A regional election was held in the Basque Country on 23 October 1994 to elect the 5th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

The Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) won 22 seats, the Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE) came second with 12 seats, People's Unity (HB) and the People's Party (PP) both won 11 seats each. Basque Solidarity (EA) won 8 seats.

This was also the first election to the Basque parliament that the Socialist Party and the Basque Country Left (EE) party contested together as a unified party.

Overview Under the 1979 Statute of Autonomy, the Basque Parliament was the unicameral legislature of the Basque Autonomous Community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a lehendakari.. The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions..

Date The term of the Basque Parliament expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. The election decree was required to be issued no later than 25 days before the scheduled expiration date of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of the Basque Country (BOPV), with election day taking place between 54 and 60 days after the decree's publication.; . The previous election was held on 28 October 1990, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 28 October 1994. The election decree was required to be published in the BOPV no later than 4 October 1994, setting the latest possible date for election day on 3 December 1994.

The lehendakari had the prerogative to dissolve the Basque Parliament at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process.. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a lehendakari within a 60-day period from the Parliament's reconvening, the chamber was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called..

The Basque Parliament was officially dissolved on 30 August 1994 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOPV, setting election day for 23 October..

Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Basque Country and with full political rights, provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence, nor were legally incapacitated.; ( by ).

The Basque Parliament had 75 seats. All were elected in three multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Álava, Biscay and Guipúzcoa, each of which was assigned a fixed number of 25 seats to provide for an equal parliamentary representation of the three provinces—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a five percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency.; ; .

The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes. ( by ).

Parties and candidates The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 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. ( by ).

Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats EAJ/PNV José Antonio Ardanza Basque nationalismChristian democracyConservative liberalism 28.3% PSE–EE(PSOE) Ramón Jáuregui Social democracy 27.5% HB Karmelo Landa Basque independenceAbertzale leftRevolutionary socialism 18.2% EA Carlos Garaikoetxea Basque nationalismSocial democracy 11.3% PP Jaime Mayor Oreja ConservatismChristian democracy 8.2% UA Enriqueta Benito Alavese regionalismChristian democracy 1.4% IU/EB Javier Madrazo SocialismCommunism 1.4%

Opinion polls The tables below list opinion polling results 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.

Voting intention estimates The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 38 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Basque Parliament.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout EE Lead 1994 regional election 23 Oct 1994 59.7 29.3 16.8 16.0 10.1 14.2 9.0 2.7 12.5 Demoscopia/El País 16 Oct 1994? 60 33.3 16.9 15.7 9.9 13.3 7.6 2.1 16.4 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 16 Oct 1994?? 30.0 17.7 14.8 9.5 14.7 8.2 1.3 12.3 Bergareche/El Correo 16 Oct 1994??????? ??? ICP Research/Diario 16 16 Oct 1994?? 33.0 18.0 16.0 9.0 14.0 8.0 2.0 15.0 Ikerfel/PSE–EE 10–13 Oct 1994 1,700?????? ??? CIS 7–13 Oct 1994 1,495 60.5 36.1 16.1 15.4 10.3 12.1 6.9 1.3 20.0 Deia 12 Oct 1994???? – –? – –? Basque Government 1–10 Oct 1994??????? ??? Opina/La Vanguardia 29 Sep–1 Oct 1994 2,000? 32.5 16.5 12.5 8.0 12.0 7.0 2.5 16.0 Basque Government 27 Sep 1994??????? ??? CIS 13–20 Sep 1994 1,490 64.7 37.4 17.4 16.3 9.9 9.7 7.0 1.4 20.0 Demoscopia/PP 6–12 Jul 1994 2,400 63 32.8 16.3 15.0 8.4 12.4 9.4 1.6 16.5 1994 EP election 12 Jun 1994 52.3 25.9 18.3 15.6 8.7 17.5 9.6 – 7.6 Bergareche/El Correo 16 Apr 1994?? 26.9 20.1 15.9 – 15.8 – – 6.5 CIS 28 Mar 1994??????? ??? Basque Government 10–15 Jan 1994?? 28.7 19.2 17.0 11.5 9.5 1.6 1.5 9.5 PNV 9 Jan 1994??????? ??? 1993 general election 6 Jun 1993 69.7 24.1 24.5 14.6 9.8 14.7 6.3 1.4 0.4 1991 foral elections 26 May 1991 59.0 29.6 19.7 17.4 12.4 8.0 6.9 1.8 2.2 9.9 1990 regional election 28 Oct 1990 61.0 28.3 19.8 18.2 11.3 8.2 7.7 1.4 1.4 8.5

Voting preferences The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size EE Lead 1994 regional election 23 Oct 1994 17.3 9.9 9.5 6.0 8.3 5.3 1.6 40.1 7.4 CIS 7–13 Oct 1994 1,495 19.3 5.4 8.4 4.7 3.2 3.7 0.3 37.2 15.1 10.9 CIS 13–20 Sep 1994 1,490 23.2 8.0 8.3 4.0 2.3 4.2 0.5 35.0 12.3 14.9 1994 EP election 12 Jun 1994 13.5 9.5 8.1 4.5 9.1 5.0 – 47.5 4.0 CIS 24 Apr–13 May 1994 1,579 22.1 6.0 7.2 3.1 3.1 2.8 0.2 33.3 18.4 14.9 1993 general election 6 Jun 1993 16.7 17.0 10.2 6.9 10.2 4.4 1.0 30.0 0.3 CIS 7–17 Nov 1992 1,615 18.3 7.6 9.5 3.9 1.6 2.5 2.3 0.8 33.6 19.0 8.8 1991 foral elections 26 May 1991 17.3 11.5 10.2 7.3 4.7 4.0 1.1 1.3 41.0 5.8 1990 regional election 28 Oct 1990 17.2 12.0 11.0 6.9 5.0 4.7 0.9 0.9 38.9 5.2

Victory preferences The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None Lead CIS 13–20 Sep 1994 1,490 26.4 7.9 8.4 4.3 2.3 4.3 0.4 3.0 43.0 18.0

Victory likelihood The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None Lead CIS 7–13 Oct 1994 1,495 67.7 4.0 0.6 0.3 1.8 0.1 0.1 0.0 25.4 63.7 CIS 13–20 Sep 1994 1,490 61.8 4.5 1.2 0.3 1.1 0.6 0.0 0.1 30.3 57.3

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 23 October 1994 Basque Parliament election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) 304,346 29.32 +1.04 22 ±0 Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE (PSOE))1 174,682 16.83 −10.68 12 −10 Popular Unity (HB) 166,147 16.01 −2.19 11 −2 People's Party (PP) 146,960 14.16 +5.99 11 +5 Basque Solidarity (EA) 105,136 10.13 −1.17 8 −1 United Left (IU/EB) 93,291 8.99 +7.58 6 +6 Alavese Unity (UA) 27,797 2.68 +1.28 5 +2 Coalition for a New Socialist Party (NPS)2 1,462 0.14 +0.07 0 ±0 Blank ballots 18,080 1.74 +1.00 Total 1,037,901 75 ±0 Valid votes 1,037,901 99.41 −0.09 Invalid votes 6,184 0.59 +0.09 Votes cast / turnout 1,044,085 59.69 −1.30 Abstentions 705,165 40.31 +1.30 Registered voters 1,749,250 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PNV PSE–EE HB PP EA IU/EB UA % S % S % S % S % S % S % S Álava 21.8 6 15.6 4 10.1 2 15.9 4 7.2 2 9.1 2 18.5 5 Biscay 35.1 10 17.4 4 13.4 3 15.0 4 7.1 2 10.0 2 0.3 – Guipúzcoa 22.3 6 16.4 4 23.1 6 11.9 3 16.7 4 7.1 2 0.3 – Total 29.3 22 16.8 12 16.0 11 14.2 11 10.1 8 9.0 6 2.7 5 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 29 December 1994 Required majority → 38 out of 75 Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography