2019 Seville municipal election

A municipal election was held in Seville on Sunday, 26 May 2019, to elect the 11th City Council of the municipality. All 31 seats in the City Council were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain, as well as the 2019 European Parliament election.

2019 Seville municipal election

← 2015 26 May 2019 2023 →
All 31 seats in the City Council of Seville 16 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	540,851 0.8%
Turnout	317,843 (58.8%) 0.7 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Juan Espadas Beltrán Pérez Susana Serrano Party PSOE–A PP Adelante Leader since 24 May 2010 16 March 2018 14 April 2015 Last election 11 seats, 32.2% 12 seats, 33.1% 5 seats, 16.0%[a] Seats won 13 8 4 Seat change 2 4 1 Popular vote 123,933 73,101 44,546 Percentage 39.2% 23.1% 14.1% Swing 7.0 pp 10.0 pp 1.9 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Álvaro Pimentel Cristina Peláez Party Cs Vox Leader since 27 March 2019 2015 Last election 3 seats, 9.3% 0 seats, 0.5% Seats won 4 2 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 39,331 25,122 Percentage 12.5% 8.0% Swing 3.2 pp 7.5 pp
Mayor before election Juan Espadas PSOE Elected mayor Juan Espadas PSOE

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 (Spanish: ayuntamientos), local corporations with independent legal personality composed of a mayor, a government council and an elected legislative assembly.^[1][2] In the case of Seville, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Seville.^[3]

Electoral system

Voting for local assemblies was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered and residing in the municipality of Seville and in full enjoyment of their political rights (provided that they were not sentenced—by a final court ruling—to deprivation of the right to vote), as well as resident non-national European citizens and those whose country of origin allowed Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty.^[2][4][5]

Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional voting system, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes (which included blank ballots) being applied in each municipality.^[6] Each municipality constituted a multi-member constituency, entitled a number of seats based on the following scale:^[7]

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 vacated seats; instead, any vacancies that occurred after the proclamation of candidates and into the legislative term were to be covered by the successive candidates in the list and, when required, by the designated substitutes.^[8]

The mayor was indirectly elected by the local assembly.^[2] A legal clause required candidates to earn the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party was to be automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, the appointee was to be determined by lot.^[9]

Election date

The term of city councils 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 (as of 2025, this has been the year before a leap year). The election decree was required to be issued no later than the fifty-fifth day prior to the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE).^[10] The previous local elections were held on 24 May 2015, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 26 May 2019.

Local councils could not be dissolved before the expiry 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—agree to call a by-election.^[11]

Elections to local councils were officially called on 2 April 2019 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 26 May.^[12]

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 ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within ten 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 of candidates. In the case of Seville, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 signatures were required.^[13] 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.^[14]

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

Candidacy		Parties and alliances	Leading candidate		Ideology	Previous result		Gov.	Ref.
						Vote %	Seats
	PP	List People's Party (PP)		Beltrán Pérez	Conservatism Christian democracy	33.1%	12		[15] [16]
	PSOE–A	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A)		Juan Espadas	Social democracy	32.2%	11		[17]
	Adelante	List We Can (Podemos) United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA) – Communist Party of Andalusia (PCA) – The Dawn. Marxist Organization OM (La Aurora (om)) – Republican Left (IR) – Feminist Party of Spain (PFE) Andalusian Spring (Primavera Andaluza)		Susana Serrano	Andalusian nationalism Left-wing populism Direct democracy	16.0% [a]	5		[18] [19]
	Cs	List Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (Cs)		Álvaro Pimentel	Liberalism	9.3%	3		[20]
	Vox	List Vox (Vox)		Cristina Peláez	Right-wing populism Ultranationalism National conservatism	0.5%	0		[21]

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; 16 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Seville.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout					IULV			Lead
2019 municipal election	26 May 2019	—	58.8	23.1 8	39.2 13	12.5 4	[b]	[b]	8.0 2	14.1 4	16.1
KeyData/Público[p 1]	19 May 2019	?	70.5	17.8 6	32.4 11	16.5 6	[b]	[b]	10.6 3	15.9 5	14.6
Dataestudios/ABC[p 2]	13–16 May 2019	600	?	22.2 7/8	38.1 12/13	14.1 4/5	[b]	[b]	5.8 1/2	16.2 5/6	15.9
Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 3]	13–15 May 2019	400	?	22.2 7	37.1 12/13	14.1 4/5	[b]	[b]	7.2 2	16.8 5	14.9
40dB/El País[p 4]	3–8 May 2019	800	?	22.0 7	36.6 12/13	14.5 4/5	[b]	[b]	7.7 2	15.4 5	14.6
April 2019 general election	28 Apr 2019	—	76.4	17.7 (6)	32.7 (11)	16.9 (5)	[b]	[b]	13.0 (4)	16.3 (5)	15.0
CIS[p 5][p 6]	21 Mar–23 Apr 2019	497	?	25.2 8/10	42.3 13/15	10.8 3/4	[b]	[b]	2.9 0	15.7 5/6	17.1
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 7]	31 Mar–7 Apr 2019	?	?	21.4 7	31.2 10	14.7 5	[b]	[b]	10.6 3	17.8 6	9.8
SW Demoscopia/Grupo Viva[p 8]	1–5 Apr 2019	1,002	?	? 8	? 13	? 4	[b]	[b]	? 2	? 4	?
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 9]	24–31 Mar 2019	?	?	20.0 7	30.9 10	15.4 5	[b]	[b]	11.0 3	18.4 6	10.9
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 10]	17–24 Mar 2019	?	?	19.9 7	31.0 10	15.5 5	[b]	[b]	11.1 3	18.4 6	11.1
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 11]	10–17 Mar 2019	?	?	20.1 6	29.5 10	14.8 5	[b]	[b]	13.2 4	19.0 6	9.4
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 12]	3–10 Mar 2019	?	?	19.7 6	29.0 10	15.5 5	[b]	[b]	13.1 4	19.3 6	9.3
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 13]	22 Feb–3 Mar 2019	?	?	18.0 6	28.6 10	16.6 6	13.1 5	4.3 0	12.9 4	–	10.6
Dialoga Consultores[p 14]	25 Feb–1 Mar 2019	2,200	?	27.2 9/10	34.5 11/12	12.2 3/4	[b]	[b]	8.8 2/3	13.9 4/5	7.3
Dataestudios/ABC[p 15]	11–17 Dec 2018	?	?	17.9 6	30.6 10/11	18.7 6	[b]	[b]	9.4 3	17.6 5/6	11.9
2018 regional election	2 Dec 2018	—	63.1	18.8 (6)	25.2 (9)	18.8 (6)	[b]	[b]	12.4 (4)	18.9 (6)	6.3
Dataestudios/ABC[p 16][p 17]	12–18 Jun 2018	606	?	18.3 6	40.4 14	20.6 7	[c]	[c]	–	11.7 4	19.8
Dataestudios/ABC[p 18]	1–7 Feb 2018	600	?	21.6 7/8	35.5 12/13	22.2 7/8	9.4 3	5.2 0/1	–	–	13.3
SW Demoscopia/Grupo Viva[p 19][p 20]	9–15 Jun 2017	705	?	28.0 9	33.5 11	14.3 5	12.0 4	6.3 2	–	–	5.5
2016 general election	26 Jun 2016	—	71.1	34.0 (11)	28.0 (9)	13.7 (4)	[c]	[c]	0.3 (0)	20.9 (7)	6.0
2015 general election	20 Dec 2015	—	74.0	30.3 (10)	27.4 (9)	13.9 (5)	20.4 (7)	4.8 (0)	0.4 (0)	–	2.9
2015 municipal election	24 May 2015	—	59.5	33.1 12	32.2 11	9.3 3	9.0 3	6.0 2	0.5 0	–	0.9

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size					IULV			?	N	Lead
2019 municipal election	26 May 2019	—	13.5	22.9	7.3	[b]	[b]	4.6	8.2	—	41.2	9.4
Dataestudios/ABC[p 2]	13–16 May 2019	600	18.2	28.8	–	[b]	[b]	–	10.2	–	–	10.6
April 2019 general election	28 Apr 2019	—	13.4	24.8	12.8	[b]	[b]	9.8	12.3	—	23.6	11.4
CIS[p 5]	21 Mar–23 Apr 2019	497	12.7	23.7	6.2	[b]	[b]	1.6	8.7	36.0	9.3	11.0
SW Demoscopia/Grupo Viva[p 8]	1–5 Apr 2019	1,002	16.7	30.2	6.4	[b]	[b]	3.7	5.3	–	–	13.5
Dialoga Consultores[p 14]	25 Feb–1 Mar 2019	2,200	13.1	25.0	7.1	[b]	[b]	5.5	10.7	23.3	7.7	11.9
2018 regional election	2 Dec 2018	—	11.6	15.7	11.7	[b]	[b]	7.7	11.7	—	36.9	4.0
2016 general election	26 Jun 2016	—	24.0	19.8	9.7	[c]	[c]	0.2	14.7	—	28.9	4.2
2015 general election	20 Dec 2015	—	22.2	20.2	10.2	15.0	3.6	0.3	–	—	26.0	2.0
2015 municipal election	24 May 2015	—	19.5	19.0	5.5	5.3	3.5	0.3	–	—	40.5	0.5

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
Dataestudios/ABC[p 2]	13–16 May 2019	600	11.2	52.7	36.1		41.5

Preferred Mayor

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

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size										Other/ None/ Not care	?	Lead
			Zoido PP	Díaz PP	Pérez PP	Espadas PSOE–A	Millán Cs	Rojas IULV	Serrano Adelante	Honorato Adelante	Moreno Adelante
SW Demoscopia/Grupo Viva[p 8]	1–5 Apr 2019	1,002	–	–	19.0	48.2	–	–	–	–	–	32.8	–	29.2
Dialoga Consultores[p 14]	25 Feb–1 Mar 2019	2,200	–	–	12.0	22.4	–	2.5	5.3	–	–	57.9	–	10.4
Dataestudios/ABC[p 21]	11–17 Dec 2018	?	–	–	15.7	23.0	17.2	–	–	–	–	–	–	5.8
SW Demoscopia/Grupo Viva[p 19]	9–15 Jun 2017	705	19.8	5.2	2.2	25.9	10.9	7.5	2.4	2.7	5.2	18.2		6.1

Results

← Summary of the 26 May 2019 City Council of Seville election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A)	123,933	39.24	+7.08	13	+2
	People's Party (PP)	73,101	23.15	−9.90	8	−4
	Forward Seville: We Can–United Left–Andalusian Spring (Adelante)1	44,546	14.10	−1.92	4	−1
	Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (Cs)	39,331	12.45	+3.16	4	+1
	Vox (Vox)	25,122	7.95	+7.49	2	+2
	Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA)	3,521	1.11	+0.09	0	±0
	Andalusia by Herself (AxSí)2	1,083	0.34	−1.07	0	±0
	More With You (CNTG+)	820	0.26	New	0	±0
	Act (PACT)	736	0.23	New	0	±0
	For a Fairer World (PUM+J)	486	0.15	New	0	±0
	Feminist Initiative (IFem)	392	0.12	New	0	±0
	Advancing For You (Avanzamos)	206	0.07	New	0	±0
	Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)	118	0.04	−0.06	0	±0
	Party of the Immigrant in Spain (PADIE)	103	0.03	−0.03	0	±0
	Renaissance and Union of Europe Party (PRUNE)	47	0.01	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		2,281	0.72	−0.41
Total		315,826			31	±0
Valid votes		315,826	99.37	+0.15
Invalid votes		2,017	0.63	−0.15
Votes cast / turnout		317,843	58.77	−0.69
Abstentions		223,008	41.23	+0.69
Registered voters		540,851
Sources[22][23][24]
Footnotes: 1 Forward Seville: We Can–United Left–Andalusian Spring results are compared to the combined totals of Participate Seville, United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia and Equo in the 2015 election. 2 Andalusia by Herself results are compared to Andalusian Party totals in the 2015 election.

Popular vote

PSOE–A			39.24%
PP			23.15%
Adelante			14.10%
Cs			12.45%
Vox			7.95%
PACMA			1.11%
Others			1.26%
Blank ballots			0.72%

Seats

PSOE–A			41.94%
PP			25.81%
Adelante			12.90%
Cs			12.90%
Vox			6.45%

Aftermath

Government formation

Investiture
Ballot →		15 June 2019
Required majority →		16 out of 31
	Juan Espadas (PSOE–A) • PSOE–A (13)	13 / 31	Y
	Beltrán Pérez (PP) • PP (8)	8 / 31	N
	Susana Serrano (Adelante) • Adelante (4)	4 / 31	N
	Álvaro Pimentel (Cs) • Cs (4)	4 / 31	N
	Cristina Peláez (Vox) • Vox (2)	2 / 31	N
	Abstentions/Blank ballots	0 / 31
	Absentees	0 / 31
Sources[25]

2022 investiture

Investiture
Ballot →		3 January 2022
Required majority →		16 out of 31
	Antonio Muñoz (PSOE–A) • PSOE–A (13)	13 / 31	Y
	Juan de la Rosa (PP) • PP (8)	8 / 31	N
	Álvaro Pimentel (Cs) • Cs (4)	4 / 31	N
	Susana Serrano (Adelante) • Adelante (3)	3 / 31	N
	Cristina Peláez (Vox) • Vox (2)	2 / 31	N
	Abstentions/Blank ballots • INDEP (1)	1 / 31
	Absentees	0 / 31
Sources[26]

Notes

1. Results for Participa Sevilla (9.0%, 3 seats), IULV–CA (6.0%, 2 seats) and Equo (1.0%, 0 seats) in the 2015 election.
2. Within Adelante.
3. Within Unidos Podemos.