Autonomous Community and Municipal Elections of May 1983: The Opinion of the Press of Madrid

This paper has as main objective to analyze from the press of greater circulation of Madrid the course of the regional and municipal elections that were held in Spain on 8th of May in 1983, in order to examine the argumentation and partisan positions of the newspapers. The methodology is based on the analysis of editorials and opinion articles that were published in ABC, Diario 19 and El Pais from the beginning of the electoral campaign until the evaluation of the results at the polls. The main conclusions of this article indicate that, despite their ideological differences, all the newspapers agreed that after these elections, two party system and democracy in Spain were ratified, thus ending the transitional period after Franco's death.