Spanish general election, 2004

Spanish general election, 2004

2000 ← March 14, 2004 → 2008

All 350 seats of the Congress of Deputies and 208 of 259 seats in the Senate 176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies Turnout 75.66%   First party Second party Third party   Leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero Mariano Rajoy Gaspar Llamazares Party Spanish Socialist Workers' Party People's Party United Left Leader since 22 July 2000 4 September 2003 20 October 2000 Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid Last election 125 seats, 34.16% 183 seats, 44.52% 8 seats, 5.45% Seats won 164 148 5 Seat change 39 35 3 Popular vote 11,026,163 9,763,144 1,284,081 Percentage 42.59% 37.71% 4.96% Swing 8.43% 6.81% 0.49%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira Josu Erkoreka Party Convergence and Union Republican Left of Catalonia Basque Nationalist Party Leader since 14 March 2004 14 March 2004 14 March 2004 Leader's seat Barcelona Barcelona Vizcaya Last election 15 seats, 4.29% 1 seats, 0.84% 7 seats, 1.53% Seats won 10 8 7 Seat change 5 7 0 Popular vote 835,471 652,196 420,980 Percentage 3.23% 2.52% 1.63% Swing 1.06% 1.68% 0.10%

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 José María Aznar People's Party Elected Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

Spain

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Legislative elections were held in Spain on 14 March 2004. At stake were all 350 seats in the lower house of the Cortes Generales, the Congress of Deputies, and 208 seats in upper house, the Senate. The governing People's Party (PP) was led into the campaign by Mariano Rajoy, successor to outgoing Prime Minister José María Aznar. In a result which defied most predictions, the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, won a plurality of seats in Congress of Deputies, and was able to form a government with the support of minor parties. The socialists received more votes than expected as a result of the government's handling of the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings. In the early moments following the attacks, the national government maintained the theory of the ETA responsibility; when evidence pointed to the possibility that an Islamic extremist group was behind the massacre, the ETA theory lost weight. If Islamic extremists were responsible, the attack could have been perceived by the electorate to be a consequence of the Spanish government's support of the invasion of Iraq. One of the explanations for the PSOE votes was that a certain number of voters, known as the original non voters (who did not intend to vote in the elections like in prior elections), went to the polls for PSOE. Also many members of United Left (IU) switched sides and enlarged the PSOE votes and decreased those of IU.

The day after the election, Zapatero announced his intention to form a minority PSOE government, without a coalition, saying in a radio interview: "the implicit mandate of the people is for us to form a minority government negotiating accords on each issue with other parliamentary groups". Two minor left-wing parties, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and IU, immediately announced their intention to support Zapatero's government.

Electoral system

This was the eighth general election since the restoration of democratic government in 1978, or the ninth if the elections to a constitutional assembly in 1977 are included. Each of Spain's autonomous communities elects a number of deputies and senators in rough proportion to its population. The smaller autonomous communities (such as La Rioja) form a single electoral district (a circumscription). The larger autonomous communities (such as Catalonia) are divided into several circumscriptions.

All 350 deputies are elected on party lists, by roughly proportional representation in each electoral district. The method used to allocate the seats is the D'Hondt method, which favours larger parties over smaller ones, and concentrated minorities over scattered ones.

In the Senate, each of Spain's 50 provinces (except in the Canary and Balearic Islands) elects four Senators regardless of population. This results in under-representation for the large urban circumscriptions of Madrid and Barcelona, and over-representation for the conservative provinces of Castile and Galicia. Further, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands elect additional senators (since circumscriptions consist of the island governnments rather than the provinces), and the small autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla (Spanish enclaves on the coast of Morocco) elect two Senators each. The islands and the enclaves are PP strongholds. The net effect of this system is to advantage the PP at the expense of the PSOE in the Senate. In the senate elections, voters can cast votes for up to three different people. Voters tend to cast all their votes for members of the same party, with the result that most provinces allocate 3 senators to the party with the strongest support, and 1 senator to the second party.

Evolution of popular vote in the Spanish General Elections from the democratic transition until 2008. Voter turnout is usually high.

The Congress of Deputies must appoint the prime minister within two months of convening on April 2. Although constitutionally the King, as head of state, submits a proposed prime minister to the approval of the Congress, in practice the King exercises no discretion. Each of the candidates, starting with the candidate of the largest party, comes before the Congress for two investiture votes, the first by majority and the second by plurality. Typically, the leader of the largest bloc becomes Prime Minister of Spain, unless a coalition of different parties has a majority of seats.

At the 2000 general election, the People's Party won a majority of seats in Congress with 183 seats, the Socialists won 125, the Catalan nationalist party Convergence and Unity won 15 and the United Left (a coalition around the Communist Party) won 8. Minor parties won the remaining 19 seats.

Elections to Andalusia's regional parliament were held on the same day. The PSOE retained office in these elections with an increased majority.

Opinion polls

• 

    PP   PSOE   IU   CiU   PNV   Other     Graph of poll results since 2000

Date(s) Conducted	Polling institute	PP	PSOE	IU	CiU	PNV	Others / undecided	Lead
14 March 2004	Election Results	37.7% 148 seats	42.6% 164 seats	5.0% 5 seats	3.2% 10 seats	1.6% 7 seats	9.9% 16 seats	4.9%
14 March	Exit Poll - Sigma Dos	38.5% 153 – 161 seats	41.0% 152 – 159 seats	5.4% 6 – 7 seats	3.3% 10 – 11 seats	1.6% 7 seats	10.2% 5 — 22 seats	2.5%
14 March	Exit Poll - Ipsos-EcoConsulting	36.9% 150 – 154 seats	41.4% 154 – 158 seats	— 9 – 11 seats	— 10 – 12 seats	— 6 – 7 seats	— 8 — 21 seats	4.5%
13 March	Demoscopia	— 168 – 170 seats	— 140 – 143 seats	— 8 – 10 seats	— 10 – 11 seats	— 7 seats	— 9 – 17 seats	—
11 March: 2004 Madrid train bombings
8 March	Sigma Dos	42.1% 168 – 173 seats	37.6% 138 – 144 seats	5.3% 6 – 8 seats	3.4% 11 seats	1.8% 7 seats	9.8% 7 – 20 seats	4.5%
7 March	NC Report	42.8% 171 – 176 seats	37.2% 135 – 141 seats	—	—	—	—	5.6%
7 March	Metroscopia	42.0% 168 – 172 seats	38.0% 134 – 141 seats	—	—	—	—	4.0%
7 March	Opina	40.5% 161 – 166 seats	38.0% 140 – 145 seats	5.8% 11 – 12 seats	3.6% 10 – 11 seats	1.4% 7 – 8 seats	10.7% 8 – 21 seats	2.5%
6 March	Metroscopia	42.0% 168 – 172 seats	38.0% 134 – 141 seats	6.3% 11 seats	3.0% 10 – 11 seats	1.7% 7 – 8 seats	9.0% 7 – 20 seats	4.0%
6 March	Opina	40.5%	37.0%	5.8%	3.8%	1.5%	11.4%	3.5%
5 March	Opina	41.0%	37.0%	6.0%	4.0%	1.5%	10.5%	4.0%
4 March	CIS	42.2% 176 seats	35.5% 131 seats	6.6% 10 seats	3.7% 12 seats	1.8% 7 seats	10.2% 14 seats	6.7%
4 March	Sigma Dos	42.8% 172 – 177 seats	36.6% 134 – 139 seats	5.7% 7 – 10 seats	3.3% 11 seats	1.8% 7 seats	9.8% 6 – 19 seats	6.2%
4 March	Opina	41.5%	36.5%	7.0%	3.5%	1.5%	10.0%	5.0%
3 March	Opina	41.5% 163 – 171 seats	36.5% 135 – 143 seats	6.5% 11 – 12 seats	3.0% 10 – 11 seats	1.6% 7 – 8 seats	10.9% 5 – 24 seats	5.0%
2 March	Opina	41.0%	36.5%	6.5%	3.2%	1.7%	11.1%	4.5%
1 March	Opina	40.5%	36.5%	6.5%	3.2%	1.7%	11.6%	4.0%
29 February	DYM	44.2% 174 – 177 seats	37.2% 133 – 137 seats	—	—	—	—	7.0%
29 February	Opina	40.5% 164 – 169 seats	36.5% 138 – 144 seats	7.0% 12 seats	3.5% 10 – 11 seats	1.5% 7 – 8 seats	11.0% 7 – 19 seats	4.0%
28 February	Opina	41.0%	36.5%	6.5%	3.8%	1.6%	10.6%	4.5%
27 February	NC Report	39.6% 170 – 171 seats	32.6% 141 – 142 seats	—	—	—	—	7.0%
27 February	Opina	41.5%	36.5%	6.4%	3.8%	1.6%	10.2%	5.0%
26 February	Opina	41.5% 166 – 172 seats	36.5% 136 – 144 seats	6.0% 10 – 12 seats	4.0% 10 – 12 seats	1.5% 6 – 8 seats	10.5% 2 – 22 seats	5.0%
15 February	Noxa Consulting	42.6% 164 – 169 seats	38.6% 138 – 142 seats	—	—	—	—	4.0%
14 February	Sigma Dos	43.5%	35.4%	5.2%	3.8%	1.6%	10.5%	8.1%
8 February	Sigma Dos	44.3%	34.8%	5.6%	3.6%	—	—	9.5%
8 February	NC Report	43.9% 175 seats	35.8% 136 – 137 seats	—	—	—	—	8.1%
25 January	Metroscopia	42.5% 171 – 175 seats	37.0% 135 – 138 seats	—	—	—	—	5.5%
11 January	Noxa Consulting	42.6% 174 seats	36.5% 137 seats	—	—	—	—	6.1%
4 January	Sigma Dos	44.6%	33.9%	6.2%	3.8%	—	—	10.7%
January	CIS	42.2%	35.5%	6.6%	3.7%	1.8%	10.2%	6.7%
2004
December	Sigma Dos	44.8%	33.7%	6.1%	3.9%	—	—	11.1%
24 November	CIS	42.4%	34.7%	—	—	—	—	7.7%
October	CIS	42.4%	34.7%	5.9%	4.0%	1.4%	11.6%	7.7%
September	Sigma Dos	43.8%	35.3%	5.1%	4.0%	—	—	8.5%
July	Sigma Dos	42.8%	35.9%	5.6%	3.9%	—	—	6.9%
July	CIS	41.2%	35.2%	6.3%	3.8%	1.2%	12.3%	6.0%
June	Sigma Dos	42.6%	35.4%	6.2%	4.0%	—	—	7.2%
27 April	Sigma Dos	41.2%	38.7%	5.0%	3.7%	1.5%	9.9%	2.5%
27 April	Ipsos-EcoConsulting	33.9%	39.4%	6.1%	3.8%	1.7%	15.1%	5.5%
April	CIS	37.3%	39.5%	6.3%	3.3%	1.3%	12.3%	2.2%
March	Sigma Dos	38.6%	40.7%	5.1%	3.6%	—	—	2.1%
February	Sigma Dos	38.5%	40.2%	5.6%	3.9%	—	—	1.7%
February-March: Iraq crisis.
January	Sigma Dos	41.6%	38.6%	4.9%	3.9%	—	—	3.0%
January	CIS	39.8%	37.3%	5.5%	3.7%	1.5%	12.2%	2.5%
2003
December	Sigma Dos	41.7%	38.8%	4.7%	3.7%	—	—	2.9%
19 November: Prestige oil spill
November	Sigma Dos	41.9%	38.4%	4.6%	4.0%	—	—	3.5%
October	Sigma Dos	41.8%	37.9%	5.0%	3.9%	—	—	3.9%
October	CIS	41.5%	37.3%	4.6%	3.7%	1.4%	11.5%	4.2%
July	Sigma Dos	43.3%	36.2%	5.7%	4.2%	—	—	7.1%
July	CIS	41.0%	36.8%	5.0%	4.2%	1.4%	11.6%	4.2%
April	Sigma Dos	43.2%	37.2%	4.7%	3.5%	—	—	6.0%
April	CIS	42.4%	34.4%	5.4%	4.4%	1.5%	11.9%	8.0%
February	Sigma Dos	43.9%	34.2%	5.8%	4.0%	—	—	9.7%
January	CIS	43.9%	34.2%	5.8%	4.0%	1.5%	10.6%	9.7%
2002
December	Sigma Dos	44.7%	35.5%	4.4%	3.6%	—	—	9.2%
October	CIS	43.5%	34.0%	5.5%	4.5%	1.4%	11.1%	9.5%
July	CIS	43.6%	34.9%	5.6%	3.7%	1.5%	10.7%	8.7%
June	Sigma Dos	43.4%	35.8%	5.4%	3.9%	—	—	7.6%
April	CIS	43.5%	35.2%	4.9%	4.0%	1.3%	11.1%	8.3%
February	Sigma Dos	43.5%	35.9%	4.6%	4.1%	—	—	7.6%
January	CIS	43.5%	36.2%	5.1%	3.9%	1.4%	9.9%	7.3%
January	Sigma Dos	44.6%	36.2%	4.2%	4.0%	—	—	8.4%
2001
October	CIS	43.7%	36.2%	5.5%	3.8%	1.5%	9.3%	7.5%
October	Sigma Dos	46.2%	34.2%	4.9%	3.2%	—	—	12.0%
July	CIS	46.6%	31.6%	5.9%	4.3%	1.4%	10.2%	15.0%
July	Sigma Dos	45.7%	33.6%	5.9%	3.5%	—	—	12.1%
April	CIS	45.3%	32.7%	5.9%	4.0%	1.2%	10.9%	12.6%
12 March 2000	Election Results	44.5% 183 seats	34.2% 125 seats	5.5% 8 seats	4.2% 15 seats	1.5% 7 seats	10.2% 12 seats	10.4%

Results

Congress

In the Congress of Deputies, the PP vote fell by 6.9 percent, and the party lost 35 seats. The PSOE vote rose by 8.5 percent, bringing a gain of 39 seats. On the left, the IU (a coalition led by the Communist Party of Spain), lost four of its nine seats, but the left-wing Catalan party ERC gained seven seats. The conservative Catalan nationalist party, Convergence and Union, which in the recent past has been allied with the PP, lost five of its 15 seats.

The PSOE's victory was celebrated in the street outside the party's headquarters in Calle Ferraz with shouts of "No war!" and "How happy we are, to live without Aznar", but also "Zapatero, don't fail us!". Consistent with the PSOE's long-standing opposition to the Iraq war, Rodríguez Zapatero had promised during the election campaign to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by June. Zapatero withdrew the troops shortly after taking office, a decision he justified on his belief that the United Nations was not likely to assume responsibility for Iraq after the U.S.-led occupation formally ended at the end of June, which was his criterion for allowing troops to stay. Subsequent events, indeed, bore out his prediction.

A feature of the result was the increased representation for the ERC, a minor left-wing party which has formed a coalition government with the PSOE in Catalonia. The Republican Left's leader, Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira, had recently held meetings with the Basque separatist group ETA in France, a revelation which had forced his exit from the recently formed Catalan regional government and had become a campaign issue in the general election.

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
PSOE			42.59%
PP			37.71%
IU			4.96%
CiU			3.23%
ERC			2.52%
PNV			1.63%
Others			7.36%

Parliamentary seats
PSOE			46.86%
PP			42.29%
CiU			2.86%
ERC			2.29%
PNV			2.00%
IU			1.43%
Others			2.27%

 Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies elections results
< 2000    2008 >

Party		Leader(s)	Popular Vote			Seats
			Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Partido Socialista Obrero Español – PSOE	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero	11,026,123	42.59	8.43	164	39
	People's Party Partido Popular – PP	Mariano Rajoy Brey	9,763,144	37.71	6.81	148	35
	United Left Izquierda Unida – IU	Gaspar Llamazares Trigo	1,284,081	4.96	0.49	5	3
	Convergence and Union Convergència i Unió – CiU	Artur Mas i Gavarró	835,471	3.23	0.96	10	5
	Republican Left of Catalonia Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya – ERC	Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira	652,196	2.52	1.68	8	7
	Basque Nationalist Party Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea – EAJ/PNV	Josu Jon Imaz San Miguel	420,980	1.63	0.10	7	0
	Canarian Coalition Coalición Canaria – CC	José Torres Stinga	235,221	0.91	0.16	3	1
	Galician Nationalist Bloc Bloque Nacionalista Galego – BNG	Anxo Quintana González	208,688	0.81	0.51	2	1
	Aragonese Union Chunta Aragonesista – CHA	Bizén Fuster Santaliestra	94,252	0.36	0.03	1	0
	Basque Solidarity Eusko Alkartasuna – EA	Begoña Errazti Esnal	80,905	0.31	0.12	1	0
	Yes to Navarre Nafarroa Bai	Uxue Barkos Berruezo	61,045	0.24	0.24	1	1
	Other parties		821,398	3.17	0.01	0	2
Blank votes			407,795	1.56	0.02
Valid votes			25,891,299	98.99	0.33
Invalid votes			264,137	1.01	0.33
Totals and voter turnout			26,155,436	75.66	6.95	350	—
Electorate			34,571,831	100.00	—
Source: Ministerio del Interior de España

Party vote share by electoral district

• 

  Spanish provinces won by PSOE (red), PP (blue) and PNV (green) during the 2004 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 (2000)	PP (2000)	PSOE (2004)	PP (2004)	PSOE Change	PP Change
A Coruña	24.7	51.9	38.9	44.6	14.2	-7.3
Álava	24.3	39.1	30.8	26.9	6.5	-12.2
Albacete	41.2	51.2	46.3	46.9	5.1	-4.3
Alicante	34.8	54.2	42.1	48.9	7.3	-5.3
Almería	42.2	48.6	47.7	44.3	5.5	-4.3
Asturias	37.0	46.3	43.4	43.8	6.4	-2.5
Ávila	26.6	65.3	34.0	59.5	7.4	-5.8
Badajoz	44.7	47.0	51.7	41.7	7.0	-5.3
Barcelona	35.5	23.5	41.7	16.0	6.2	-7.5
Burgos	29.0	58.3	38.9	52.0	9.9	-6.3
Cáceres	44.6	47.7	50.5	43.5	5.9	-4.2
Cádiz	39.4	41.2	50.7	33.6	11.3	-7.6
Cantabria	33.4	56.8	40.9	51.9	7.5	-4.9
Castellón	35.3	53.8	44.6	45.6	9.3	-8.2
Ceuta	18.0	47.6	35.8	59.2	17.8	11.6
Ciudad Real	42.5	51.7	48.1	46.6	5.6	-5.1
Córdoba	40.5	40.8	49.9	33.7	9.4	-7.1
Cuenca	41.1	53.3	45.4	49.7	4.3	-3.6
Girona	28.4	15.9	31.6	11.5	3.2	-4.4
Granada	44.3	42.6	51.5	37.0	7.2	-5.6
Guadalajara	36.0	54.4	44.1	47.6	11.6	-6.8
Guipúzcoa	23.7	24.6	26.3	15.3	2.6	-9.3
Huelva	46.9	40.1	56.2	30.6	9.3	-9.5
Huesca	37.0	45.1	45.7	37.5	8.7	-7.6
Islas Baleares	29.3	53.8	39.5	45.9	10.2	-7.9
Jaén	47.7	40.3	54.4	34.1	6.7	-6.2
La Rioja	34.8	54.1	44.0	49.9	9.2	-4.2
Las Palmas	18.4	48.0	33.9	42.2	15.5	-5.8
León	31.9	48.7	46.8	45.0	14.9	-3.7
Lleida	27.6	21.0	29.6	14.6	2.0	-6.4
Lugo	22.9	57.9	37.2	49.7	14.3	-8.2
Madrid	33.0	52.5	44.1	45.0	11.1	-7.5
Málaga	39.0	43.4	49.8	36.4	10.8	-7.0
Melilla	20.4	49.8	41.4	54.6	21.0	4.8
Murcia	32.4	58.1	35.0	57.4	2.6	-0.7
Navarra	27.3	49.9	33.6	37.6	6.3	-12.3
Ourense	23.1	57.2	31.1	55.3	8.0	-1.9
Palencia	35.8	55.5	43.1	50.2	7.3	-5.3
Pontevedra	23.0	53.4	37.5	46.0	14.5	-7.4
Salamanca	32.6	58.5	39.8	54.3	7.2	-4.2
Santa Cruz de Tenerife	26.3	35.0	35.0	28.3	8.7	-6.7
Segovia	30.8	57.5	39.9	52.4	9.1	-5.1
Sevilla	49.0	35.0	58.3	27.9	9.3	-7.1
Soria	32.0	58.4	38.8	50.8	6.8	-7.6
Tarragona	32.4	24.3	35.5	17.0	3.1	-7.3
Teruel	33.8	47.9	41.1	40.8	7.3	-7.1
Toledo	40.2	52.7	46.5	47.5	6.3	-5.2
Valencia	33.2	50.4	42.2	45.7	9.0	-4.7
Valladolid	35.1	53.1	44.6	46.8	9.5	-6.3
Vizcaya	22.8	27.2	26.8	18.7	4.0	-8.5
Zamora	32.4	58.8	39.9	53.3	7.5	-5.5
Zaragoza	29.1	47.6	40.3	35.5	11.2	-12.1
SPAIN TOTALS	34.2	44.5	42.6	37.7	8.4	-6.8

Party seat allocation by electoral district

• 

    PSOE   ERC   IU   EE   CC   CHA   BNG   PNV   CiU   Nafarroa Bai   PP

Senate

In the Senate the PP won 102 seats to the PSOE's 81, a better result than in the lower house. Even so, this was a 28-seat gain for the PSOE and a 25-seat loss for the PP. In Catalonia, a combined Socialist-Republican left ticket won 12 Senate seats, and the Basque Nationalists won six.

 Summary of the 14 March 2004 Senate of Spain elections results

Parties		MPs
		2000	2004	±
	People's Party	127	102	25
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	53	81	28
	Entesa Catalana de Progrés	8	12	4
	Convergence and Union	8	4	4
	Basque Nationalist Party	6	6	0
	Canarian Coalition	5	3	2
	Independent Party of Lanzarote	1	0	1
Total elected		208	208	0
Members appointed by the regional legislatures		51	51	0
Total		259	259	0
Source: Ministerio del Interior de España

The Senate at the end of the 7th term

The Senate at the start of the 8th term

The PSOE and its Catalan affiliate the PSC-ERC thus has 93 seats to the PP's 102. The rest of the nationalist parties, Catalan CiU, Basque EAJ-PNV, and Canary Islands CC are all conservative parties. Even if the six Basque Nationalists (EAJ-PNV), which are strongly at odds with the PP, vote with the left, the PP will still outvote them. The PSOE will thus need to gain the support of the Catalan and Canary Islands regionalists, the CiU and CC, to carry legislation in the Senate. Both parties have supported PSOE and PP governments in 1990-2000, when the largest party did not enjoy an absolute majority in the Congress.

It is possible that voters swung to the PSOE in the vote for the Congress of Deputies, which determines the government, but stuck with the PP in the voting for the Senate, thus placing a brake on a future socialist government. However, a swing in votes that fails to change who leads in a district has a larger effect in the Congress, with large numbers of seats per constituency allocated proportionally, that in the Senate, where constituencies elect up to four representatives and voters cast votes for up to three people (usually all from the same party).

Investiture voting

On April 16, PSOE's candidate José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero obtained an absolute majority in the investiture voting held in the Congress of Deputies, with the support of 183 votes: those of his party alongside five other political forces (the largest number of supporting parties for a candidate to the presidency) and was thus invested Prime Minister. This was the only investiture voting to date in which only a party, the PP, voted against a PM candidate.

11 April 2008 Investiture voting for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (PSOE) Absolute majority: 176/350
Vote	Parties	Votes
Y Yes	PSOE (164), ERC (8), IU (5), CC (3), BNG (2), CHA (1)	183
No	PP (148)	148
Abstentions	CiU (10), PNV (7), EE (1), NaBai (1)	19

Further reading

• Chari, Raj (November 2004). "The 2004 Spanish Election: Terrorism as a Catalyst for Change?". West European Politics 27 (5): 954–963. doi:10.1080/0140238042000283247. 

External links

• Spanish Interior Ministry elections website
• People's Party
• Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
• Convergence and Unity
• Republican Left of Catalonia
• United Left
• Basque Nationalist Party
• Canarian Coalition