1999 Madrid City Council election

The City Council of Madrid (Spanish: Ayuntamiento de Madrid) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Madrid, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.[1] Elections to the local councils in Spain were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years.[2]

Voting for the local assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the municipality of Madrid and in full enjoyment of their political rights, 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. Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each local council. Parties not reaching the threshold were not taken into consideration for seat distribution.[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, a toss-up would determine the appointee.[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 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 were seeking election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. For the case of Madrid, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required.[2]

The table below lists voting intention estimates 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 given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 27 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Madrid (28 until 1 January 2003).

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout				Lead
1999 municipal election	13 Jun 1999	N/A	60.1	49.5 28	36.0 20	8.7 5	13.5
Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 1]	27 May–2 Jun 1999	500	?	51.1 27/29	37.8 20/22	8.3 4	13.3
Eco Consulting/ABC[p 2]	24 May–2 Jun 1999	400	?	53.1 29/31	32.2 17/19	11.1 6	20.9
Demoscopia/El País[p 3][p 4]	26 May–1 Jun 1999	?	?	53.3 29	34.6 18	11.7 6	18.7
CIS[p 5][p 6]	3–19 May 1999	?	?	51.9 28/29	29.8 16/17	15.0 8	22.1
Tele 5[p 7]	4 May 1999	?	?	? 29/30	? 18	? 6/7	?
Demoscopia/CEIM[p 8]	12–26 Apr 1999	?	?	50.6 28/29	34.5 18	? 6/7	16.1
Demoscopia/CEIM[p 9]	1 Mar 1999	?	?	? 29	? 15	? 9	?
Demoscopia/PDNI[p 10]	21 Jan–1 Feb 1999	?	?	50.4 27	40.3 22	7.9 4	10.1
PSOE[p 11]	27 Jan 1999	?	?	? 26	? 20	? 7	?
Demoscopia/CEIM[p 12]	16–27 Apr 1998	?	?	50.0	31.0	15.0	19.0
Demoscopia/CEIM[p 13]	16–24 Sep 1997	1,096	?	50.6 29	33.0 18	14.0 8	17.6
1996 general election[3]	3 Mar 1996	N/A	80.2	52.8 30	29.3 17	15.1 8	23.5
1995 municipal election	28 May 1995	N/A	71.2	52.7 30	27.8 16	15.6 9	24.9

Opinion poll sources

Other