The 1979 Barcelona City Council election, also the 1979 Barcelona municipal election, was held on Tuesday, 3 April 1979, to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality of Barcelona. All 43 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with local elections all throughout Spain.

Quick Facts All 43 seats in the City Council of Barcelona 22 seats needed for a majority, Registered ...

1979 Barcelona City Council election

← 1934 3 April 1979 1983 →
All 43 seats in the City Council of Barcelona 22 seats needed for a majority
Registered	1,480,453
Turnout	803,419 (54.3%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Narcís Serra Josep Miquel Abad Xavier Millet Party PSC–PSOE PSUC CiU Leader since 1979 1979 1979 Seats won 16 9 8 Popular vote 272,512 151,288 148,806 Percentage 34.0% 18.9% 18.6%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Carlos Güell de Sentmenat Joan Hortalà Party UCD ERC Leader since 1979 1979 Seats won 8 2 Popular vote 133,885 41,845 Percentage 16.7% 5.2%
Mayor before election Manuel Font Independent Elected Mayor Narcís Serra PSC

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The City Council of Barcelona (Catalan: Ajuntament de Barcelona, Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Barcelona) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Barcelona, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.^[1][2] 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 Barcelona and in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights.

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.^[1][2] Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:

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 eldest one would be elected.^[1]

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 fifteen days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one-thousandth of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election—with a compulsory minimum of 500 signatures—disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.^[2]