Valencian parliamentary election, 1995

Valencian parliamentary election, 1995

28 May 1995

All 89 seats in the Valencian Courts 45 seats needed for a majority Opinion polls Registered 3,131,191 7.4% Turnout 2,380,614 (76.0%) 6.8 pp   First party Second party   Leader Eduardo Zaplana Joan Lerma Party PP PSPV-PSOE Leader since 26 September 1993 31 July 1979 Last election 31 seats, 27.8% 45 seats, 42.8% Seats won 42 32 Seat change 11 13 Popular vote 1,013,859 804,463 Percentage 42.8% 34.0% Swing 15.0 pp 8.8 pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Albert Taberner Vicente González Lizondo Party IU UV Leader since 1986 1995 Last election 6 seats, 9.3%[lower-alpha 1] 7 seats, 10.4% Seats won 10 5 Seat change 4 2 Popular vote 273,030 165,956 Percentage 11.5% 7.0% Swing 4.0 pp 3.4 pp

President before election Joan Lerma PSPV-PSOE Elected President Eduardo Zaplana PP

The 1995 Valencian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 28 May 1995, to elect the 4th democratically-elected Valencian Courts, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia. At stake were all 89 seats in the Courts, determining the President of the Valencian Government.

As a result of the election, the People's Party (PP) increased its vote share by 15 percentage points relative to the 1991 Courts elections. For the first time, the PP had won a regional election, becoming the first party to poll more than 1 million votes in the area and gaining eleven seats, 3 short of an absolute majority. Most of the gains came from Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which lost 13 seats in the election. The regionalist Valencian Union (UV) also lost 1 seat, while United Left (IU) gained 4 seats to overtake UV as the third largest party.

A coalition agreement between the PP and UV was able to force the PSOE out from the Valencian Government after 12 years of Socialist rule. Eduardo Zaplana, the People's Party's candidate, became the second democratically-elected President of the autonomous community

Electoral system

The number of seats in the Valencian Courts was set to a fixed-number of 89. All Courts members were elected in 3 multi-member districts, corresponding to the Valencian Community's three provinces, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Each district was entitled to an initial minimum of 20 seats, with the remaining 29 seats allocated among the three provinces in proportion to their populations, on the required condition that the number of inhabitants per seat in each district did not exceed 3 times those of any other. For the 1995 election, seats were distributed as follows: Alicante (30), Castellon (22) and Valencia (37).

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 5% of valid votes in all of the community (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution. This meant that in the case a list polled above 5% in one or more of the districts but below 5% in the community totals, it would remain outside of the seat apportionment.^[1]

Background

After 12 years of consecutive Socialist governments both in the Spanish national government and in the Valencian Community, the People's Party (PP) had managed to greatly increase its support from 1992–93, mostly at the cost of what remained of the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS). In the 1993 general election, the PP had already increased its vote share from 27.0% in 1989 to 40.5% and had overtaken the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the region for the first time. The party had also seen a dramatical rise in the 1994 European Parliament election, rising to 44.2% from 22.8% in 1989.

United Left (IU) had gained ground at the expense of the PSOE and in both the 1993 general and 1994 EP elections had polled more than 10% for the first time since the 1970s. After peaking in the 1991 Courts and local elections, the right-wing regional party Valencian Union (UV) had begun to lose ground in the 1993 and 1994 elections.

Population's weariness of PSOE's prolonged stay in power, economic crisis as well as the eruption of numerous corruption scandals at the national level had weakened the PSOE in the region to the point it was facing the possibility of a severe defeat for the first time in a decade. Joan Lerma's management of a wildfire crisis in the summer of 1994 came under heavy criticism, after the fire had resulted in the burning of 16% of the region's forest area.^[2]

Opinion polls

Vote

Poll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. Poll results use the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. However, if such date is unknown, the date of publication will be given instead.

Date	Polling Firm/Source	PSPV	PP	UV	EU	Oth.	Lead
28 May 1995	Regional Election	34.0	42.8	7.0	11.5	4.7	8.8
Exit polls
10–15 May	Gesfono	30.1	46.0	6.0	13.2	4.7	15.9
10–15 May	Demoscopia	29.1	44.0	6.6	13.3	7.0	14.9
30 Apr	Gesfono	30.1	45.2	6.2	13.5	5.0	15.1
1987
12 Jun 1994	EP Election	30.5	44.2	5.3	13.9	6.1	13.7
1994
6 Jun 1993	General Election	38.4	40.5	4.6	10.5	6.0	2.1
1993
1992
26 May 1991	Regional Election	42.8	27.8	10.4	7.5	11.5	15.0

Seat projections

Opinion polls showing seat projections are displayed in the table below. The highest seat figures in each polling survey have their background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. 45 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Valencian Courts.

45 seats needed for a majority

Date	Polling Firm/Source	PSPV	PP	UV	EU	Others
28 May 1995	Regional Election	32	42	5	10	0
Exit polls
21 May	Emer-GfK	32−34	42−45	0−4	10−11	0
10–15 May	Gesfono	28−31	43−46	3−4	11−12	0
10–15 May	Demoscopia	29	43	6	11	0
7 May	Perfiles	32−34	42−45	0−4	10−11	0
30 Apr	Gesfono	29−30	43−44	4	12	0
1987
12 Jun 1994	EP Election	(29)	(45)	(3)	(12)	(0)
1994
6 Jun 1993	General Election	(39)	(41)	(0)	(9)	(0)
1993
1992
26 May 1991	Regional Election	45	31	7	6	0

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 28 May 1995 Valencian Courts election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	1,013,859	42.83	15.01	42	11
	Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV-PSOE)	804,463	33.98	8.87	32	13
	United Left-The Greens (EU-EV)[lower-alpha 1]	273,030	11.53	2.24	10	4
	Valencian Union-Independents-Centrists (UV-FICVA-CCV)	165,956	7.01	3.35	5	2
	Valencian People's Unity-Nationalist Bloc (UPV-BN)	64,253	2.71	0.97	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	5,480	0.23	3.58	0	±0
	Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)	3,772	0.16	0.02	0	±0
	United Alicante (AU)	2,894	0.12	New	0	±0

Parties with less than 0.1% of the vote		8,829	0.37	–	0	±0
	Autonomist Republican Party (PRA)	2,232	0.09	New	0	±0
	Valencian Nationalist Left (ENV)	1,861	0.08	0.03	0	±0
	Spanish Falange of the JONS (FE-JONS)	1,762	0.07	New	0	±0
	Spain Independents' Platform (PIE)	1,659	0.07	New	0	±0
	Humanist Platform (PH)	773	0.03	New	0	±0
	Spanish Autonomous League (LAE)	542	0.02	New	0	±0

	Blank ballots	24,864	1.05	0.02
Total		2,367,400	100.00		89	±0
Valid votes		2,367,400	99.44	±0.00
Invalid votes		13,214	0.56	±0.00
Votes cast / turnout		2,380,614	76.03	6.79
Abstentions		750,577	23.97	6.79
Registered voters		3,131,191
Source(s): Valencian Courts Argos Information Portal

Vote share
PP			42.83%
PSPV-PSOE			33.98%
EU-EV			11.53%
UV-FICVA-CCV			7.01%
UPV-BN			2.71%
Others			0.89%
Blank ballots			1.05%

Parliamentary seats
PP			47.19%
PSPV-PSOE			35.96%
EU-EV			11.24%
UV-FICVA-CCV			5.62%

Results by province

Election results by province.

Notes

1. Compared to the United Left of the Valencian Country+The Greens results in the 1991 election.

References

1. "Law 1/1987, of 31 March, Valencian electoral".
2. "The summer in which the Community burned" (in Spanish). Las Provincias. 2009-08-10.