A municipal election was held in Barcelona on 8 May 1983 to elect the 2nd City Council of the municipality. All 43 seats in the City Council were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in thirteen autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.
Under the 1978 Constitution, the governance of municipalities in SpainâÂÂpart of the country's local government systemâÂÂwas centered on the figure of city councils (), local corporations with independent legal personality composed of a mayor, a government council and an elected legislative assembly. In the case of Barcelona, the top-tier administrative and governing body was the City Council of Barcelona.
Voting for local assemblies was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered and residing in the municipality and with full civil and political rights.
Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a five percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each municipality. Each municipality was a multi-member constituency, with a number of seats based on the following scale:
The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes.
The mayor was indirectly elected by the local assembly. A legal clause required candidates to earn the vote of an absolute majority of councillors, or else the candidate of the most-voted party was automatically appointed to the post. In the event of a tie, the appointee was determined by lot.
The term of city councils in Spain expired four years after the date of their previous election. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the day after the expiration date of the city councils, with election day taking place between the fifty-fifth and the seventieth day from publication.
Elections to local councils were officially called on 10 March 1983 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 8 May.
The tables below list opinion polling results 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.
The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are also displayed below (or in place of) the voting estimates in a smaller font; 22 seats were required for an absolute majority in the City Council of Barcelona.
The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.
Opinion poll sources
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