# 1995 Barcelona City Council election

The 1995 Barcelona City Council election, also the 1995 Barcelona municipal election, was held on Sunday, 28 May 1995, to elect the 5th City Council of the municipality of Barcelona. All 41 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.
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.

## 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. Elections to the local councils in Spain were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. 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 political rights, as well as resident non-nationals whose country of origin allowed Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty.
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 appointee would be determined by lot.
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 ten 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 were seeking election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. In the case of Barcelona, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required.

## Opinion polls

The table below lists voting intention estimates 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. 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 until 1 January 1992).

### Color key

Exit poll
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Turnout | | | | IC | | Lead |
| 1995 municipal election | 28 May 1995 | — | 66.2 | 38.4 16 | 30.6 13 | 16.6 7 | 7.6 3 | 5.1 2 | 7.8 |
| Eco Consulting/TV3 | 28 May 1995 | ? | ? | 37.4 16/17 | 29.7 12/13 | 16.2 6/7 | 8.2 3 | 5.7 2 | 7.7 |
| Vox Pública/Antena 3 | 28 May 1995 | ? | ? | ? 16/17 | ? 12/13 | ? 6/7 | ? 3 | ? 2 | ? |
| Demoscopia/Tele 5 | 28 May 1995 | ? | ? | ? 16/17 | ? 12/13 | ? 7/8 | ? 3/4 | ? 2 | ? |
| Sigma Dos/COPE | 28 May 1995 | ? | ? | ? 16 | ? 12/13 | ? 7/8 | ? 3 | ? 2 | ? |
| Marketing Telefónico/Avui | 21 May 1995 | 906 | ? | 34.3 16 | 36.1 17 | 13.7 5 | 7.8 3 | 4.2 0 | 1.8 |
| Vox Pública/El Periódico | 18–19 May 1995 | 800 | ? | 34.2 15/16 | 32.0 14/15 | 15.2 7 | 10.2 4 | 4.4 0 | 2.2 |
| Opina/La Vanguardia | 17 May 1995 | 1,500 | ? | 37.9 16/17 | 35.3 15/16 | 11.1 5 | 8.8 3/4 | 4.0 0 | 2.6 |
| Demoscopia/El País | 10–15 May 1995 | 1,000 | ? | 31.3 14/15 | 32.6 14/15 | 15.8 6/7 | 10.5 4 | 4.8 0/2 | 1.3 |
| CIS | 26 Apr–11 May 1995 | 700 | 65.7 | 34.2 | 34.6 | 14.7 | 8.4 | 5.8 | 0.4 |
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo | 3–7 May 1995 | 500 | ? | 32.0 14/15 | 32.0 14/15 | 17.8 7/8 | 7.7 3 | 6.2 2 | Tie |
| Opina/La Vanguardia | 18 Apr 1995 | 1,000 | ? | 38.0 15/16 | 40.0 16/17 | 8.5 4/5 | 7.0 3/4 | 5.0 0/2 | 2.0 |
| Vox Pública/El Periódico | 29–30 Mar 1995 | 800 | ? | 31.9 14/15 | 37.6 17 | 13.1 5/6 | 8.8 4 | 4.5 0 | 5.7 |
| Atelier-V/PP | 20 Feb 1995 | 800 | ? | 32.0 15 | 33.0 15 | 21.0 8 | 8.0 2 | 6.0 1 | 1.0 |
| Gruppo/ABC | 9–14 Feb 1995 | 400 | ? | 32.7 15/16 | 34.8 16/17 | 16.2 7/8 | 7.7 3 | 5.2 0/2 | 2.1 |
| Opina/La Vanguardia | 12–13 Dec 1994 | 1,000 | ? | 38.1 16/17 | 39.3 17 | 9.8 4 | 7.8 3 | 5.0 0/1 | 1.2 |
| Marketing Telefónico/Avui | 6 Nov 1994 | ? | ? | 34.8 16/17 | 35.8 16/18 | ? 6/7 | ? 3 | ? 0/2 | 1.0 |
| 1994 EP election | 12 Jun 1994 | — | 54.3 | 23.1 (10) | 31.7 (14) | 23.4 (10) | 11.3 (5) | 5.3 (2) | 8.3 |
| 1993 general election | 6 Jun 1993 | — | 77.2 | 28.9 (13) | 32.5 (15) | 21.8 (10) | 8.1 (3) | 4.8 (0) | 3.6 |
| 1992 regional election | 15 Mar 1992 | — | 55.5 | 23.5 (10) | 47.5 (22) | 8.6 (3) | 7.0 (3) | 7.5 (3) | 24.0 |
| 1991 municipal election | 26 May 1991 | — | 55.5 | 42.9 20 | 34.1 16 | 9.8 4 | 6.4 3 | 2.6 0 | 8.8 |

## Results

← Summary of the 28 May 1995 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) | 347,083 | 38.39 | –4.56 | 16 | –4 |
| | Convergence and Union (CiU) | 276,276 | 30.56 | –3.50 | 13 | –3 |
| | People's Party (PP) | 150,284 | 16.62 | +6.83 | 7 | +3 |
| | Initiative for Catalonia–The Greens (IC–EV)$^1$ | 68,813 | 7.61 | +0.03 | 3 | ±0 |
| | Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) | 46,272 | 5.12 | +2.55 | 2 | +2 |
| | Ecologist Alternative of Catalonia (AEC) | 3,304 | 0.37 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 1,256 | 0.14 | –0.70 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Revolutionary Workers' Party (POR) | 726 | 0.08 | +0.01 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Civic Platform–New Socialist Party (PC–NPS) | 571 | 0.06 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Workers' Revolutionary Party (PRT)$^2$ | 376 | 0.04 | –0.13 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Platform of Independents of Spain (PIE) | 320 | 0.04 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Humanist Platform (PH)$^3$ | 298 | 0.03 | –0.77 | 0 | ±0 |
| | European Nation State (N) | 181 | 0.02 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 8,263 | 0.91 | –0.01 | | |
| Total | Total | 904,023 | | | 41 | –2 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 904,023 | 99.78 | +0.08 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 2,015 | 0.22 | –0.08 | | |
| Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | 906,038 | 66.22 | +10.71 | | |
| Abstentions | Abstentions | 462,110 | 33.78 | –10.71 | | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 1,368,148 | | | | |
| Sources |||||||
| Footnotes: $^1$ Initiative for Catalonia–The Greens results are compared to the combined totals of Initiative for Catalonia, Green Barcelona and Party of the Communists of Catalonia in the 1991 election.$^2$ Workers' Revolutionary Party results are compared to Workers' Socialist Party totals in the 1991 election.$^3$ Humanist Platform results are compared to The Greens Ecologist–Humanist List totals in the 1991 election. |||||||
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% :