# 1991 Madrid City Council election

The 1991 Madrid City Council election, also the 1991 Madrid municipal election, was held on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the 4th City Council of the municipality of Madrid. All 57 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 People's Party (PP), People's Alliance new electoral brand, went on to win a City Council election in Madrid for the first time with an absolute majority of seats. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) continued its decline in the city and lost 3 seats and around 150,000 votes, while United Left (IU) recovered from its 1987 debacle and, for the first time since 1979, increased in seats and votes. The ruling Democratic and Social Centre (CDS), whose local leader Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún had announced his intention not to run for re-election, all but disappeared from the Council after failing to meet the required 5% threshold.
As a result of the election, José María Álvarez del Manzano was elected Mayor unopposed, a post he would retain until 2003, becoming the longest-serving democratically elected Mayor of Madrid.

## Electoral system

The City Council of Madrid (Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Madrid) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Madrid, 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 Madrid 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 Madrid, 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; 29 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Madrid.
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Turnout | | | | | | | ARM | Lead |
| 1991 municipal election | 26 May 1991 | — | 59.2 | 34.3 21 | | 2.9 0 | 9.7 6 | | 47.2 30 | 1.6 0 | 12.9 |
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo | 19 May 1991 | ? | ? | 31.7 20 | | 5.9 3 | 10.6 6/7 | | 43.3 27/28 | – | 11.6 |
| Gruppo/ABC | 14–15 May 1991 | 1,000 | ? | 32.7 20/21 | | 6.3 3 | 10.2 5/6 | | 42.6 26/27 | 4.5 0/3 | 9.9 |
| Metra Seis/El Independiente | 12 May 1991 | ? | ? | 37.3 23/24 | | 6.0 3 | 9.0 5 | | 40.5 25/26 | – | 3.2 |
| Demoscopia/PP | 9 May 1991 | ? | ? | 31.0– 33.0 19/21 | | 4.0– 6.0 0/3 | 10.0– 12.0 7/8 | | 43.0– 46.0 26/28 | – | 12.0– 13.0 |
| Demoscopia/El País | 4–7 May 1991 | ? | ? | 32.9 21/22 | | 5.0 0/3 | 11.5 7 | | 41.5 26/28 | – | 8.6 |
| Gruppo/ABC | 26 Apr–2 May 1991 | 1,000 | ? | 33.6 21 | | 3.8 0 | 9.3 5/6 | | 43.4 27/28 | 5.4 3 | 9.8 |
| PP | 12 Mar 1991 | ? | ? | 31.0 | | – | – | | 42.0 | – | 11.0 |
| Demoscopia/Telemadrid | 20 Oct 1990 | ? | ? | 39.0 | | 17.8 | – | | 33.0 | – | 6.0 |
| 1989 general election | 29 Oct 1989 | — | 73.1 | 29.9 (18) | | 10.6 (6) | 14.5 (8) | | 39.0 (23) | 0.9 (0) | 10.1 |
| 1989 EP election | 15 Jun 1989 | — | 59.2 | 32.2 (21) | | 8.7 (5) | 7.6 (4) | | 32.1 (21) | 6.8 (4) | 0.1 |
| 1987 municipal election | 10 Jun 1987 | — | 70.1 | 40.5 24 | 33.8 20 | 15.1 8 | 6.1 3 | 0.2 0 | – | – | 6.7 |

## Results

← Summary of the 26 May 1991 City Council of Madrid 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 | +/− |
| | People's Party (PP)$^1$ | 702,834 | 47.23 | +13.24 | 30 | +10 |
| | Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) | 510,556 | 34.31 | –6.16 | 21 | –3 |
| | United Left (IU) | 144,640 | 9.72 | +3.61 | 6 | +3 |
| | Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 43,112 | 2.90 | –12.15 | 0 | –8 |
| | Ruiz-Mateos Group (ARM) | 23,404 | 1.57 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | The Greens (LV) | 18,947 | 1.27 | +0.59 | 0 | ±0 |
| | The Ecologists (LE) | 5,051 | 0.34 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Green Union (UVE)$^2$ | 4,335 | 0.29 | –0.01 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Workers' Socialist Party (PST) | 2,949 | 0.20 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Madrilenian Independent Regional Party (PRIM) | 2,610 | 0.18 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Party of Madrid (PAM) | 2,393 | 0.16 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) | 1,962 | 0.13 | –0.15 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Citizen Independent Group Gray Panthers (ACI) | 1,745 | 0.12 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Revolutionary Workers' Party of Spain (PORE) | 859 | 0.06 | –0.01 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Left Platform (PCE (m–l)–CRPE)$^3$ | 740 | 0.05 | –0.03 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Alliance for the Republic (AxR)$^4$ | 728 | 0.05 | –0.02 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Independent Spanish Phalanx (FEI) | 605 | 0.04 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Spanish Catholic Movement (MCE) | 581 | 0.04 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Commoners' Land (TC) | 563 | 0.04 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | United Republican Action (ARU) | 534 | 0.04 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Carlist Party (PC) | 341 | 0.02 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Generational Integration (IG) | 295 | 0.02 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Political Natural Power Party (PPNP) | 258 | 0.02 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 18,055 | 1.21 | +0.18 | | |
| Total | Total | 1,488,097 | | | 57 | +2 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,488,097 | 99.63 | +0.75 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 5,520 | 0.37 | –0.75 | | |
| Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | 1,493,617 | 59.15 | –10.91 | | |
| Abstentions | Abstentions | 1,031,330 | 40.85 | +10.91 | | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 2,524,947 | | | | |
| 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.$^2$ Green Union results are compared to Confederation of the Greens totals in the 1987 election.$^3$ Left Platform results are compared to Republican Popular Unity totals in the 1987 election.$^4$ Alliance for the Republic results are compared to Internationalist Socialist Workers' Party totals in the 1987 election. |||||||
Popular vote
PP
47.23%
PSOE
34.31%
IU
9.72%
CDS
2.90%
ARM
1.57%
LV
1.27%
Others
1.78%
Blank ballots
1.21% :
Seats
PP
52.63%
PSOE
36.84%
IU
10.53% :