1999 Asturian regional election
13 June 1999
All 45 seats in the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias
23 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered979,618 3.7%
Turnout623,242 (63.6%)
5.5 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Vicente Álvarez Areces Ovidio Sánchez Gaspar Llamazares
Party PSOE PP IU
Leader since 14 June 1998 9 December 1998 1991
Leader's seat Central Central Central
Last election 17 seats, 33.8% 21 seats, 42.0% 6 seats, 16.4%
Seats won 24 15 3
Seat change 7 6 3
Popular vote 284,972 200,164 55,747
Percentage 46.0% 32.3% 9.0%
Swing 12.2 pp 9.7 pp 7.4 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Executiva Nacional del PAS. Presidente- Xuan Xosé Sánchez Vicente IMGP0541.jpg
Leader Sergio Marqués Xuan Xosé Sánchez Vicente
Party URAS PAS
Leader since 2 December 1998 1985
Leader's seat Central Central (lost)
Last election Did not contest 1 seat, 3.2%
Seats won 3 0
Seat change 3 1
Popular vote 44,261 15,998
Percentage 7.1% 2.6%
Swing New party 0.6 pp
Constituency results map for the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias
President before election

Sergio Marqués
URAS

 Elected President

Vicente Álvarez Areces
PSOE

The 1999 Asturian regional election was held on Sunday, 13 June 1999, to elect the 5th General Junta of the Principality of Asturias. All 45 seats in the General Junta were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain, as well as the 1999 European Parliament election.

An internal People's Party (PP) crisis starting in 1997 between the regional PP leadership and President Sergio Marqués resulted in a party split, with Marqués' government breaking away from the PP in 1998, maintaining the support of only 5 of the 21 PP deputies for the remainder of the legislature.

As a result of the ensuing political crisis, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) of Vicente Álvarez Areces went on to win an absolute majority of seats, at the cost of the greatly weakened PP. United Left (IU) also suffered from the party crisis at the national level and lost half of its support, while Sergio Marqués' party, the Asturian Renewal Union (URAS), entered parliament with 3 seats.

Overview

Electoral system

The General Junta of the Principality of Asturias was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Asturias, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Asturian Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president.[1]

Voting for the General Junta was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Asturias and in full enjoyment of their political rights. The 45 members of the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, which were established by law as follows:

Each constituency was allocated an initial minimum of two seats, with the remaining 39 being distributed in proportion to their populations.[2]

The use of the D'Hondt method might result in a higher effective threshold, depending on the district magnitude.[3]

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.[2][4]

Election date

The term of the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias expired four years after the date of its previous election. Elections to the General Junta were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. Legal amendments introduced in 1998 allowed for these to be held together with European Parliament elections, provided that they were scheduled for within a four month-timespan. The previous election was held on 28 May 1995, setting the election date for the General Junta concurrently with a European Parliament election on Sunday, 13 June 1999.[1][2][4]

After legal amendments earlier in 1999, the president was granted the prerogative to dissolve the General Junta and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no nationwide election was due and some time requirements were met: namely, that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or within the legislature's last year ahead of its scheduled expiry, nor before one year had elapsed since a previous dissolution under this procedure. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the General Junta was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called. Any snap election held as a result of these circumstances would not alter the period to the next ordinary election, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.[1]

Opinion polls

The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 23 seats were required for an absolute majority in the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias.

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 13 June 1999 General Junta of the Principality of Asturias election results →
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes  % ±pp Total +/−
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 284,97246.00+12.17 24+7
People's Party (PP) 200,16432.31–9.69 15–6
United Left of Asturias (IU) 55,7479.00–7.42 3–3
Asturian Renewal Union (URAS) 44,2617.14New 3+3
Asturianist Party (PAS) 15,9982.58–0.61 0–1
The Greens of Asturias (LV) 3,3430.54–0.15 0±0
Andecha Astur (AA) 2,2060.36+0.06 0±0
Asturian Left Bloc (BIA)1 1,3660.22+0.05 0±0
Centrist Union–Democratic and Social Centre (UC–CDS) 7370.12–1.66 0±0
Asturian Council (Conceyu) 4960.08–0.05 0±0
The Phalanx (FE) 4530.07New 0±0
Humanist Party (PH) 230.00New 0±0
Blank ballots 9,7201.57+0.39
Total 619,486 45±0
Valid votes 619,48699.40–0.01
Invalid votes 3,7560.60+0.01
Votes cast / turnout 623,24263.62–5.43
Abstentions 356,37636.38+5.43
Registered voters 979,618
Sources[5][6][7][8]
Footnotes:
Popular vote
PSOE
 
 46.00%
PP
 
 32.31%
IU
 
 9.00%
URAS
 
 7.14%
PAS
 
 2.58%
Others
 
 1.39%
Blank ballots
 
 1.57%
Seats
PSOE
 
 53.33%
PP
 
 33.33%
IU
 
 6.67%
URAS
 
 6.67%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency PSOE PP IU URAS
 % S  % S  % S  % S
Central 46.3 17 31.7 11 10.2 3 5.9 2
Eastern 44.2 3 37.0 2 3.9 − 9.5 −
Western 45.3 4 32.9 2 4.9 − 13.1 1
Total 46.0 24 32.3 15 9.0 3 7.1 3
Sources[5][6][7][8]

Aftermath

Investiture
Ballot → 22 July 1999
Required majority → 23 out of 45
24 / 45
 check
Abstentions
20 / 45
Absentees
1 / 45
Sources[8]

References

Opinion poll sources
  1. ↑ "El tránsfuga Marqués abre el camino al PSOE". ABC (in Spanish). 7 June 1999.
  2. ↑ "El PSOE cobra la factura que los votantes pasan al PP". El País (in Spanish). 7 June 1999.
  3. ↑ "Asturias: El PSOE aprovecha la crisis". El Mundo (in Spanish). 29 May 1999.
  4. ↑ "ELECCIONES 13-J /BALANCE DE LAS ENCUESTAS". El Mundo (in Spanish). 6 June 1999.
  5. ↑ "Preelectoral elecciones autonómicas y municipales, 1999. Principado de Asturias (Estudio nº 2327. Mayo 1999)". CIS (in Spanish). 4 June 1999.
  6. ↑ "Estudio CIS nº 2327. Ficha técnica" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 4 June 1999.
  7. ↑ "Bono e Ibarra repiten y el PSOE recuperará Asturias". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 5 June 1999.
  8. ↑ "Una encuesta atribuye un único escaño a Marqués en Asturias". ABC (in Spanish). 17 May 1999.
  9. ↑ "La sangría de votos del PP favorece a los socialistas". El País (in Spanish). 20 July 1998.
Other
  1. 1 2 3 "Ley Orgánica 7/1981, de 30 de diciembre, de Estatuto de Autonomía del Principado de Asturias". Organic Law No. 7 of 30 December 1981 (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 March 2017. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. 1 2 3 "Ley 14/1986, de 26 de diciembre, sobre régimen de elecciones a la Junta General del Principado de Asturias". Law No. 14 of 26 December 1986 (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 March 2017. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. ↑ Gallagher, Michael (30 July 2012). "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Ley Orgánica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del Régimen Electoral General". Organic Law No. 5 of 19 June 1985 (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 December 2016. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. 1 2 "General Junta of the Principality of Asturias election results, 13 June 1999" (PDF). www.juntaelectoralcentral.es (in Spanish). Electoral Commission of Asturias. 18 November 1999. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  6. 1 2 "Electoral Results. General Junta of the Principality of Asturias. 5th Legislature (1999–2003)". www.jgpa.es (in Spanish). General Junta of the Principality of Asturias. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  7. 1 2 "Electoral Results. 1999". www.sadei.es (in Spanish). SADEI. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 "Elecciones a la Junta General (1983 - 2019)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 September 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.