Andalusian parliamentary election, 1982

Andalusian parliamentary election, 1982

23 May 1982

All 109 seats in the Parliament of Andalusia 55 seats needed for a majority Opinion polls Registered 4,342,408 Turnout 2,874,121 (66.2%)   First party Second party Third party   Leader Rafael Escuredo Antonio Hernández Mancha Luis Merino Party PSOE–A AP UCD Leader since 2 June 1979 1980 1980 Seats won 66 17 15 Popular vote 1,498,619 484,474 371,154 Percentage 52.6% 17.0% 13.0%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Felipe Alcaraz Luis Uruñuela Party PCE PA Leader since 1981 1976 Seats won 8 3 Popular vote 243,344 153,709 Percentage 8.5% 5.4%

Province-level units won by PSOE (red).

President before election Rafael Escuredo PSOE–A Elected President Rafael Escuredo PSOE–A

The 1982 Andalusian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 23 May 1982, to elect the 1st Parliament of Andalusia, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. At stake were all 109 seats in the Parliament, determining the President of the Regional Government of Andalusia.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) under incumbent pre-autonomic President Rafael Escuredo won a comfortable absolute majority of 66 seats with 52.6% of the vote, to date the best result obtained by any party in an Andalusian regional election.

The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), then in the Spanish government, suffered from the effects of an ongoing economic crisis, internal party infighting and a decreasing popularity in opinion polls and won just 15 seats and 13.0% of the vote, finishing third. In contrast, the People's Alliance (AP) came second, polling a surprising 17.0% and 17 seats. The election result would unleash a massive party crisis within the UCD during the summer of 1982, leading to the party being nearly wiped out in the 1982 general election.

Electoral system

As this was the first regional parliamentary election, no established-electoral system had been passed into law yet. Electoral rules to be applied as well as other election-related issues were regulated by the Decree 18/1982, by which the 1982 election was called.

The 109 members of the Parliament of Andalusia were elected in 8 multi-member districts, corresponding to Andalusia's eight provinces, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Seat distribution among each district was set as a fixed number for each province: Almeria (11), Cadiz (15), Cordoba (13), Granada (13), Huelva (11), Jaen (13), Malaga (15) and Seville (18).

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 3% of valid votes in each district (which includes blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.^[1][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.

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. 55 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Andalusia.

Results

Overall

Summary of the 23 May 1982 Andalusian Parliament election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE-A)	1,498,619	52.60	−	66	−
	People's Alliance (AP)	484,474	17.00	−	17	−
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	371,154	13.03	−	15	−
	Communist Party of Andalusia (PCA-PCE)	243,344	8.54	−	8	−
	Socialist Party of Andalusia-Andalusian Party (PSA-PA)	153,709	5.39	−	3	−
	New Force (FN)	34,948	1.23	−	0	−
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	14,600	0.51	−	0	−
	Communist Unification of Spain (UCE)	8,121	0.29	−	0	−
	Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE)	7,891	0.28	−	0	−
	Communist Movement of Andalusia (MCA)	6,681	0.23	−	0	−
	Spanish Falange of the JONS (FE-JONS)	3,589	0.13	−	0	−
	Communist Party of Spain (Marxist–Leninist) (PCE (m-l))	3,587	0.13	−	0	−
	Falangist Movement of Spain (MFE)	3,163	0.11	−	0	−

Results by province

Post-election

As in the Galician election held seven months previously, the results of the election came as a shock for the Union of the Democratic Centre, as it had expected to finish above the People's Alliance. The UCD had seen its popularity fall in the region after its perceived attempts to delay the autonomic process by actively supporting abstention rather than an affirmative vote in the Andalusian autonomy referendum of 1980; more so after the 'Yes' vote won nonetheless. This, coupled with the continued party's internal struggles and weak leadership, undermined the party's credibility as a government force, contributing to its electoral debacle.^[3][4]

In contrast, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party became the big winner by obtaining an absolute majority of seats — the first obtained in an election of any kind since the Spanish transition to democracy — which allowed PSOE candidate Rafael Escuredo to govern alone.^[5][6]

The election results were a deathblow for UCD, which found itself electorally surpassed by AP both on its stronghold of Galicia and in the most-populated region of Spain and with a strengthening PSOE poised to achieve a landslide victory in the general election scheduled for 1983, fresh from the Andalusia ballot. MP defections within the party's parliamentary group in the Congress of Deputies increased after the Andalusian election: of the 168 seats it had won in 1979, it only retained 150 by the summer of 1982. By late August 1982, two party splits, Adolfo Suárez's Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) and the christian democrat People's Democratic Party (PDP), had reduced UCD grouping to 124 out of 350 MPs.,^[7] Unable to command a majority of Parliament to pass on legislation and amidst a climate of UCD's disintegration, Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo announced that the next general election would be held on 28 October 1982, five months ahead of schedule.^[8]

References

Elections in Andalusia
Parliament elections	1982 1986 1990 1994 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2015 next
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Referendums	1980 1981 2007