Basque parliamentary election, 1998

Basque parliamentary election, 1998

25 October 1998

All 75 seats in the Basque Parliament 38 seats needed for a majority Registered 1,821,608 4.1% Turnout 1,275,008 (70.0%) 10.3 pp   First party Second party Third party   Leader Juan José Ibarretxe Carlos Iturgaiz Arnaldo Otegi Party EAJ/PNV PP EH Leader since 31 January 1998 5 October 1996 14 February 1998 Leader's seat Álava Biscay Gipuzkoa Last election 22 seats, 29.3% 11 seats, 14.2% 11 seats, 16.0%[lower-alpha 1] Seats won 21 16 14 Seat change 1 5 3 Popular vote 350,322 251,743 224,001 Percentage 27.6% 19.9% 17.7% Swing 1.7 pp 5.7 pp 1.7 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Nicolás Redondo Carlos Garaikoetxea Javier Madrazo Party PSE–EE (PSOE) EA EB–IU Leader since 20 October 1997 4 September 1986 14 May 1994 Leader's seat Biscay Gipuzkoa Biscay Last election 12 seats, 16.8% 8 seats, 10.1% 6 seats, 9.0% Seats won 14 6 2 Seat change 2 2 4 Popular vote 220,052 108,635 71,064 Percentage 17.4% 8.6% 5.6% Swing 0.6 pp 1.5 pp 3.4 pp

Provinces won by EAJ/PNV (green), PP (blue) and EH (dark red)

Lehendakari before election José Antonio Ardanza EAJ/PNV Elected Lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe EAJ/PNV

The 1998 Basque parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 25 October 1998, to elect the 6th Basque Parliament, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of the Basque Country. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

The Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV) won 21 seats, the People's Party (PP) came second for the first time with 16 seats, the Basque Citizens (EH) coalition and the Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE-EE) won 14 seats each.

Electoral system

The 75 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. Each district was assigned a fixed set of seats, distributed as follows: Alava (25), Biscay (25) and Gipuzkoa (25).

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 5% 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 25 October 1998 Basque Parliament election results →

Party		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)	350,322	27.62	–1.70	21	–1
	People's Party of the Basque Country (PP)	251,743	19.85	+5.69	16	+5
	Basque Citizens (EH)[lower-alpha 1]	224,001	17.66	+1.65	14	+3
	Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE (PSOE))	220,052	17.35	+0.52	14	+2
	Basque Solidarity (EA)	108,635	8.57	–1.56	6	–2
	United Left (EB–IU)	71,064	5.60	–3.39	2	–4
	Alavese Unity (UA)	15,738	1.24	–1.44	2	–3

Parties with less than 1.0% of the vote		9,010	0.71	—	0	±0
	Natural Law Party (PLN/LNA)	4,858	0.38	New	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	3,288	0.26	New	0	±0
	Basque Country Greens (EHB)	864	0.07	New	0	±0

	Blank ballots	17,641	1.39	–0.35
Total		1,268,206	100.00		75	±0
Valid votes		1,268,206	99.47	+0.06
Invalid votes		6,802	0.53	–0.06
Votes cast / turnout		1,275,008	69.99	+10.30
Abstentions		546,600	30.01	–10.30
Registered voters		1,821,608
Source: Argos Information Portal
Basque Citizens results are compared to Popular Unity totals in the 1994 election.

Vote share
EAJ/PNV			27.62%
PP			19.85%
EH			17.66%
PSE–EE (PSOE)			17.35%
EA			8.57%
EB–IU			5.60%
UA			1.24%
Others			0.71%
Blank ballots			1.39%

Parliamentary seats
EAJ/PNV			28.00%
PP			21.33%
EH			18.67%
PSE–EE (PSOE)			18.67%
EA			8.00%
EB–IU			2.67%
UA			2.67%

References

1. "Law 5/1990, of 15 June, of elections to the Basque Parliament.".