The 1983 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect all 67,505 councillors in the 7,781 municipalities of Spain and all 1,024 seats in 38 provincial deputations.^[1][2] The elections were held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities, as well as local elections in the three foral deputations of the Basque Country and the ten island councils in the Balearic and Canary Islands.

Quick Facts 67,312 councillors in 7,781 municipal councils 1,024 seats in 38 provincial deputations, Registered ...

1983 Spanish local elections

← 1979 8 May 1983 1987 →
67,312 councillors in 7,781 municipal councils 1,024 seats in 38 provincial deputations
Registered	27,474,920 3.3%
Turnout	18,370,300 (66.9%) 4.4 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Felipe González Manuel Fraga Gerardo Iglesias Party PSOE AP–PDP–PL PCE Leader since 13 October 1974 9 October 1976 10 December 1982 Last election 12,069 c., 28.2% 2,383 c., 3.1%[lower-alpha 1] 3,725 c., 13.0% Seats won 23,729 21,076 2,495 Seat change 11,660 18,693 1,230 Popular vote 7,883,502 4,843,665 1,513,023 Percentage 43.0% 26.4% 8.2% Swing 14.8 pp 23.3 pp 4.8 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jordi Pujol Xabier Arzalluz Adolfo Suárez Party CiU EAJ/PNV CDS Leader since 19 September 1978 18 January 1980 29 July 1982 Last election 1,782 c., 3.1% 1,093 c., 2.2% Did not contest Seats won 3,329 1,322 658 Seat change 1,547 229 658 Popular vote 763,758 407,908 333,001 Percentage 4.2% 2.2% 1.8% Swing 1.1 pp 0.0 pp New party
Provincial results map for municipal elections

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Municipal elections

Municipalities in Spain were local corporations with independent legal personality. They had a governing body, the municipal council or corporation, composed of a mayor, deputy mayors and a plenary assembly of councillors. Voting for the local assemblies was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all nationals over eighteen, registered in the corresponding municipality and in full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote. The mayor was in turn elected by the plenary assembly, with a legal clause providing for the candidate of the most-voted party to be automatically elected to the post in the event no other candidate was to gather an absolute majority of votes.

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:

Councillors of municipalities with populations between 25 and 250 inhabitants were elected under an open list partial block voting, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties and for up to four candidates. Additionally, municipalities below 25 inhabitants, as well as those having traditionally adopted it, were to be organized through the open council system (Spanish: régimen de concejo abierto), in which electors would directly vote for the local major.^[3][4]

The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of at least 0.1 percent of the electors registered in the municipality for which they sought election—needing to secure, in any case, the signature of 500 electors—. Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates.^[5] Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.^[3]

Deputations and island councils

Provincial deputations were the governing bodies of provinces in Spain, having an administration role of municipal activities and composed of a provincial president, an administrative body, and a plenary. Basque provinces had foral deputations instead—called Juntas Generales—, whereas deputations for single-province autonomous communities were abolished: their functions transferred to the corresponding regional parliaments. 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 Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza–Formentera this figure was referred to in Spanish as consejo insular (Catalan: consell insular), whereas for Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma its name was cabildo insular.

Most deputations were indirectly elected by local councillors from municipalities in each judicial district. Seats were allocated to provincial deputations based on the following scale:

Island councils and foral deputations were elected directly by electors under their own, specific electoral regulations.^[3][4]