A municipal election was held in Barcelona on 22 May 2011 to elect the 9th City Council of the municipality. All 41 seats in the City Council were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.

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 (), 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 27 May 2007, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 22 May 2011.

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 29 March 2011 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 22 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 (amended for smaller municipalities in 2011):.

Population Councillors <100 3 101–250 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..

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 Barcelona, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required.. Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition..

Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PSC–PM Jordi Hereu Social democracy 29.9% CiU Xavier Trias Catalan nationalismCentrism 25.5% PP Alberto Fernández Díaz ConservatismChristian democracy 15.6% ICV–EUiA–E Ricard Gomà RegionalismEco-socialismGreen politics 9.3% UpB–ERC–RI.cat–DCat Jordi Portabella Catalan independenceLeft-wing nationalismSocial democracy 8.8%

Opinion polls The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll.

Voting intention estimates The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 21 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 2011 municipal election 22 May 2011 53.0 22.1 28.7 17.2 10.4 5.6 1.9 6.6 Ipsos–Eco/FORTA 22 May 2011??????? –? Ikerfel/Vocento 14 May 2011 900? 27.2 30.9 14.9?? – 3.7 GESOP/El Periódico 12–13 May 2011 800? 23.5 29.0 15.9 9.4 6.0 2.7 5.5 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 10–12 May 2011 400? 26.2 32.1 17.1 8.6 7.8 – 5.9 Metroscopia/El País 10–11 May 2011 1,000 55.0 24.7 29.4 15.4 9.4 6.7 – 4.7 GAD/COPE 9 May 2011?? 24.5 30.2 18.1 8.5 7.9 – 5.7 TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3 2–3 May 2011 750? 24.9 32.3 16.1 10.2 6.9 3.7 7.4 GAPS/CiU 26–29 Apr 2011 800? 23.0–24.6 33.4–34.4 13.9–14.9 8.7–9.7 6.0–7.0 – 9.8–10.4 Noxa/La Vanguardia 25–27 Apr 2011 600? 24.9 31.6 18.3 9.6 6.6 2.2 6.7 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 15–18 Apr 2011 400? 26.2 32.5 19.3 6.7 5.4 – 6.3 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 967? 25.2 33.1 12.4 8.9 8.5 4.3 7.9 PSOE 1–15 Mar 2011 800?????? –? GESOP/El Periódico 21–22 Feb 2011 800? 24.6 35.3 14.3 8.0 7.5 – 10.7 GESOP/El Periódico 31 Jan–1 Feb 2011 400? 27.0 32.0 15.5 6.5 7.5 – 5.0? 18.5 38.0 15.5 8.0 8.0 – 19.5 Feedback/La Vanguardia 12–14 Jan 2011 600 60.0 33.4 34.3 13.4 6.4 5.1 – 0.9 60.0 21.3 42.5 13.7 7.0 8.1 – 21.2 Ara 8 Dec 2010??????? –? 2010 regional election 28 Nov 2010 62.3 17.8 36.3 14.2 9.3 6.5 4.1 18.5 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 15–18 Nov 2010 400? 25.5 31.5 17.1 10.1 6.7 3.5 6.0 GAPS/CiU 25–31 May 2010 817? 20.0–21.0 36.7–37.7 13.2–14.2 6.8–7.8 6.0–7.0 – 16.7 Noxa/La Vanguardia 24–27 May 2010 1,000? 24.7 39.6 14.9 9.5 6.7 1.9 14.9 GAPS/CiU 28 Nov–10 Dec 2009 805? 24.0–25.0 32.7–33.7 13.3–14.3 9.2–10.2 7.9–8.9 1.8 8.7 Noxa/La Vanguardia 18–23 Nov 2009 1,000? 28.8 30.1 17.4 11.0 7.5 3.9 1.3 2009 EP election 7 Jun 2009 40.5 32.7 21.7 20.7 8.0 8.4 0.4 11.0 GAPS/CiU 10–23 Mar 2009 810? 26.9 32.8 14.0 8.6 7.6 2.0 5.9 GESOP/El Periódico 1–3 Dec 2008 800? 27.7 27.9 15.1 8.0 8.0 – 0.2 GAPS/CiU 21–30 May 2008 804? 26.5–27.5 28.2–29.2 12.9–13.9 8.7–9.7 10.9–11.9 1.5–2.5 1.7 2008 general election 9 Mar 2008 72.2 42.8 20.7 18.3 6.4 7.0 0.9 22.1 2007 municipal election 27 May 2007 49.6 29.9 25.5 15.6 9.3 8.8 3.9 4.4

Voting preferences The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Lead 2011 municipal election 22 May 2011 11.5 15.0 9.0 5.4 2.9 1.0 47.0 3.5 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 967 17.4 23.4 5.4 5.0 6.1 1.8 26.2 9.7 6.0 GESOP/El Periódico 21–22 Feb 2011 800 23.0 29.8 4.9 5.6 5.5 – 17.5 6.9 6.8 GESOP/El Periódico 31 Jan–1 Feb 2011 400 23.8 27.3 7.8 4.3 6.3 – 20.1 6.5 3.5 400 14.8 33.0 8.0 5.8 6.8 – 19.6 6.3 18.2 2010 regional election 28 Nov 2010 11.0 22.5 8.8 5.7 4.0 2.5 37.7 11.5 DYM/City Council 10–19 Jun 2010 800 10.7 18.1 2.3 4.4 3.7 – 36.5 15.1 7.4 DYM/City Council 25 Nov–3 Dec 2009 800 17.1 17.0 2.4 4.8 4.0 – 29.1 18.8 0.1 DYM/City Council 15–23 Jun 2009 799 15.8 14.6 1.8 4.9 6.6 0.4 32.7 17.3 1.2 2009 EP election 7 Jun 2009 13.2 8.7 8.3 3.2 3.4 0.2 59.5 4.5 DYM/City Council 3–12 Dec 2008 800 23.9 19.6 3.6 7.9 5.9 0.4 23.7 10.8 4.3 DYM/City Council 16–27 Jun 2008 800 22.4 20.0 3.2 7.0 5.3 0.7 22.9 13.2 2.4 2008 general election 9 Mar 2008 30.8 14.8 13.2 4.6 5.0 0.7 27.8 16.0 Central de Campo/City Council 26–28 Sep 2007 800 23.4 14.0 3.8 7.4 6.5 0.9 23.2 10.2 9.4 2007 municipal election 27 May 2007 14.8 12.6 7.7 4.6 4.4 1.9 50.4 2.2

Victory preferences The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a municipal election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None Lead CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 967 20.9 27.7 6.3 6.8 6.2 1.9 10.1 20.1 6.8

Victory likelihood The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a municipal election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None Lead GAD/COPE 9 May 2011? 29.0 43.0 7.0 – – – 21.0 14.0 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 967 19.6 46.8 3.6 0.1 0.4 0.5 0.3 28.5 27.2 GESOP/El Periódico 21–22 Feb 2011 800 23.6 51.9 4.0 0.1 0.4 – 0.1 19.9 28.3 Feedback/La Vanguardia 12–14 Jan 2011 600 18.4 57.3 – – – – 1.3 23.0 38.9

Preferred Mayor The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become mayor of Barcelona.

All candidates

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead GAPS/CiU 26–29 Apr 2011 800 20.4 – 28.6 <7.0 – <7.0 <7.0 – <30.0 8.2 Noxa/La Vanguardia 25–27 Apr 2011 600 28.0 – 26.0 8.0 3.0 6.0 – – 18.0 11.0 2.0 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 967 17.9 – 23.8 3.5 – 2.2 6.6 0.7 7.7 37.6 5.9 GESOP/El Periódico 21–22 Feb 2011 800 19.3 2.6 15.9 1.4 1.5 1.8 – – 57.5 3.4 GAPS/CiU 25–31 May 2010 817 10.4 – 28.3 6.9 – 2.8 7.0 – 20.6 24.0 17.9 GAPS/CiU 28 Nov–10 Dec 2009 805 16.6 – 23.0 7.2 – 5.0 9.0 – 19.3 19.9 6.4 Noxa/La Vanguardia 18–23 Nov 2009 1,000 25.0 – 22.0 7.0 – 10.0 9.0 – 18.0 7.0 3.0 GAPS/CiU 10–23 Mar 2009 810 22.8 – 23.3 5.9 – 2.5 8.0 – 18.6 21.6 0.5 GAPS/CiU 21–30 May 2008 804 16.8 – 18.3 6.1 7.5 – 7.2 – 22.7 21.4 1.5

Hereu vs. Trias

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead Metroscopia/El País 10–11 May 2011 1,000 34.0 42.0 24.0 8.0 GAPS/CiU 26–29 Apr 2011 800 32.0 47.9 20.1 15.9 GESOP/El Periódico 21–22 Feb 2011 800 36.9 46.8 8.0 8.4 9.9 GESOP/El Periódico 31 Jan–1 Feb 2011 400 26.3 52.3 8.5 13.1 26.0 Feedback/La Vanguardia 12–14 Jan 2011 600 30.4 48.2 21.4 17.8 GAPS/CiU 25–31 May 2010 817 22.9 51.4 19.3 6.4 28.5 Noxa/La Vanguardia 24–27 May 2010 1,000 25.0 54.0 16.0 5.0 29.0 GAPS/CiU 28 Nov–10 Dec 2009 805 32.2 45.1 17.3 5.5 12.9 GESOP/El Periódico 1–3 Dec 2008 800 41.9 36.9 21.2 5.0

Tura vs. Trias

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead GESOP/El Periódico 31 Jan–1 Feb 2011 400 32.0 43.3 7.8 17.0 11.3 Feedback/La Vanguardia 12–14 Jan 2011 600 38.1 43.8 18.1 5.7

Predicted Mayor The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood for each leader to become mayor.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead GAPS/CiU 26–29 Apr 2011 800 29.8 50.7 – – – 19.5 20.9 GAPS/CiU 25–31 May 2010 817 21.5 38.9 2.0 0.4 1.5 6.9 28.7 17.4 GAPS/CiU 28 Nov–10 Dec 2009 805 41.7 20.6 1.6 0.2 1.1 1.0 33.9 21.1

Results