement)): 1–1166. 21 July 1995. ISSN 0212-033X. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  22. ↑ "El PSC consolida su poder municipal en Cataluña". El País (in Spanish). Barcelona. 18 June 1995. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  23. ↑ Espada, Arcadi (27 September 1997). "Maragall deja la alcaldía de Barcelona y sugiere a Pujol que también se vaya". El País (in Spanish). Barcelona. Retrieved 27 November 2025.

Bibliography

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