2023 Spanish local elections

Municipalities in Spain are local corporations with independent legal personality. They have a governing body, the municipal council or corporation, composed of the mayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.[1] Elections to the local councils in Spain are fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years.[2]

Voting for the local assemblies is on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprises all nationals over eighteen, registered and residing in the corresponding municipality and in full enjoyment of their political rights, as well as resident non-national European citizens and those whose country of origin allows Spanish nationals to vote in their own elections by virtue of a treaty. Local councillors are elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which includes blank ballots—being applied in each local council. Parties not reaching the threshold are not taken into consideration for seat distribution. Councillors are allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:

Councillors of municipalities with populations below 250 inhabitants are elected under an open list partial block voting, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties: for up to four candidates in municipalities with populations between 100 and 250 inhabitants; and for up to two candidates in municipalities below 100. This does not apply to municipalities which, as a result of their geographical location or the convenience of a better management of municipal interests or other circumstances, make it advisable to be organized through the open council system (Spanish: régimen de concejo abierto), in which voters will directly elect the local mayor.[1][2]

The mayor is indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause requires that mayoral candidates earn the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party in the assembly shall be automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, a toss-up will determine the appointee.

The electoral law allows 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 are required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors need to secure the signature of a determined amount of the electors registered in the municipality for which they seek election:

• At least one percent of the electors in municipalities with a population below 5,000 inhabitants, provided that the number of signers is more than double that of councillors at stake.
• At least 100 signatures in municipalities with a population between 5,001 and 10,000.
• At least 500 signatures in municipalities with a population between 10,001 and 50,000.
• At least 1,500 signatures in municipalities with a population between 50,001 and 150,000.
• At least 3,000 signatures in municipalities with a population between 150,001 and 300,000.
• At least 5,000 signatures in municipalities with a population between 300,001 and 1,000,000.
• At least 8,000 signatures in municipalities with a population over 1,000,001.

Electors are disallowed from signing for more than one list of candidates.[2]

Provincial deputations are the governing bodies of provinces in Spain, having an administration role of municipal activities and composed of a provincial president, an administrative body, and a plenary. Basque provinces has foral deputations instead—called Juntas Generales—, whereas deputations for single-province autonomous communities were abolished: their functions transferred to the corresponding regional parliaments. For insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, deputations are replaced by island councils in each of the islands or group of islands. For Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera this figure is referred to in Spanish as consejo insular (Catalan: consell insular), whereas for Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma its name is cabildo insular.

Most deputations are indirectly elected by local councillors from municipalities in each judicial district. Seats are allocated to provincial deputations based on the following scale:

Island councils and foral deputations are elected directly by electors under their own, specific electoral regulations.[2]