2011 Madrid City Council election

The 2011 Madrid City Council election, also the 2011 Madrid municipal election, was held on Sunday, 22 May 2011, to elect the 9th City Council of the municipality of Madrid. All 57 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

2011 Madrid City Council election

← 2007 22 May 2011 2015 →
All 57 seats in the City Council of Madrid 29 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	2,308,360 4.0%
Turnout	1,551,613 (67.2%) 1.3 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Jaime Lissavetzky Ángel Pérez Party PP PSOE IUCM–LV Leader since 16 October 2002 3 October 2010 26 January 2007 Last election 34 seats, 55.6% 18 seats, 30.9% 5 seats, 8.7% Seats won 31 15 6 Seat change 3 3 1 Popular vote 756,952 364,600 163,706 Percentage 49.7% 23.9% 10.7% Swing 5.9 pp 7.0 pp 2.0 pp   Fourth party   Leader David Ortega Party UPyD Leader since 9 October 2010 Last election Did not contest Seats won 5 Seat change 5 Popular vote 119,601 Percentage 7.9% Swing New party
Mayor before election Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón PP Elected Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón PP

The People's Party (PP) won its 6th consecutive absolute majority of seats in the City Council, albeit with a diminished voter base, suffering its worst loss of support in the city up until that time (120,000 votes, 6 percentage points and 3 seats were lost from 2007). Only the collapse of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) vote, which obtained the worst result of its history as a result of the criticised José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's premiership in the national government, was larger. United Left (IU) benefitted from the PSOE debacle, while newly founded Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) attracted votes from sectors disenchanted with both PSOE and PP and entered the City Council in the first election in which they stood.

Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, who was re-elected for a third term in office, left the mayoralty in late 2011 to become Justice Minister, after his party won the 2011 Spanish general election and Mariano Rajoy was elected Prime Minister. He was succeeded as mayor by Ana Botella.

Electoral system

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 18 years of age, registered and residing 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 an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each local council.^[1][2] Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:

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 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, the appointee would be determined by lot.^[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]

Opinion polls

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 poll. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 29 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Madrid.

Color key:

  Exit poll

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout					Lead
2011 municipal election	22 May 2011	—	67.2	49.7 31	23.9 15	10.7 6	7.9 5	25.8
Ipsos–Eco/FORTA^[p 1]	22 May 2011	?	?	52.1 32/33	22.4 13/15	11.0 7/8	6.8 3/4	29.7
Ikerfel/Vocento^[p 2]^[p 3]	15 May 2011	900	?	50.2 30/31	30.1 18/19	8.7 5	6.1 3	20.1
TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3^[p 4]	14 May 2011	?	?	? 35	? 16	? 6	–	?
Metroscopia/El País^[p 5]^[p 6]	9 May 2011	600	?	52.9 32/33	31.3 18/19	8.1 4/5	5.0 0/3	21.6
NC Report/La Razón^[p 7]^[p 8]	13–30 Apr 2011	600	?	53.0 31/33	30.4 18/19	8.4 5	5.6 1/3	22.6
Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público^[p 9]	25–28 Apr 2011	599	?	57.2 34/35	31.2 18/19	6.7 4	–	26.0
Sigma Dos/El Mundo^[p 10]	15–18 Apr 2011	400	?	53.5 32/34	29.8 18	8.0 4/5	5.1 0/3	23.7
CIS^[p 11]^[p 12]	17 Mar–17 Apr 2011	781	?	52.6 32/34	28.6 17/18	8.2 5	4.3 0/3	24.0
Metroscopia/El País^[p 13]^[p 14]	15 May 2010	500	?	53.4 32	27.9 17	9.1 5	6.0 3	25.5
2009 EP election^[3]	7 Jun 2009	—	53.8	50.1 (32)	34.1 (21)	4.5 (0)	6.8 (4)	16.0
Metroscopia/El País^[p 15]	15 May 2009	400	?	56.3 34	29.1 18	8.5 5	–	27.2
2008 general election^[4]	9 Mar 2008	—	80.7	50.6 (33)	38.1 (24)	4.7 (0)	4.0 (0)	12.5
2007 municipal election	27 May 2007	—	65.9	55.6 34	30.9 18	8.7 5	–	24.7

Results

← Summary of the 22 May 2011 City Council of Madrid election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	756,952	49.69	–5.96	31	–3
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	364,600	23.93	–7.01	15	–3
	United Left of the Community of Madrid–The Greens (IUCM–LV)	163,706	10.75	+2.07	6	+1
	Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD)	119,601	7.85	New	5	+5
	Ecolo–Greens (Ecolo)^1	13,425	0.88	–0.01	0	±0
	Citizens for Blank Votes (CenB)	10,795	0.71	New	0	±0
	Anti-Bullfighting Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA)	7,071	0.46	+0.26	0	±0
	For a Fairer World (PUM+J)	6,456	0.42	+0.26	0	±0
	Spanish Alternative (AES)	4,764	0.31	–0.08	0	±0
	Pirate Party (Pirata)	4,631	0.30	New	0	±0
	Regeneration (REG)	4,100	0.27	New	0	±0
	Spanish Smokers' Party (PARFE)	3,031	0.20	New	0	±0
	Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (C's)	2,866	0.19	New	0	±0
	The Phalanx (FE)	2,608	0.17	+0.08	0	±0
	Family and Life Party (PFyV)	2,381	0.16	+0.07	0	±0
	Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)	2,119	0.14	+0.06	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	2,047	0.13	+0.01	0	±0
	Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)	2,026	0.13	+0.01	0	±0
	Party of the Elderly and the Self-employed (PdMA)	1,671	0.11	New	0	±0
	Union for Leganés (ULEG)	1,015	0.07	+0.06	0	±0
	Internationalist Socialist Workers' Party (POSI)	999	0.07	New	0	±0
	Authentic Phalanx (FA)	912	0.06	+0.03	0	±0
	Centre and Democracy Forum (CyD)	891	0.06	New	0	±0
	Castilian Party (PCAS)^2	888	0.06	+0.01	0	±0
	Communist Unification of Spain (UCE)	527	0.03	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		43,292	2.84	+0.81
Total		1,523,374			57	±0
Valid votes		1,523,374	98.18	–1.29
Invalid votes		28,239	1.82	+1.29
Votes cast / turnout		1,551,613	67.22	+1.31
Abstentions		756,747	32.78	–1.31
Registered voters		2,308,360
Sources^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]
Footnotes: ^1 Ecolo–Greens results are compared to The Greens totals in the 2007 election. ^2 Castilian Party results are compared to Commoners' Land totals in the 2007 election.

Popular vote PP   49.69% PSOE   23.93% IUCM–LV   10.75% UPyD   7.85% Others   4.94% Blank ballots   2.84%

Seats PP   54.39% PSOE   26.32% IUCM–LV   10.53% UPyD   8.77%

References

Opinion poll sources

1. . Telemadrid (in Spanish). 22 May 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
2. "Ruiz-Gallardón repetirá como alcalde". ABC (in Spanish). 15 May 2011.
3. "Sondeo municipales II (Grupo Vocento)". Electómetro (in Spanish). 16 May 2011. from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
4. "María Dolores de Cospedal sería la primera presidenta de Castilla La Mancha". Antena 3 (in Spanish). 14 May 2011.
5. Sevillano, Elena G.; Verdú, Daniel (15 May 2011). "Gallardón repite triunfo y Lissavetzky mejora a Sebastián". El País (in Spanish).
6. "Estimación de resultado electoral en Madrid". El País (in Spanish). 15 May 2011.
7. "Quinta mayoría para Gallardón". La Razón (in Spanish). 2 May 2011. from the original on 2011-05-04. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
8. "UPyD entraría en el Ayuntamiento de Madrid (La Razón)". Electómetro (in Spanish). 2 May 2011. from the original on 2011-05-07. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
9. "Pocos cambios en el panorama electoral del Ayuntamiento de Madrid (Público)". Electómetro (in Spanish). 2 May 2011. from the original on 2011-05-06. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
10. "Ruiz-Gallardón repetiría mayoría en el Ayuntamiento de Madrid (El Mundo)". Electómetro (in Spanish). 30 April 2011. from the original on 2011-05-04. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
11. "Preelectoral elecciones autonómicas y municipales, 2011. Comunidad de Madrid y Ciudad de Madrid (Estudio nº 2871. Marzo-Abril 2011)" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 5 May 2011.
12. "Rajoy se vuelca a por su billete a la Moncloa". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 6 May 2011.
13. "Gallardón conserva una holgada mayoría absoluta". El País (in Spanish). 15 May 2010.
14. "Madrid: mayoría absoluta de Gallardón. UPyD roba 2 concejales a PP y 1 al PSOE (El País)". Electómetro (in Spanish). 15 May 2010. from the original on 2010-05-19. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
15. "Gallardón amplía aún más su mayoría absoluta". El País (in Spanish). 15 May 2009.

Other

1. Ley 7/1985, de 2 de abril, Reguladora de las Bases del Régimen Local (Law 7) (in Spanish). 2 April 1985. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
2. Ley Orgánica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del Régimen Electoral General (Organic Law 5) (in Spanish). 19 June 1985. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
3. "Electoral Results Consultation. European Parliament. June 2009. Madrid Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
4. "Electoral Results Consultation. Congress. March 2008. Madrid Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
5. "Local election results, 22 May 2011, in León, Lleida, Lugo, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Navarra, Ourense, Palencia, Las Palmas, Pontevedra and La Rioja provinces" (PDF). Central Electoral Commission (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 February 2018.
6. "2011 Municipal Election. Madrid" (PDF). www.madrid.es (in Spanish). City Council of Madrid. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
7. "Electoral Results Consultation. Municipal. May 2011. Madrid Municipality". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2017.
8. "Elecciones Municipales en Madrid (1979 - 2015)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 September 2017.