Spanish general election, 1993

Spanish general election, 1993
Spain
6 June 1993
All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 (of 256) seats in the Senate
176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Opinion polls
Registered 31,030,511 Increase4.8%
Turnout 23,718,816 (76.4%)
Increase6.7 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Felipe González José María Aznar Julio Anguita
Party PSOE PP IU
Leader since 13 October 1974 4 September 1989 12 February 1989
Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid
Last election 177 seats, 40.1%[lower-alpha 1] 107 seats, 25.8% 17 seats, 9.1%
Seats won 159 141 18
Seat change Decrease18 Increase34 Increase1
Popular vote 9,150,083 8,201,463 2,253,722
Percentage 38.8% 34.8% 9.6%
Swing Decrease1.3 pp Increase9.0 pp Increase0.5 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Miquel Roca Iñaki Anasagasti Luis Mardones
Party CiU EAJ/PNV CC
Leader since 12 March 1980 1986 1986
Leader's seat Barcelona Biscay Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Last election 18 seats, 5.0% 5 seats, 1.2% 1 seats, 0.3%[lower-alpha 2]
Seats won 17 5 4
Seat change Decrease1 ±0 Increase3
Popular vote 1,165,783 291,448 207,077
Percentage 4.9% 1.2% 0.9%
Swing Decrease0.1 pp ±0.0 pp Increase0.6 pp

Most voted party by autonomous community and province.
  PSOE
  PP
  CiU
  EAJ/PNV
Prime Minister before election

Felipe González
PSOE

 Elected Prime Minister

Felipe González
PSOE

The 1993 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 6 June 1993, to elect the 5th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 256 seats in the Senate.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party under Felipe González achieved the largest number of votes and seats for the fourth consecutive time, though it lost its absolute majority in both chambers of the Cortes. In contrast, José María Aznar's People's Party won a large share of the vote, thus increasing their seats in both the Congress and the Senate and consolidating its position as the main opposition party. For the first time since 1979, the election brought in a hung parliament, forcing the governing PSOE to pact with nationalist groups in order to renew their mandate.

In the aftermath of the election, the PSOE saw itself under increased pressure due both to political instability as a result of its low majority (relying on increasingly unstable pacts with Convergence and Union to pass its legislation) and of the uncovering of numerous cases of corruption within the government itself. The pact with CiU would end in the fall of 1995, forcing PM Felipe González to call early elections 15 months before their scheduled date, which would see the opposition right-wing People's Party of Aznar win for the first time.

Overview

Electoral system

Congress of Deputies

The 350 members of the Congress of Deputies were elected in 50 multi-member districts using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation. Ceuta and Melilla elected 1 member each using plurality voting. Each district was entitled to an initial minimum of 2 seats, with the remaining 248 seats being allocated among the 50 provinces in proportion to their populations. Only lists polling above 3% of the total vote in each district (which includes blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.

Senate

For the Senate, each of the 47 peninsular provinces was assigned 4 seats. For insular provinces, such as Baleares and Canaries, districts are the islands themselves, with the larger — Mallorca, Gran Canaria, and Tenerife — being assigned 3 seats each, and the smaller — Menorca, Ibiza-Formentera, Fuerteventura, Gomera, Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma — 1 each. Ceuta and Melilla were assigned 2 seats each, for a total of 208 directly elected seats. In districts electing 4 seats, electors could vote for up to 3 candidates; in those with 2 or 3 seats, for up to 2 candidates; and for 1 candidate in single member constituencies. Electors would vote for individual candidates: those attaining the largest number of votes in each district would be elected for a 4-year term of office.

In addition, the legislative assemblies of the autonomous communities are entitled to appoint at least 1 senator each, as well as 1 senator for every million inhabitants, adding up a variable number of appointed seats to the directly elected 208 senators.[1] This appointment usually did not take place at the same time that the general election, but when the autonomous communities held their elections.

Eligibility

Dual membership of both chambers of the Cortes or of the Cortes and regional assemblies was prohibited. Active judges, magistrates, public defenders, serving military personnel, active police officers and members of constitutional and electoral tribunals were also ineligible,[2] as well as CEOs or equivalent leaders of state monopolies and public bodies, such as the Spanish state broadcaster RTVE.[3]

Parties and coalitions of different parties which had registered with the Electoral Commission could present lists of candidates. Groups of electors which had not registered with the commission could also present lists, provided that they obtained the signatures of 1% of registered electors in a particular district.[3]

Opinion polling

Results

Congress of Deputies

← Summary of the 6 June 1993 Congress of Deputies election results →
Party Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Won +/−
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)[lower-alpha 1] 9,150,083 38.78 –1.33 159 –18
People's Party (PP) 8,201,463 34.76 +8.97 141 +34
United Left (IU) 2,253,722 9.55 +0.48 18 +1
Convergence and Union (CiU) 1,165,783 4.94 –0.10 17 –1
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 414,740 1.76 –6.13 0 –14
Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) 291,448 1.24 ±0.00 5 ±0
Canarian Coalition (CC)[lower-alpha 2] 207,077 0.88 +0.45 4 +3
Popular Unity (HB) 206,876 0.88 –0.18 2 –2
Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) 189,632 0.80 +0.39 1 +1
The Greens (LV)[lower-alpha 3] 185,940 0.79 –0.11 0 ±0
Aragonese Party (PAR) 144,544 0.61 +0.26 1 ±0
Basque Solidarity–Basque Left (EA–EUE) 129,293 0.55 –0.12 1 –1
Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) 126,965 0.54 +0.31 0 ±0
Valencian Union (UV) 112,341 0.48 –0.23 1 –1
Andalusian Party (PA) 96,513 0.41 –0.63 0 –2
The Ecologists (LE) 68,851 0.29 –0.38 0 ±0
Ruiz-Mateos Group–European Democratic Alliance (ARM–ADE) 54,518 0.23 –0.84 0 ±0
Andalusian Progress Party (PAP) 43,169 0.18 New 0 ±0
Valencian People's Union (UPV) 41,052 0.17 –0.03 0 ±0
Workers' Socialist Party (PST) 30,068 0.13 –0.27 0 ±0
Union for the Progress of Cantabria (UPCA) 27,005 0.11 New 0 ±0
Blank ballots 188,679 0.80 +0.11
Total 23,591,864 100.00 350 ±0
Valid votes 23,591,864 99.46 +0.20
Invalid votes 126,952 0.54 –0.20
Votes cast / turnout 23,718,816 76.44 +6.70
Abstentions 7,311,695 23.56 –6.70
Registered voters 31,030,511
Source: Ministry of the Interior
  1. 1 2 Spanish Socialist Workers' Party results are compared to the combined totals of the PSOE and EE in the 1989 election.
  2. 1 2 Canarian Coalition results are compared to the combined totals of the AIC and ACN in the 1989 election.
  3. ↑ The Greens results are compared to the combined totals of The Greens–Green List and AV–MEC in the 1989 election.
Vote share
PSOE
  
 38.78%
PP
  
 34.76%
IU
  
 9.55%
CiU
  
 4.94%
CDS
  
 1.76%
EAJ/PNV
  
 1.24%
CC
  
 0.88%
HB
  
 0.88%
ERC
  
 0.80%
PAR
  
 0.61%
EA–EUE
  
 0.55%
UV
  
 0.48%
Others
  
 3.97%
Blank ballots
  
 0.80%
Parliamentary seats
PSOE
  
 45.43%
PP
  
 40.29%
IU
  
 5.14%
CiU
  
 4.86%
EAJ/PNV
  
 1.43%
CC
  
 1.14%
HB
  
 0.57%
ERC
  
 0.29%
PAR
  
 0.29%
EA–EUE
  
 0.29%
UV
  
 0.29%

Senate

← Summary of the 6 June 1993 Senate of Spain election results →
Party Seats
Won +/− Not up Total seats
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 96 –11 21 117
People's Party (PP) 93 +15 13 106
United Left (IU) 0 –1 2 2
Convergence and Union (CiU) 10 ±0 5 15
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 0 –1 — 0
Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) 3 –1 2 5
Canarian Coalition (CC)[lower-alpha 1] 5 +1 1 6
Popular Unity (HB) 1 –2 — 1
Aragonese Party (PAR) 0 ±0 1 1
Basque Solidarity (EA) 0 ±0 1 1
Riojan Party (PR) 0 ±0 1 1
Valencian Nationalist Left (ENV) 0 ±0 1 1
Total 208 ±0 48 256
Source(s):
  1. ↑ Canarian Coalition results are compared to the combined totals of AIC, AM and AHI in the 1989 election.
Parliamentary seats
PSOE
  
 45.70%
PP
  
 41.41%
CiU
  
 5.86%
CC
  
 2.34%
EAJ/PNV
  
 1.95%
IU
  
 0.78%
HB
  
 0.39%
PAR
  
 0.39%
EA
  
 0.39%
PR
  
 0.39%
ENV
  
 0.39%

Aftermath

Investiture

First round: 9 July 1993
Absolute majority (176/350) required
Candidate: Felipe González
Choice Vote
Parties Votes
YesYes PSOE (159), CiU (17), PNV (5)
181 / 350
No PP (141), IU–IC (17), CC (4), ERC (1), EA (1), UV (1)
165 / 350
Abstentions PAR (1)
1 / 350
Absences: HB (2), IU–IC (1)
Source: Historia Electoral

References

  1. ↑ "General Aspects of the Electoral System".
  2. ↑ "The Spanish Constitution of 1978".
  3. 1 2 "Law governing electoral procedures". Retrieved 6 March 2011.
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