A municipal election was held in Valencia on 22 May 2011 to elect the 9th City Council of the municipality. All 33 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.

The election saw the ruling People's Party (PP) obtaining a new absolute majority, which allowed incumbent Mayor Rita Barberá to be re-elected for a sixth consecutive term in office. On the other hand, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) saw a sharp decline in support, suffering from the nationwide backlash against José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero-led Government of Spain amid a harsh financial crisis at the time and scoring its worst historical result in a municipal election up to that point.

Also entering the City Council were the Compromís coalition (), formed by the Valencian Nationalist Bloc (Bloc), Initiative of the Valencian People (IdPV) and The Greens–Ecologist Left of the Valencian Country (EV–EE), which emerged as the third political force in the city; and United Left of the Valencian Country (EUPV), the regional branch of United Left, which returned to the City Council after being left out in the previous election.

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 Valencia, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Valencia..

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 Valencia, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 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 PP Rita Barberá ConservatismChristian democracy 56.7% PSPV–PSOE Joan Calabuig Social democracy 33.8% EUPV Amadeu Sanchis SocialismCommunism 4.8% Compromís Joan Ribó ValencianismProgressivismGreen politics colspan="2"

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; 17 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Valencia.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 2011 municipal election 22 May 2011 69.4 52.5 21.8 7.2 9.0 2.8 30.7 Ipsos–Eco/FORTA 22 May 2011?? 49.9 26.3 7.2 7.8 – 23.6 Ikerfel/Vocento 15 May 2011 800? 54.6 33.9 – – – 20.7 TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3 4 May 2011?? 55.5 27.1 7.0 3.3 2.7 28.4 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 15–19 Apr 2011 400? 57.3 28.8 5.3 – – 28.5 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 494? 53.4 27.0 6.6 3.1 3.2 26.4 PP 25 Feb 2011????? – –? 2009 EP election 7 Jun 2009 55.8 53.8 34.5 3.5 0.5 3.3 19.3 2008 general election 9 Mar 2008 79.5 53.5 38.1 3.2 0.8 1.2 15.4 2007 municipal election 27 May 2007 68.4 56.7 33.8 4.8 – – 22.9

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Lead 2011 municipal election 22 May 2011 36.0 14.9 4.9 6.2 1.9 30.6 21.1 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 494 41.3 16.0 4.3 2.2 2.4 19.3 8.3 25.3 2009 EP election 7 Jun 2009 29.9 19.2 1.9 0.3 1.8 44.2 10.7 2008 general election 9 Mar 2008 42.2 30.1 2.5 0.6 0.9 20.5 12.1 2007 municipal election 27 May 2007 38.6 23.0 3.3 – – 31.6 22.9

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 494 50.4 14.2 0.4 5.3 1.4 5.9 22.4 36.2

Results + ← Summary of the 22 May 2011 City Council of Valencia election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP) 208,727 52.54 −4.13 20 −1 Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV–PSOE) 86,440 21.76 −12.02 8 −4 Commitment to Valencia: Commitment Municipal Coalition (Compromís) 35,881 9.03 New 3 +3 United Left of the Valencian Country (EUPV) 28,489 7.17 +2.40 2 +2 Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) 11,243 2.83 New 0 ±0 Greens and Eco-pacifists (VyE) 5,177 1.30 New 0 ±0 Valencian Coalition (CVa) 2,219 0.56 −0.79 0 ±0 Spain 2000 (E–2000) 1,920 0.48 +0.29 0 ±0 Anti-Bullfighting Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) 1,771 0.45 New 0 ±0 Republican Left of the Valencian Country–Municipal Agreement (ERPV–AM) 980 0.25 −0.01 0 ±0 For a Fairer World (PUM+J) 752 0.19 +0.03 0 ±0 United for Valencia (UxV) 690 0.17 +0.08 0 ±0 Family and Life Party (PFyV) 511 0.13 New 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 488 0.12 +0.07 0 ±0 Liberal Democratic Centre (CDL) 482 0.12 New 0 ±0 Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) 443 0.11 +0.02 0 ±0 Party of the Elderly and the Self-employed (PdMA) 387 0.10 New 0 ±0 National Democracy (DN) 343 0.09 +0.03 0 ±0 Foreigners' Party (PdEx) 314 0.08 New 0 ±0 Communist Unification of Spain (UCE) 295 0.07 New 0 ±0 SOS Democracy (SOSDM) 277 0.07 New 0 ±0 Valencian Nationalist Left–European Valencianist Party (ENV–RV–PVE) 275 0.07 New 0 ±0 The Republic (La República) 271 0.07 New 0 ±0 Authentic Phalanx (FA) 220 0.06 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 8,661 2.18 +0.82 Total 397,256 33 ±0 Valid votes 397,256 98.72 −0.84 Invalid votes 5,144 1.28 +0.84 Votes cast / turnout 402,400 69.41 +0.99 Abstentions 177,333 30.59 −0.99 Registered voters 579,733 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 11 June 2011 Required majority → 17 out of 33 Abstentions/Blank ballots Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography