Spanish general election, 1996

Spanish general election, 1996

1993 ← March 3, 1996 → 2000

All 350 seats of the Congress of Deputies and 208 of 257 seats in the Senate 176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies Turnout 77.38%   First party Second party Third party   Leader José María Aznar Felipe González Julio Anguita Party People's Party Spanish Socialist Workers' Party United Left Leader since 20 January 1989 13 October 1974 1989 Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid Last election 141 seats, 34.76% 159 seats, 38.78% 18 seats, 9.55% Seats won 156 141 21 Seat change 15 18 3 Popular vote 9,716,006 9,425,678 2,639,774 Percentage 38.79% 37.63% 10.54% Swing 4.03% 1.15% 0.99%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Joaquim Molins Iñaki Anasagasti José Carlos Mauricio Party Convergence and Union Basque Nationalist Party Canarian Coalition Leader since 1995 22 June 1986 1996 Leader's seat Barcelona Vizcaya Santa Cruz de Tenerife Last election 17 seats, 4.94% 5 seats, 1.24% 4 seats, 0.88% Seats won 16 5 4 Seat change 1 0 0 Popular vote 1,151,633 318,951 220,418 Percentage 4.60% 1.27% 0.88% Swing 0.34% 0.03% 0.00%

Most voted party in each province, PSOE (red) and PP (blue). Every province is a multi-member district for the Congress.

Prime Minister before election Felipe González Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Elected Prime Minister José María Aznar People's Party

Spain

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Legislative elections for the Spanish Cortes Generales were held on March 3, 1996. The elections were for 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, and the 208 directly elected seats in the upper house, the Senate, determining the Prime Minister of Spain.

Incumbent Prime Minister Felipe González of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party lost the elections to the People's Party and their leader José María Aznar, thus ending almost 13 and a half years of Socialist rule: to date, the largest period of time a Spanish party has been in power. However, that of Aznar was a bitter victory. He won just 156 seats out of the 176 needed for a majority, thus short of 20 seats to form a majority government. Similarly, González's one is known as the dulce derrota (sweet defeat). Despite suffering a net loss of 18 seats and being ousted from government, the popular vote margin between both main parties was of just 300,000 votes.

Despite pre-electoral opinion polls and predictions of a huge PSOE defeat and a PP lead of around 10 points, the close end result makes this election the closest in the Spanish democratic period to date.

Overview

The Congress of Deputies consists of 350 members, elected in 50 multi-member districts using the D'Hondt method, with Ceuta and Melilla electing one member each using plurality voting.

Apportionment

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution, the boundaries of the electoral districts must be the same as the provinces of Spain and, under Article 141, this can only be altered with the approval of Congress.

The apportionment of seats to provinces follows the largest remainder method over the resident population ("Padrón") with a minimum of two seats (cf. Art. 162 of the Electoral Law).

Electoral system

Voting is on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The electoral system used is closed list proportional representation with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. Only lists which poll 3% of the total vote (which includes votes "en blanco", i.e., for none of the above) can be considered. Under articles 12 and 68 of the constitution, the minimum voting age is 18.

Eligibility

Article 67.3 of the Spanish Constitution prohibits dual membership of both chambers of the Cortes or of the Cortes and regional assemblies, meaning that candidates must resign from regional assemblies if elected. Article 70 also makes active judges, magistrates, public defenders, serving military personnel, active police officers and members of constitutional and electoral tribunals ineligible. Article 55, Section 2 of the 1985 electoral law also disqualifies director generals or equivalent leaders of state monopolies and public bodies such as the Spanish state broadcaster RTVE.

Opinion polls

Opinion polling for major parties is as such:

Date(s) Conducted	Polling institute	PSOE	PP	IU	CiU	PNV	Others / undecided	Lead
3 March 1996	Election Results	37.6% 141 seats	38.8% 156 seats	10.5% 21 seats	4.6% 16 seats	1.3% 5 seats	8.2% 11 seats	1.2%
25 February	Opina	35.0% 135 – 145 seats	41.0% 160 – 170 seats	10.5% 19 – 21 seats	4.5% 14 – 15 seats	1.5% 5 – 6 seats	7.5% 0 – 13 seats	6.0%
25 February	Demoscopia	33.4% 118 – 128 seats	42.4% 170 – 178 seats	12.3% 24 – 27 seats	4.2% 13 – 15 seats	1.2% 5 – 6 seats	6.5% 0 – 20 seats	9.0%
25 February	Tábula V	32.5% 117 – 125 seats	44.1% 176 – 184 seats	12.8% 22 – 28 seats	4.2% 13 – 14 seats	0.8% 4 – 5 seats	5.6% 0 – 18 seats	11.6%
11 February	Opina	34.0% 135 – 140 seats	40.5% 160 – 170 seats	11.0% 19 – 21 seats	4.5% 13 – 15 seats	1.5% 5 – 6 seats	8.5% 0 – 18 seats	6.5%
14 January	Opina	34.0% 135 – 145 seats	39.5% 155 – 165 seats	10.5% 20 – 22 seats	4.5% 14 – 16 seats	1.5% 4 – 5 seats	10.0% 0 – 22 seats	5.5%
January	CIS	33.7%	40.6%	11.0%	4.4%	1.3%	9.0%	6.9%
1996
1995
1994
6 June 1993	Election Results	38.8% 159 seats	34.8% 141 seats	9.6% 18 seats	4.9% 17 seats	1.2% 5 seats	10.9% 10 seats	4.0%

Results

Congress

Ring charts of the election results showing popular vote against seats won, coloured in party colours. Seats won in the election (outer ring) against number of votes (inner ring).

Popular vote
PP			38.79%
PSOE			37.63%
IU			10.54%
CiU			4.60%
PNV			1.27%
Others			7.17%

Parliamentary seats
PP			44.57%
PSOE			40.26%
IU			6.00%
CiU			4.57%
PNV			1.43%
Others			3.17%

 Summary of the 3 March 1996 Congress of Deputies elections results
< 1993    2000 >

Party		Leader(s)	Popular Vote			Seats
			Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	People's Party Partido Popular – PP	José María Aznar López	9,716,006	38.79	4.03	156	15
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Partido Socialista Obrero Español – PSOE	Felipe González Márquez	9,425,678	37.63	1.15	141	18
	United Left Izquierda Unida – IU	Julio Anguita González	2,639,774	10.54	0.99	21	3
	Convergence and Union Convergència i Unió – CiU	Jordi Pujol i Soley	1,151,633	4.60	0.34	16	1
	Basque Nationalist Party Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea – EAJ/PNV	Xabier Arzalluz Antia	318,951	1.27	0.03	5	0
	Canarian Coalition Coalición Canaria – CC	José Torres Stinga	220,418	0.88	0.00	4	0
	Galician Nationalist Bloc Bloque Nacionalista Galego – BNG	Xosé Manuel Beiras Torrado	220,147	0.88	0.34	2	2
	Unity of the People Herri Batasuna – HB	None	181,304	0.72	0.16	2	0
	Republican Left of Catalonia Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya – ERC	Jaume Campabadal i Farré	167,641	0.67	0.13	1	0
	Basque Solidarity Eusko Alkartasuna – EA	Carlos Garaikoetxea Urriza	115,861	0.46	0.09	1	0
	Valencian Union Unio Valenciana – UV	Vicente González Lizondo	91,575	0.37	0.11	1	0
	Other parties		553,943	3.56	2.17	0	1
Blank votes			243,345	0.97	0.17
Valid votes			25,046,276	99.51	0.05
Invalid votes			125,782	0.49	0.05
Totals and voter turnout			25,172,058	77.38	0.94	350	—
Electorate			32,531,833	100.00	—
Source: Ministerio del Interior de España

Party vote share by electoral district

• 

  Spanish provinces won by PSOE (red), PP (blue), PNV (green) and CiU (orange) during the 1996 general election, with the vote percentage won by the most voted party in each province. Darker shades indicate absolute majorities, while lighter shades indicate a relative majority.

• 

  Most voted parties by province.

Electoral District	PSOE (1993)	PP (1993)	PSOE (1996)	PP (1996)	PSOE Change	PP Change
A Coruña	37.2	44.2	33.8	47.3	-3.4	3.1
Álava	26.1	19.5	25.4	27.3	-0.7	7.8
Albacete	46.1	40.5	43.9	44.6	-2.2	4.1
Alicante	39.9	43.4	40.0	45.7	0.1	2.3
Almería	47.9	37.3	47.1	40.2	-0.8	2.9
Asturias	39.3	37.3	39.8	41.0	0.5	3.7
Ávila	30.4	50.2	30.4	58.7	0.0	8.5
Badajoz	51.9	35.1	48.7	39.1	-3.2	4.0
Barcelona	36.3	16.9	40.3	18.3	4.0	1.4
Burgos	34.2	49.5	30.8	54.3	-3.4	4.8
Cáceres	50.8	36.8	47.9	42.0	-2.9	5.2
Cádiz	49.9	27.7	43.9	35.3	-6.0	7.6
Cantabria	37.1	37.0	35.6	50.4	-1.5	13.4
Castellón	39.6	44.8	40.0	46.4	0.4	1.6
Ceuta	40.6	50.9	35.8	53.2	-4.8	2.3
Ciudad Real	49.0	39.7	45.2	45.0	-3.8	5.3
Córdoba	49.2	27.5	44.6	33.0	-4.6	5.5
Cuenca	43.6	46.9	42.4	50.2	-1.2	3.3
Girona	28.1	13.0	36.4	12.0	8.3	-1.0
Granada	49.4	34.6	46.5	38.4	-2.9	3.8
Guadalajara	36.6	48.8	34.9	51.8	-1.7	3.0
Guipúzcoa	23.2	11.5	22.7	14.3	-0.5	2.8
Huelva	55.6	29.2	52.1	33.9	-4.5	4.7
Huesca	38.0	32.3	41.1	45.6	3.1	13.3
Islas Baleares	33.9	46.4	35.9	45.1	2.0	-1.3
Jaén	52.6	32.4	48.7	36.9	-3.9	4.3
La Rioja	37.6	46.2	36.6	49.4	-1.0	3.2
Las Palmas	24.8	38.1	25.8	42.4	1.0	4.3
León	40.3	44.2	37.8	48.7	-2.5	4.5
Lleida	27.1	19.7	33.0	17.9	5.9	-1.8
Lugo	32.2	53.2	32.5	53.4	0.3	0.2
Madrid	34.9	43.9	31.4	49.3	-3.5	5.4
Málaga	48.0	31.0	42.0	38.5	-6.0	7.5
Melilla	48.8	44.9	43.3	50.5	-5.5	5.6
Murcia	38.6	47.3	38.0	49.9	-0.6	2.6
Navarra	34.8	36.1	30.2	37.1	-4.6	1.0
Ourense	39.2	49.1	36.2	48.8	-3.0	-0.3
Palencia	38.3	47.6	37.9	51.3	-0.4	3.7
Pontevedra	34.5	47.2	32.5	47.1	-2.0	-0.1
Salamanca	37.3	48.6	35.0	54.1	-2.3	5.5
Santa Cruz de Tenerife	35.2	29.4	34.5	32.4	-0.7	3.0
Segovia	32.3	48.0	32.2	54.7	-0.1	6.7
Sevilla	56.0	26.0	50.0	31.4	-6.0	5.4
Soria	36.8	50.7	34.3	55.2	-2.5	4.5
Tarragona	33.1	19.8	38.1	20.0	5.0	0.2
Teruel	40.3	38.0	41.2	49.2	0.9	11.2
Toledo	44.6	44.4	41.7	48.2	-2.9	3.8
Valencia	37.1	37.8	37.0	42.0	-0.1	4.2
Valladolid	36.1	45.3	35.8	48.8	-0.3	3.5
Vizcaya	24.8	15.3	23.8	18.4	-1.0	3.1
Zamora	39.5	49.5	37.0	54.0	-2.5	4.5
Zaragoza	32.4	32.1	31.9	48.2	-0.5	16.1
SPAIN TOTALS	38.8	34.8	37.6	38.8	-1.2	4.0

External links

• Official results