1979 Madrid municipal election

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1979 Madrid municipal election

A municipal election was held in Madrid on 3 April 1979 to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality after Spain’s transition to democracy. All 59 seats were up for election, and turnout was 66%.

The main parties
- UCD (Union of the Democratic Centre), led by José Luis Álvarez since October 1978, won 25 seats with 40.3% of the vote.
- PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party), led by Enrique Tierno Galván since November 1978, also won 25 seats with 39.5% of the vote.
- PCE (Communist Party of Spain), led by Ramón Tamames, won 9 seats with 14.7% of the vote.

The mayor before the election was acting mayor Luis María Huete of UCD. Since no single party had an absolute majority, the PSOE and PCE formed an agreement to back Enrique Tierno Galván, making him the first democratically elected Mayor of Madrid.

Context
Under Spain’s 1978 Constitution, municipalities are governed by city councils. Councillors are elected by universal suffrage using proportional representation with a 5% threshold. The mayor is chosen by the city council, typically from the party with the most votes if no majority exists.