Riojan parliamentary election, 1983

Riojan parliamentary election, 1983

8 May 1983

All 35 seats in the Parliament of La Rioja 18 seats needed for a majority Registered 194,994 Turnout 136,964 (70.2%)   First party Second party Third party   Leader José María de Miguel Joaquín Espert Luis Javier Rodríguez Party PSOE CP PRP Leader since 1983 1983 6 December 1982 Seats won 18 15 2 Popular vote 63,848 54,121 10,102 Percentage 47.2% 40.0% 7.5%

President before election Antonio Rodríguez Basulto PSOE Elected President José María de Miguel PSOE

The 1983 Riojan parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st Parliament of La Rioja, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of La Rioja. At stake were all 35 seats in the Parliament, determining the President of La Rioja.

The election was won by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which obtained an absolute majority of seats, being the only time in which the party achieved this in a regional election in La Rioja.^[1]

The People's Coalition, an electoral alliance led by the People's Alliance (AP), which also included the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL), emerged as the second largest grouping in the Parliament, while the newly created regionalist Progressive Riojan Party (PRP) came third. Neither the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) or the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS), the only other parties standing in the election, were able to meet the electoral threshold and failed to gain any parliamentary representation.

Electoral system

The number of seats in the Parliament of La Rioja was set to 35 for the 1983-1987 period. All Parliament members were elected in a single multi-member district, consisting of the Community's territory (the province of La Rioja), 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 Royal Decree 452/1983.

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.^[2]

Results

Summary of the 8 May 1983 La Rioja Parliament election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	63,848	47.17	−	18	−
	People's Coalition (AP-PDP-UL)	54,121	39.98	−	15	−
	Progressive Riojan Party (PRP)	10,102	7.46	−	2	−
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	3,264	2.41	−	0	−
	Communist Party of Spain (PCE)	2,934	2.17	−	0	−
	Blank ballots	1,090	0.81	−
Total		135,359	100.00		35	−
Valid votes		135,359	98.83	−
Invalid votes		1,605	1.17	−
Votes cast / turnout		136,964	70.24	−
Abstentions		58,030	29.76	−
Registered voters		194,994
Source: Argos Information Portal

Vote share
PSOE			47.17%
AP-PDP-UL			39.98%
PRP			7.46%
CDS			2.41%
PCE			2.17%
Blank ballots			0.81%

Parliamentary seats
PSOE			51.43%
AP-PDP-UL			42.86%
PRP			5.71%

References

1. La Rioja election results Historiaelectoral.com. Retrieved 25 April 2015
2. "Royal Decree 452/1983, of 9 March, for the calling of the election to the Regional Deputation of La Rioja." (PDF).