A municipal election was held in Seville 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.

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

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 Seville, 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 Juan Ignacio Zoido ConservatismChristian democracy 41.8% PSOE–A Juan Espadas Social democracy 40.5% IULV–CA Antonio Rodrigo SocialismCommunism 8.4% PA Pilar González Andalusian nationalismSocial democracy 4.5%

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 Seville.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout IULV Lead 2011 municipal election 22 May 2011 62.7 49.3 29.4 7.1 4.8 3.2 19.9 Metroscopia/El País 12–13 May 2011 1,000 60.0 46.6 31.1 8.2 4.3 – 15.5 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 10–12 May 2011 400? 49.0 35.4 6.1 5.3 – 13.6 GAD/COPE 2 May 2011?? 46.8 37.3 6.5 5.3 – 9.5 Infortécnica 1–30 Apr 2011 388? 53.2 31.9 5.0 5.5 – 21.3 Ikerfel/Vocento 16–28 Apr 2011 650? 51.3 33.7 8.2 2.8 – 17.6 TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3 25–26 Apr 2011 500? 47.2 33.8 9.3 4.4 1.8 13.4 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 15–19 Apr 2011 400? 48.3 38.4 7.5 – – 9.9 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 1,000? 44.4 36.7 8.7 3.4 1.7 7.7 Commentia/Grupo Joly 13–15 Apr 2011?? 46.1 36.3 8.5 – – 9.8 Deguadaíra/Sevilla Actualidad 3 Mar–3 Apr 2011 625? 41.4 34.7 6.5 5.3 – 6.7 Infortécnica 16 Mar 2011 397? 47.3 29.3 12.2 9.2 – 18.0 Infortécnica 1–28 Feb 2011 413? 46.9 35.5 6.2 9.3 – 11.4 Commentia/Grupo Joly 8–14 Feb 2011 400? 45.9 35.7 8.2 4.5 – 10.2 RedPeriodistas.es 4–8 Oct 2010 1,869? 40.6 27.8 5.2 3.8 4.3 12.8 UGR/PA 7–17 Jun 2010 600? 44.5 39.2 6.1 5.2 – 5.3 Sigma Dos/PP 3–6 May 2010 1,000? 46.8 38.2 6.5 3.4 – 8.6 2009 EP election 7 Jun 2009 44.2 41.0 45.5 4.1 0.8 4.6 4.5 PP 21 Dec 2008 500? 47.7 37.3 7.1 2.4 – 10.4 2008 regional election 9 Mar 2008 73.4 39.0 47.7 6.3 2.5 1.3 8.7 2008 general election 9 Mar 2008 73.5 38.2 52.0 4.1 1.3 1.9 13.8 2007 municipal election 27 May 2007 54.6 41.8 40.5 8.4 4.5 – 1.3

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size IULV Lead 2011 municipal election 22 May 2011 30.4 18.1 4.4 2.9 2.0 37.3 12.3 Infortécnica 1–30 Apr 2011 388 33.7 20.2 3.2 3.5 – 23.8 12.8 13.5 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 1,000 24.6 24.1 4.5 1.1 1.4 26.2 13.4 0.5 Infortécnica 16 Mar 2011 397 27.6 17.1 7.1 5.4 – 41.6 1.3 10.5 Infortécnica 1–28 Feb 2011 413 27.1 20.5 3.6 5.4 – 42.2 1.2 6.6 Commentia/Grupo Joly 8–14 Feb 2011 400 24.9 15.4 3.9 0.6 – 45.6 5.2 9.5 2009 EP election 7 Jun 2009 18.0 20.0 1.8 0.3 2.0 55.8 2.0 2008 regional election 9 Mar 2008 28.5 34.9 4.6 1.8 1.0 26.6 6.4 2008 general election 9 Mar 2008 28.0 38.1 3.0 1.0 1.4 26.5 10.1 2007 municipal election 27 May 2007 22.8 22.0 4.6 2.4 – 45.4 0.8

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 IULV Other/None Lead GAD/COPE 2 May 2011? 42.0 33.0 – – – 25.0 9.0 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 1,000 30.0 32.1 4.5 1.3 1.6 14.2 16.3 2.1

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 IULV Other/None Lead CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 1,000 43.1 25.5 0.3 0.2 0.6 30.3 17.6

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

All candidates

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 1,000 23.4 15.2 3.3 2.4 10.4 45.3 8.2

Zoido vs. Espadas

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead GAD/COPE 2 May 2011? 42.0 30.0 28.0 12.0

Results + ← Summary of the 22 May 2011 City Council of Seville election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP) 166,040 49.31 +7.47 20 +5 Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A) 99,168 29.45 −11.01 11 −4 United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA) 24,066 7.15 −1.22 2 −1 Andalusian Party–Andalusian Plural Space (PA–EPAnd)1 16,097 4.78 −0.43 0 ±0 Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) 10,945 3.25 New 0 ±0 The Greens–Ecological Andalusia (LV–AE) 4,063 1.21 +0.17 0 ±0 Citizens for Blank Votes (CenB) 2,062 0.61 New 0 ±0 Anti-Bullfighting Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) 1,398 0.42 +0.18 0 ±0 For a Fairer World (PUM+J) 1,051 0.31 +0.14 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 412 0.12 +0.05 0 ±0 Group of Independent Citizens (GCI) 406 0.12 −0.05 0 ±0 Free and Efficient Election (ele) 339 0.10 New 0 ±0 Democratic Majority (MD) 326 0.10 New 0 ±0 Internationalist Solidarity and Self-Management (SAIn) 300 0.09 −0.08 0 ±0 Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE de las JONS) 258 0.08 −0.01 0 ±0 National Democracy (DN) 237 0.07 New 0 ±0 Andalusian Popular Unity (UPAN) 204 0.06 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 9,346 2.78 +0.79 Total 336,718 33 ±0 Valid votes 336,718 98.14 −1.47 Invalid votes 6,380 1.86 +1.47 Votes cast / turnout 343,098 62.73 +8.12 Abstentions 203,846 37.27 −8.12 Registered voters 546,944 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