Local government Under the
1978 Constitution, the governance of
municipalities in Spain was centered on the figure of
city councils (), local corporations with independent
legal personality composed of a
mayor, a
government council and an elected
legislative assembly. 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). The
concejo abierto system (), under which voters directly elected the local mayor by
plurality voting, was reserved for municipalities under 100 inhabitants and some
minor local entities.
Provincial deputations were the governing bodies of
provinces in Spain—except for single-province
autonomous communities—having an administration role of municipal activities and composed of a provincial president, an administrative body, and a plenary. For insular provinces, such as the
Balearic and
Canary Islands, deputations were replaced by island councils in each of the islands or group of islands. For
Gran Canaria,
Tenerife,
Fuerteventura,
La Gomera,
El Hierro,
Lanzarote and
La Palma, this figure was referred to in Spanish as
cabildo insular, whereas for
Mallorca,
Menorca and
Ibiza–
Formentera, its name was
consejo insular (). The three
Basque provinces had
foral deputations instead (called
General Assemblies, or
Juntas Generales).
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). The
previous local elections were held on 13 June 1999, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 25 May 2003. 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. Elections to the assemblies of local entities were officially called on 1 April 2003 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 25 May. Subsequent by-elections were called on 2 September, for 26 October. 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 constituency. Each municipality or council was a
multi-member constituency, with a number of seats based on the following scale: Councillors in municipalities between 100 and 250 inhabitants were elected using
open-list partial block voting, with voters choosing up to four candidates. Most provincial deputations were indirectly elected by applying the D'Hondt method and a three percent-threshold of valid votes to municipal results—excluding candidacies not electing any councillor—in each
judicial district. Seats were allocated to provincial deputations based on the following scale (with each judicial district being assigned an initial minimum of one seat and a maximum of three-fifths of the total number of provincial seats, with the remaining ones distributed in proportion to population): The General Assemblies of
Álava,
Biscay and
Gipuzkoa were
directly elected by voters under their own, specific electoral regulations. 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. ==Parties and candidates==