1979 Madrid municipal election

Election in the Spanish municipality of Madrid 1979 Madrid municipal election City of Madrid parliamentary no 1983 Madrid municipal election 1983 All 59 seats in the City Council of Madrid 30 2,378,941 1,569,610 (66.0%) 3 April 1979 170x170px José Luis Álvarez Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain) 18 October 1978 25 632,329 40.3% 170x170px Enrique Tierno Galván Madrilenian Socialist Federation 26 November 1978 25 619,772 39.5% 170x170px Ramón Tamames Communist Party of Madrid 1979 9 230,651 14.7% Mayor Mayor after election Luis María Huete (acting) Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain) Enrique Tierno Galván Madrilenian Socialist Federation A municipal election was held in Madrid on 3 April 1979 to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality. All 59 seats in the City Council were up for election. It was held concurrently with local elections all across Spain. The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) emerged as the most voted party, but in a seat tie with the second force, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), at 25 seats. As neither had an absolute majority of seats, it was up to the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 9 seats to decide which party was to govern in Madrid. Finally, an agreement between the PSOE and PCE resulted in Enrique Tierno Galván being named as the first democratically elected Mayor of Madrid. Overview 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 (es ayuntamientos), local corporations with independent legal personality composed of a mayor, a government council and an elected legislative assembly.Constitution 1978 art. 140; LBERL 1975 bases 1 & 4. 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).LEL 1978 art. 28. In the case of Madrid, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Madrid.LBERL 1975 final prov. 1 (suppl. supplemented by Decree 1674 of 11 July 1963 art. 3). Date The term of local assemblies in Spain expired four years after the date of their previous election. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the day after the expiration date of the assemblies, with election day taking place 65 days after the decree's publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE).LEL 1978 art. 3 & trans. prov. 2. Elections to the assemblies of local entities were officially called on 27 January 1979 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 3 April.Royal Decree 117/1979 1979 arts. 1–2 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 civil and political rights.LEL 1978 art. 6. 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:LEL 1978 arts. 5 & 10–11. 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 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.LEL 1978 art. 11. Parties and candidates The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 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 sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list. In the case of Madrid, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 5,000 signatures were required.LEL 1978 arts. 14–15. Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election: Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Gov. Government Ref. References UCD List on Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 50px José Luis Álvarez Centrism 14 May 1978 Al alcalde le gustaría presentarse a las elecciones https://elpais.com/diario/1978/05/14/madrid/263993061_850215.html es El País 4 January 202619 October 1978 José Luis Alvarez, candidato oficial de UCD a la alcaldía https://elpais.com/diario/1978/10/19/madrid/277647862_850215.html es El País 4 January 2026Fuente Lafuente Ismael 3 January 1979 José Luis Alvarez dimitirá como alcalde el próximo día 9 https://elpais.com/diario/1979/01/03/madrid/284214255_850215.html es El País 4 January 2026 PSOE List on Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 50px Enrique Tierno Galván Social democracy 9 February 1978 Enrique Tierno podría ser candidato a alcalde y presidente honorífico del PSOE https://elpais.com/diario/1978/02/09/espana/255826801_850215.html es El País 4 January 2026García Sebastián 11 April 1978 El IV Congreso Nacional del PSP aprobó su fusión con el PSOE https://elpais.com/diario/1978/04/11/espana/261093640_850215.html es El País Torremolinos 4 January 20263 January 1979 Los otros alcaldables, también a por el escaño de diputado https://elpais.com/diario/1979/01/03/madrid/284214256_850215.html es El País 4 January 202612 January 1979 Un Gobierno "fuerte y eficaz" idea central de la campaña del PSOE https://elpais.com/diario/1979/01/12/espana/284943609_850215.html es El País 4 January 2026 PCE List on Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 50px Ramón Tamames Eurocommunism Results + Summary of the 3 April 1979 City Council of Madrid election results → center|325px Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 632,329 40.29 n/a 25 n/a Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 619,772 39.49 n/a 25 n/a Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 230,651 14.69 n/a 9 n/a Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT) 37,396 2.38 n/a 0 n/a Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) 25,038 1.60 n/a 0 n/a Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (historical) (PSOEh) 5,317 0.34 n/a 0 n/a Communist Unification of Spain (UCE) 5,251 0.33 n/a 0 n/a Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE) 5,241 0.33 n/a 0 n/a Communist Movement–Organization of Communist Left (MC–OIC) 2,401 0.15 n/a 0 n/a Socialist Party (PS) 2,298 0.15 n/a 0 n/a Liberal Party (PL) 2,132 0.14 n/a 0 n/a Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) 1,784 0.11 n/a 0 n/a Blank ballots 0 0.00 n/a Total 1,569,610 59 n/a Valid votes 1,569,610 100.00 n/a Invalid votes 0 0.00 n/a Votes cast / turnout 1,569,610 65.98 n/a Abstentions 809,331 34.02 n/a Registered voters 2,378,941 SourcesLozano Carles https://www.historiaelectoral.com/mmadrid.html Elecciones Municipales en Madrid (desde 1979) es Historia Electoral.com 4 November 2025https://infoelectoral.interior.gob.es/es/elecciones-celebradas/resultados-electorales/ Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales es Ministry of the Interior 5 November 2025 18 December 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20251218194252/https://infoelectoral.interior.gob.es/es/elecciones-celebradas/resultados-electorales/ dead Popular vote #ddd 550px 500px UCD Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain) 40.29 PSOE Madrilenian Socialist Federation 39.49 PCE Communist Party of Madrid 14.69 ORT Workers' Revolutionary Organization (Spain) 2.38 FE–JONS Falange Española de las JONS (1976) 1.60 Others #777777 1.56 Blank ballots #DDDDDD 0.00 Seats #ddd 550px 500px UCD Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain) 42.37 PSOE Madrilenian Socialist Federation 42.37 PCE Communist Party of Madrid 15.25 Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 19 April 1979 Required majority → 30 out of 59 Enrique Tierno Galván (PSOE) • PSOE (25) • PCE (9) 34 59 Madrilenian Socialist Federation 125px 15 José Luis Álvarez (UCD) • UCD (25) 25 59 Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain) 125px 15 Abstentions/Blank ballots 0 59 gray 125px Absentees 0 59 black 125px Sources20 April 1979 https://elpais.com/diario/1979/04/20/espana/293407225_850215.html Enrique Tierno, alcalde de Madrid: "Desde mañana empezará la convivencia" El País 4 January 2026 References Bibliography 30em y Decreto 1674/1963, de 11 de julio, por el que se aprueba el texto articulado de la Ley que establece un régimen especial para el Municipio de Madrid Decree 1674/1963 11 July 1963 Official State Gazette BOE-A-1963-14593 es https://boe.es/boe/dias/1963/07/18/pdfs/A10982-10992.pdf 18 December 2025 Decree 1674 of 11 July 1963 y Ley 41/1975, de 19 de noviembre, de Bases del Estatuto de Régimen Local Law 41/1975 19 November 1975 Official State Gazette BOE-A-1975-23920 es https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1975-23920 18 December 2025 LBERL 1975 y Ley 39/1978, de 17 de julio, de elecciones locales Law 39/1978 17 July 1978 Official State Gazette BOE-A-1978-18636 es https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1978-18636 17 December 2025 LEL 1978 y Constitución Española Constitution 27 December 1978 version as of 29 December 1978 Official State Gazette BOE-A-1978-31229 es https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1978-31229&tn=1&p=19781229 27 December 2016 Constitution 1978 y Real Decreto 117/1979, de 26 de enero, de convocatoria de Elecciones Locales Royal Decree 117/1979 26 January 1979 Official State Gazette BOE-A-1979-2570 es https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1979-2570 2 January 2026 Royal Decree 117/1979 1979 Municipal election Madrid Category:Elections in Madrid Madrid