Basque parliamentary election, 1980

Basque parliamentary election, 1980

9 March 1980

All 60 seats in the Basque Parliament 31 seats needed for a majority Registered 1,554,527 Turnout 929,051 (59.8%)   First party Second party Third party   Leader Carlos Garaikoetxea No candidate Txiki Benegas Party EAJ-PNV HB PSE-PSOE Leader since 1977 N/A 1977 Seats won 25 11 9 Popular vote 349,102 151,636 130,221 Percentage 38.0% 16.5% 14.2%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Juan María Bandrés Jesús María Viana Florencio Aróstegui Party EE UCD AP Leader since 1979 1980 1980 Seats won 6 6 2 Popular vote 89,953 78,095 43,751 Percentage 9.8% 8.5% 4.8%

Lehendakari before election Carlos Garaikoetxea EAJ-PNV Elected Lehendakari Carlos Garaikoetxea EAJ-PNV

The 1980 Basque parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 9 March 1980, to elect the 1st Basque Parliament, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of the Basque Country. At stake were all 60 seats in the Parliament, determining the Lehendakari (President of the Basque Country).

The Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV) won 25 seats, People's Unity (HB) came second with 11 seats, the Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE-PSOE) came third with 9 seats. The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) and Nasque Country Left (EE) won 6 seats each.

Electoral system

The 60 members of the Basque Parliament were elected in 3 multi-member districts, corresponding to the Basque Country's three provinces, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. As the community had not passed an electoral law of its own at the time, the electoral system came regulated under regional Decree of 12 January 1980, which distributed the Parliament seats as follows: Alava (20), Biscay (20) and Gipuzkoa (20).

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 3% of valid votes in each district (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.^[1]

Results

Overall

Summary of the 9 March 1980 Basque Parliament election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV)	349,102	37.95	−	25	−
	People's Unity (HB)	151,636	16.48	−	11	−
	Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE-PSOE)	130,221	14.16	−	9	−
	Basque Country Left (EE)	89,953	9.78	−	6	−
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	78,095	8.49	−	6	−
	People's Alliance (AP)	43,751	4.76	−	2	−
	Communist Party of the Basque Country (PCE-EPK)	36,845	4.01	−	1	−
	Communist Movement of the Basque Country (EMK-MCE)	10,959	1.19	−	0	−
	Basque Socialists' Unity Force (ESEI)	6,280	0.68	−	0	−
	Revolutionary Communist League (LKI-LCR)	5,182	0.56	−	0	−
	Workers' Party of the Basque Country (ORT-PTE)	3,448	0.37	−	0	−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (historical) (PSOE (h))	2,760	0.30	−	0	−
	Carlist Party (EKA-PC)	2,434	0.26	−	0	−
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	2,099	0.23	−	0	−
	Communist Unity (UC)	2,044	0.22	−	0	−
	Blank ballots	3,570	0.39	−
Total		919,845	100.00		60	−
Valid votes		919,845	99.01	−
Invalid votes		9,206	0.99	−
Votes cast / turnout		929,051	59.76	−
Abstentions		625,476	40.24	−
Registered voters		1,554,527
Source: Argos Information Portal

Vote share
EAJ-PNV			37.95%
HB			16.48%
PSE-PSOE			14.16%
EE			9.78%
UCD			8.49%
AP			4.76%
PCE-EPK			4.01%
EMK-MCE			1.19%
Others			2.80%
Blank ballots			0.39%

Parliamentary seats
EAJ-PNV			41.67%
HB			18.33%
PSE-PSOE			15.00%
EE			10.00%
UCD			10.00%
AP			3.33%
PCE-EPK			1.67%

Results by province

References

1. "CGPV Decree of 12 January 1980, for the calling of elections to the Basque Parliament.".