Under the
1978 Constitution, the governance of
municipalities in Spain—part of the country's
local government system—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). In the case of
Barcelona, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the
City Council of Barcelona.
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 25 May 2003, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 27 May 2007. 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 3 April 2007 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 27 May.
Electoral system Voting for local assemblies was based on
universal suffrage, comprising all
Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered and residing in the municipality and with full
political rights (provided that they had not been
deprived of the right to vote by a final
sentence, nor were
legally incapacitated), as well as resident non-national
European citizens, and those whose country of origin allowed reciprocal voting by virtue of a treaty. 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 municipality. Each municipality was a
multi-member constituency, with a number of seats based on the following scale: 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==