| Election Name: | 2003 Valencia City Council election |
| Country: | City of Valencia |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1999 Valencia City Council election |
| Previous Year: | 1999 |
| Next Election: | 2007 Valencia City Council election |
| Next Year: | 2007 |
| Seats For Election: | All 33 seats in the City Council of Valencia |
| Majority Seats: | 17 |
| Registered: | 631,225 1.9% |
| Turnout: | 432,366 (68.5%) 5.8 pp |
| Election Date: | 25 May 2003 |
| Leader1: | Rita Barberá |
| Party1: | People's Party of the Valencian Community |
| Leader Since1: | 1991 |
| Last Election1: | 20 seats, 53.2% |
| Seats1: | 19 |
| Seat Change1: | 1 |
| Popular Vote1: | 220,548 |
| Percentage1: | 51.2% |
| Swing1: | 2.0 pp |
| Leader2: | Rafael Rubio |
| Party2: | PSPV–PSOE |
| Leader Since2: | 25 November 2000 |
| Last Election2: | 11 seats, 29.0% |
| Seats2: | 12 |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Popular Vote2: | 132,903 |
| Percentage2: | 30.8% |
| Swing2: | 1.8 pp |
| Leader3: | Antonio Montalbán |
| Party3: | Entesa |
| Leader Since3: | 19 December 1998 |
| Last Election3: | 2 seats, 6.4% |
| Seats3: | 2 |
| Seat Change3: | 0 |
| Popular Vote3: | 31,519 |
| Percentage3: | 7.3% |
| Swing3: | 0.9 pp |
| Mayor | |
| Before Election: | Rita Barberá |
| Before Party: | People's Party of the Valencian Community |
| After Election: | Rita Barberá |
| After Party: | People's Party of the Valencian Community |
The 2003 Valencia City Council election, also the 2003 Valencia municipal election, was held on Sunday, 25 May 2003, to elect the 7th City Council of the municipality of Valencia. All 33 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.
The City Council of Valencia (ca-valencia|Ajuntament de València, es|Ayuntamiento de Valencia) was the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Valencia, 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 in the municipality of Valencia 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 | |
|---|---|---|
| <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. In the case of Valencia, as its population was between 300,001 and 1,000,000, at least 5,000 signatures were required.[2]
| Parties and alliances | Popular vote | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Total | +/− | |||
| People's Party (PP) | 220,548 | 51.15 | –2.10 | 19 | –1 | ||
| Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV–PSOE) | 132,903 | 30.82 | +1.87 | 12 | +1 | ||
| United Left–Valencian Left: Agreement (Entesa) | 31,519 | 7.31 | +0.94 | 2 | ±0 | ||
| Valencian Union (UV) | 15,593 | 3.62 | –1.12 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Valencian Nationalist Bloc–Green Left (Bloc–EV) | 11,201 | 2.60 | –0.61 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Cannabis Party for Legalisation and Normalisation (PCLyN) | 4,177 | 0.97 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| The Greens of the Valencian Country (EV–LV) | 3,369 | 0.78 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Spain 2000 (E–2000) | 819 | 0.19 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Family and Life Party (PFyV) | 732 | 0.17 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Republican Left of the Valencian Country–Municipal Agreement (ERPV–AM) | 692 | 0.16 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Alternative Citizen Initiative (ICAL) | 532 | 0.12 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Regional Party of the Valencian Community (PRCV) | 509 | 0.12 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 461 | 0.11 | –0.03 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Federal Republican Party (PRF) | 441 | 0.10 | –0.02 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Internationalist Socialist Workers' Party (POSI) | 354 | 0.08 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Humanist Party (PH) | 300 | 0.07 | –0.02 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Blank ballots | 7,007 | 1.63 | –0.22 | ||||
| Total | 431,157 | 33 | ±0 | ||||
| Valid votes | 431,157 | 99.72 | +0.08 | ||||
| Invalid votes | 1,209 | 0.28 | –0.08 | ||||
| Votes cast / turnout | 432,366 | 68.50 | +5.78 | ||||
| Abstentions | 198,859 | 31.50 | –5.78 | ||||
| Registered voters | 631,225 | ||||||
| Sources[3] [4] [5] [6] | |||||||