Castile and León parliamentary election, 1983

Castile and León parliamentary election, 1983

8 May 1983

All 84 seats in the Courts of Castile and León 43 seats needed for a majority Registered 1,989,993 Turnout 1,392,131 (70.0%)   First party Second party   Leader Demetrio Madrid José María Álvarez de Eulate Party PSOE CP Leader since 1983 1983 Seats won 42 39 Popular vote 608,637 543,861 Percentage 44.4% 39.7%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Daniel de Fernando Francisco Montoya Party CDS PDL Leader since 1983 1983 Seats won 2 1 Popular vote 81,936 49,268 Percentage 6.0% 3.6%

President before election José Manuel García-Verdugo UCD Elected President Demetrio Madrid PSOE

The 1983 Castile and León parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st Courts of Castile and León, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Castile and León. At stake were all 84 seats in the Courts, determining the President of the Junta of Castile and León.

After the election, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) emerged as the largest party, but fell 1 seat short of an overall majority. The People's Coalition, an electoral alliance led by the right-wing People's Alliance (AP) and including the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL), became the second largest force in the community closely behind the PSOE, with 39 seats to PSOE's 42.

Adolfo Suárez's Democratic and Social Centre as well as the small Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) both entered the Courts with 2 and 1 seats, respectively. The Communist Party of Spain (PCE), on the other hand, performed poorly, being unable to win any seats and obtaining 2.4% of the share.

Electoral system

The number of seats in the Castile and León Courts was set to a fixed-number of 84. All Courts members were elected in 9 multi-member districts, corresponding to Castile and León's nine 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 Decree 1/1983, which distributed the Courts seats as follows: Avila (7), Burgos (11), Leon (15), Palencia (7), Salamanca (11), Segovia (6), Soria (5), Valladolid (14) and Zamora (8).

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 8 May 1983 Castile and León Courts election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	608,637	44.38	−	42	−
	People's Coalition (AP-PDP-UL)	543,861	39.66	−	39	−
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	81,936	5.97	−	2	−
	Liberal Democratic Party (PDL)	49,268	3.59	−	1	−
	Agrarian Bloc-Regionalists of the Leonese Country (BAR-PREPAL)	33,932	2.47	−	0	−
	Communist Party of Spain (PCE)	32,483	2.37	−	0	−
	El Bierzo Party (PB)	4,301	0.31	−	0	−
	Castilian Communal Unity (UCC)	1,928	0.14	−	0	−
	Spanish Communist Workers' Party-Unified Communist Party (PCOE-PCEU)	1,867	0.14	−	0	−
	Blank ballots	13,103	0.96	−
Total		1,371,316	100.00		84	−
Valid votes		1,371,316	98.50	−
Invalid votes		20,815	1.50	−
Votes cast / turnout		1,392,131	69.96	−
Abstentions		597,862	30.04	−
Registered voters		1,989,993
Source: Argos Information Portal

Vote share
PSOE			44.38%
AP-PDP-UL			39.66%
CDS			5.97%
PDL			3.59%
BAR-PREPAL			2.47%
PCE			2.37%
Others			0.59%
Blank ballots			0.96%

Parliamentary seats
PSOE			50.00%
AP-PDP-UL			46.43%
CDS			2.38%
PDL			1.19%

References

1. "Decree 1/1983, of 5 March, of calling of elections to the Courts of Castile and León." (PDF).