2011 Spanish local elections

← 2007 22 May 2011 2015 →
All 68,230 councillors in 8,116municipal councils All 1,040 seats in 38provincial deputations
Opinion polls
Registered	34,713,813 1.3%
Turnout	22,969,005 (66.2%) 2.2pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Mariano Rajoy José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero Cayo Lara Party PP PSOE IU–ICV Leader since 2 September 2003 22 July 2000 14 December 2008 Last election 23,014 c., 35.1% 24,029 c., 34.9% 2,591 c., 7.0% Seats won 26,510 21,783 2,650 Seat change 3,496 2,246 59 Popular vote 8,476,647 6,287,389 1,681,462 Percentage 37.5% 27.8% 7.4% Swing 2.4pp 7.1pp 0.4pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Artur Mas Rosa Díez Iñigo Urkullu Party CiU UPyD EAJ/PNV Leader since 27 November 2004 26 September 2007 2 December 2007 Last election 3,387 c., 3.3% Did not contest 1,043 seats, 1.4% Seats won 3,896 152 882 Seat change 509 152 161 Popular vote 781,287 465,125 327,183 Percentage 3.5% 2.1% 1.4% Swing 0.2pp New party 0.0pp
Provincial results map for municipal elections

The2011 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 22 May 2011, to elect all 68,230 councillors in the 8,116municipalities of Spain and all 1,040 seats in 38provincial deputations.^[1][2] They were held concurrently withregional elections in thirteenautonomous communities, as well as local elections in the threeforal deputations of theBasque Country and the eleven island councils in theBalearic andCanary Islands.

The days before the elections were marked by the2011 Spanish protests which had been held in different cities across Spain since 15 May. The elections resulted in alandslide victory for the oppositionPeople's Party (PP) and othercentre-right parties, which won control of all of Spain's largest cities. InBarcelona, held by PSOE-sister party, theSocialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), since the first local elections in 1979, was won for the first time by the nationalistConvergence and Union (CiU), which also won inGirona. The PSOE only won only in 5 out of Spain's 50 provincial capitals. In the popular vote, it scored its worst result in nationwide-held local elections, with a mere 27.8%, 10 points behind the PP, which obtained 37.5%.

Following the election, the PSOE namedDeputy Prime MinisterAlfredo Pérez Rubalcaba as prime ministerial candidate for thenext general election, initially scheduled for March 2012, and finally held in November 2011.^[3]

Municipal elections

Municipalities in Spain were local corporations with independentlegal personality. They had a governing body, themunicipal council orcorporation, composed of themayor, the government council and the elected plenary assembly.^[4] Elections to the local councils in Spain were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years.^[5]

Voting for the local assemblies was on the basis ofuniversal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered and residing in the corresponding municipality and in full enjoyment of their political rights, as well as resident non-nationalEuropean 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 theD'Hondt method and aclosed listproportional representation, with anelectoral 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. Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:

Councillors of municipalities with populations below 250 inhabitants were elected under anopen listpartial 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 did 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, made it advisable to be organized through the open council system (Spanish:régimen de concejo abierto), in which voters would directly elect the local major.^[4][5]

The mayor was indirectly elected by the plenary assembly. A legal clause required that mayoral candidates earn 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.

The electoral law allowed forparties andfederations registered in theinterior ministry,coalitions andgroupings 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 sought election:

• At least one percent of the electors in municipalities with a population below 5,000 inhabitants, provided that the number of signers was 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 were disallowed from signing for more than one list of candidates.^[5]

Deputations and island councils

Provincial deputations were the governing bodies ofprovinces in Spain, having an administration role of municipal activities and composed of a provincial president, an administrative body, and a plenary.Basque provinces hadforal deputations instead—calledJuntas Generales—, whereas deputations for single-provinceautonomous communities were abolished: their functions transferred to the corresponding regional parliaments. For insular provinces, such as theBalearic andCanary Islands, deputations were replaced by island councils in each of the islands or group of islands. ForMajorca,Menorca,Ibiza andFormentera this figure was referred to in Spanish asconsejo insular (Catalan:consell insular), whereas forGran Canaria,Tenerife,Fuerteventura,La Gomera,El Hierro,Lanzarote andLa Palma its name wascabildo insular.

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

Island councils and foral deputations wereelected directly by electors under their own, specific electoral regulations.^[5]

The following table lists party control in provincial capitals, as well as in municipalities above or around 75,000.^[8] Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.

The following table lists party control in provincial deputations.^[2] Gains for a party are highlighted in that party's colour.

• Municipal elections in Spain
• 2011 municipal elections in Spain

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2020
• Articles containing Spanish-language text
• Articles containing Catalan-language text
• Hidden templates using styles
• Pages using bar box without float left or float right