included blank ballots—being applied in each local council. Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale: 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. 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. For the case of Madrid, as its population was over 1,000,001, at least 8,000 signatures were required. Mayoral candidates According to the Spanish legislation on local authorities, the government of cities is assigned to the City Council and the mayor. The Spanish political system is parliamentary democracy in all its levels of government, with the city council responsible for the election of the mayor. People's Party (PP): The Mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella, announced her intention not to run for mayor in September 2014. Mariano Rajoy, the President of the PP, designated Esperanza Aguirre as candidate on 6 March 2015. Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE): The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party scheduled a primary election in October 2014. Regional assemblyman and frequent talk show guest Antonio Miguel Carmona and city councillor Enrique del Olmo announced their intention to run for the post. Candidates intending to run had to secure the endorsement of at least 20% of the party membership. On the closing day of the endorsement collection only Carmona had gathered the required endorsements, thus being nominated as party candidate without the primary election being held. United Left (IU):United left of Madrid held an open primary election on 30 November 2014. The election was contested by: Mauricio Valiente, assemblyman, representing the minority sectors in the last IU Regional Assembly Raquel López, city councillor, representing the majority sectors. Eulalia Vaquero, assembly woman, representing sectors disengaged from the majority. Valiente