# 1991 Barcelona City Council election

The 1991 Barcelona City Council election, also the 1991 Barcelona municipal election, was held on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the 4th 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. 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; 22 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona.
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Turnout | | | | IC | | | | Lead |
| 1991 municipal election | 26 May 1991 | — | 55.5 | 42.9 20 | 34.1 16 | | 6.4 3 | 0.8 0 | 2.6 0 | 9.8 4 | 8.8 |
| DYM/Cambio 16 | 20 May 1991 | ? | ? | 41.3 19/21 | 36.5 17/18 | | 6.6 2/3 | 2.4 0 | 2.5 0 | 7.0 3 | 4.8 |
| Producciones Cinco/Avui | 19 May 1991 | 3,800 | ? | 40.6 20 | 36.7 18 | | 5.8 2 | – | 3.1 0 | 8.1 3 | 3.9 |
| OTR–IS/El Periódico | 18 May 1991 | 800 | ? | 43.8 21/22 | 32.8 15/16 | | 6.7 3 | – | 3.5 0 | 7.9 3 | 11.0 |
| Opina/La Vanguardia | 13–15 May 1991 | 1,501 | ? | 44.6 21/22 | 34.5 16/17 | | 6.7 2/3 | 1.0 0 | 4.0 0 | 7.8 3/4 | 10.1 |
| Metra Seis/El Independiente | 12 May 1991 | 1,040 | ? | 43.9 21 | 34.0 16 | | 7.0 3 | 1.6 0 | 2.2 0 | 7.8 3 | 9.9 |
| Demoscopia/El País | 4–7 May 1991 | 752 | ? | 42.5 21 | 36.1 17/18 | | 5.6 2 | – | – | 6.0 2/3 | 6.4 |
| Opina/La Vanguardia | 15–17 Apr 1991 | 1,569 | ? | 44.8 21/22 | 35.4 17/18 | | 5.2 2/3 | 1.0 0 | 2.3 0 | 6.4 2/3 | 9.4 |
| 1989 general election | 29 Oct 1989 | — | 68.5 | 28.4 (14) | 34.2 (18) | | 8.1 (4) | 4.9 (0) | 2.8 (0) | 14.8 (7) | 5.8 |
| 1989 EP election | 15 Jun 1989 | — | 53.7 | 28.7 (16) | 29.3 (17) | | 5.6 (3) | 3.9 (0) | 3.5 (0) | 12.7 (7) | 0.6 |
| 1988 regional election | 29 May 1988 | — | 59.9 | 25.2 (12) | 48.0 (24) | | 7.8 (4) | 4.0 (0) | 4.0 (0) | 7.4 (3) | 22.8 |
| 1987 municipal election | 10 Jun 1987 | — | 68.9 | 43.6 21 | 35.5 17 | 7.6 3 | 5.2 2 | 3.4 0 | 2.3 0 | – | 8.1 |

## Results

← Summary of the 26 May 1991 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) | 328,282 | 42.95 | –0.66 | 20 | –1 |
| | Convergence and Union (CiU) | 260,344 | 34.06 | –1.40 | 16 | –1 |
| | People's Party (PP)$^1$ | 74,804 | 9.79 | +2.23 | 4 | +1 |
| | Initiative for Catalonia (IC) | 49,034 | 6.42 | +1.26 | 3 | +1 |
| | Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) | 19,629 | 2.57 | +0.26 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 6,454 | 0.84 | –2.54 | 0 | ±0 |
| | The Greens Ecologist–Humanist List (LVLE–H)$^2$ | 6,120 | 0.80 | +0.70 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Green Barcelona (BV) | 5,749 | 0.75 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Party of the Communists of Catalonia (PCC) | 3,168 | 0.41 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Workers' Socialist Party (PST) | 1,308 | 0.17 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Revolutionary Workers' Party of Spain (PORE) | 532 | 0.07 | –0.06 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Evangelical Social Action Party (PASE) | 514 | 0.07 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Alternative for Barcelona (AltBCN) | 428 | 0.06 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Alliance for the Republic (AxR)$^3$ | 296 | 0.04 | –0.03 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Radical Centre of Catalonia (CRC) | 294 | 0.04 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Left Platform (PCE (m–l)–CRPE)$^4$ | 210 | 0.03 | –0.09 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Centrist Unity (PED) | 198 | 0.03 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 6,979 | 0.92 | +0.17 | | |
| Total | Total | 764,343 | | | 43 | ±0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 764,343 | 99.70 | +0.48 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 2,177 | 0.30 | –0.48 | | |
| Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | 766,520 | 55.50 | –13.43 | | |
| Abstentions | Abstentions | 614,628 | 44.50 | +13.43 | | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 1,381,148 | | | | |
| Sources |||||||
| Footnotes: $^1$ People's Party results are compared to the combined totals of People's Alliance and People's Democratic Party in the 1987 election.$^2$ The Greens Ecologist–Humanist List results are compared to Humanist Platform totals in the 1987 election.$^3$ Alliance for the Republic results are compared to Internationalist Socialist Workers' Party totals in the 1987 election.$^4$ Left Platform results are compared to Republican Popular Unity totals in the 1987 election. |||||||
Popular vote
PSC–PSOE
42.95%
CiU
34.06%
PP
9.79%
IC
6.42%
ERC
2.57%
Others
3.30%
Blank ballots
0.92% :
Seats
PSC–PSOE
46.51%
CiU
37.21%
PP
9.30%
IC
6.98% :