La configuración política del poder en el ámbito local español. Transformaciones y tendencias durante dos décadas (2003-2023)

The municipal elections of 2015 and 2019 transformed local party systems towards multiparty models and decentralized the power historically held by the two major state-based parties. This study presents an unprecedented global view of this process of change in the political configuration of power in the Spanish city councils of provincial capitals and the two autonomous cities. It adopts a broad longitudinal perspective, covering six electoral moments over the last two decades, analyzing a total of 312 mayoral elections cases. The analysis is based on an original database that tracks variations in the number of parties with representation, the types of governments on which the constitution of the mayoral offices is based, and the resulting positions occupied by the different parties. The results indicate that in 2015 and 2019, there was an increase in parties sharing power, with a reduction in majority governments in favor of coalitions and minority governments. In 2023, despite a return to a scenario with fewer parties and an increase in majority governments, it cannot be asserted that the party system has reverted to its pre-Great Recession state, as major parties such as the PP still rely in other political formations to form the governments in many provincial capitals.