# 1983 Barcelona City Council election

The 1983 Barcelona City Council election, also the 1983 Barcelona municipal election, was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 2nd City Council of the municipality of Barcelona. All 43 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

## Electoral system

The City Council of Barcelona (Catalan: Ajuntament de Barcelona, Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Barcelona) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Barcelona, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly. Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the municipality of Barcelona and in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights.
Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each local council. Councillors were allocated to municipal councils 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 mayor was indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause required that mayoral candidates earned the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party in the assembly was to be automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, the eldest one would be elected.
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within fifteen days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one-thousandth of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election—with a compulsory minimum of 500 signatures—disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.

## 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 also displayed below (or in place of) the voting estimates in a smaller font; 22 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona.
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Turnout | | | | | | | Lead |
| 1983 municipal election | 8 May 1983 | — | 67.4 | 45.8 21 | 6.9 3 | 27.4 13 | – | 3.9 0 | 13.0 6 | 18.4 |
| Sofemasa/El País | 23–26 Apr 1983 | ? | ? | 43.7 20/21 | 8.9 4/5 | 22.1 11/12 | – | 5.6 2 | 11.0 5 | 21.6 |
| 1982 general election | 28 Oct 1982 | — | 81.0 | 40.9 (22) | 4.5 (0) | 23.3 (12) | 1.6 (0) | 4.5 (0) | 18.6 (9) | 17.6 |
| 1980 regional election | 20 Mar 1980 | — | 57.9 | 20.9 (10) | 16.1 (8) | 28.7 (15) | 10.2 (5) | 10.8 (5) | 3.9 0 | 7.8 |
| 1979 municipal election | 3 Apr 1979 | — | 54.3 | 34.0 16 | 18.9 9 | 18.6 8 | 16.7 8 | 5.2 2 | 3.0 0 | 15.1 |

### Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | | | | | | | | ? | N | Lead |
| 1983 municipal election | 8 May 1983 | — | 30.4 | 4.6 | 18.2 | – | 2.6 | 8.6 | 0.6 | — | 32.6 | 12.2 |
| Alef–Emopública/CIS | 17–25 Mar 1983 | 517 | 41.6 | 3.3 | 11.1 | – | 2.1 | 4.8 | 0.2 | 26.2 | 7.0 | 30.5 |
| 1982 general election | 28 Oct 1982 | — | 32.8 | 3.6 | 18.7 | 1.3 | 3.6 | 14.9 | 1.9 | — | 19.0 | 14.1 |
| 1980 regional election | 20 Mar 1980 | — | 12.0 | 9.3 | 16.5 | 5.9 | 6.2 | 2.2 | – | — | 42.1 | 4.5 |
| 1979 municipal election | 3 Apr 1979 | — | 18.4 | 10.2 | 10.1 | 9.0 | 2.8 | 1.6 | – | — | 45.7 | 8.2 |

## Results

← Summary of the 8 May 1983 City Council of Barcelona election results → :
| Parties and alliances | Parties and alliances | Popular vote | Popular vote | Popular vote | Seats | Seats |
| Parties and alliances | Parties and alliances | Votes | % | ±pp | Total | +/− |
| | Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE) | 412,991 | 45.80 | +11.75 | 21 | +5 |
| | Convergence and Union (CiU) | 246,780 | 27.37 | +8.78 | 13 | +5 |
| | People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL)$^1$ | 117,052 | 12.98 | +9.98 | 6 | +6 |
| | Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) | 62,421 | 6.92 | –11.98 | 3 | –6 |
| | Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) | 34,777 | 3.86 | –1.37 | 0 | –2 |
| | Party of the Communists of Catalonia (PCC) | 9,653 | 1.07 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 8,518 | 0.94 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Workers' Socialist Party (PST) | 2,699 | 0.30 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) | 1,194 | 0.13 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Revolutionary Workers' Party of Spain (PORE) | 864 | 0.10 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Popular Struggle Coalition (CLP) | 848 | 0.09 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Conservatives of Catalonia (CiC) | 0 | 0.00 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Centrists of Catalonia (CC–UCD) | n/a | n/a | –16.73 | 0 | –8 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 3,847 | 0.43 | +0.11 | | |
| Total | Total | 901,644 | | | 43 | ±0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 901,644 | 98.36 | –1.27 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 15,040 | 1.64 | +1.27 | | |
| Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | 916,684 | 67.42 | +13.15 | | |
| Abstentions | Abstentions | 442,905 | 32.58 | –13.15 | | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 1,359,589 | | | | |
| Sources |||||||
| Footnotes: $^1$ People's Coalition results are compared to Democratic Coalition totals in the 1979 election. |||||||
Popular vote
PSC–PSOE
45.80%
CiU
27.37%
AP–PDP–UL
12.98%
PSUC
6.92%
ERC
3.86%
PCC
1.07%
Others
1.57%
Blank ballots
0.43% :
Seats
PSC–PSOE
48.84%
CiU
30.23%
AP–PDP–UL
13.95%
PSUC
6.98% :