A regional election was held in the Basque Country on 28 October 1990 to elect the 4th 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 16 seats, Popular Unity (HB) came third with 13 seats and Basque Solidarity (EA) won 9 seats. The People's Party (PP) and Basque Country Left (EE) each won 6 seats.

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 30 November 1986, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 30 November 1990. The election decree was required to be published in the BOPV no later than 6 November 1990, setting the latest possible date for election day on 5 January 1991.

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 3 September 1990 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOPV, setting election day for 28 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 ).

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 PNV EE Lead 1990 regional election 28 Oct 1990 61.0 28.3 19.8 18.2 11.3 7.7 0.7 8.2 1.4 8.5 Demoscopia/El País 21 Oct 1990?? 27.6 20.8 17.4 10.6 8.2 2.8 9.7 0.3 6.8 Opina/La Vanguardia 13–16 Oct 1990 2,500? 28.5 18.5 18.0 11.5 11.5 1.0 5.5? 10.0 Metra Seis/El Independiente 14 Oct 1990??????? ? 6.6 –? Bergareche/Vocento 14 Oct 1990??????? ?? –? Sigma Dos/El Mundo 14 Oct 1990?? 26.0???? ?? –? Demoscopia/El País 27 Sep–3 Oct 1990 1,800 65 26.0 20.0 18.0 12.0 10.0 ? 8.0 – 6.0 Bergareche/Vocento 1 Oct 1990??????? ?? –? Basque Government 13–16 Dec 1989??????? ?? –? 1989 general election 29 Oct 1989 66.9 22.8 21.1 16.9 11.2 8.8 3.5 9.4 – 1.7 1989 EP election 15 Jun 1989 58.5 21.0 18.2 19.1 13.0 9.8 2.7 7.6 – 1.9 1987 foral elections 10 Jun 1987 67.4 21.8 18.9 19.2 17.6 9.9 6.2 3.4 – – 2.6 1987 EP election 10 Jun 1987 67.3 19.4 19.1 19.6 16.1 9.7 7.2 3.9 – – 0.2 1986 regional election 30 Nov 1986 69.6 23.6 22.0 17.4 15.8 10.8 4.8 3.5 – – 1.6

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size PNV EE Lead 1990 regional election 28 Oct 1990 17.2 12.0 11.0 6.9 4.7 0.4 5.0 0.9 38.9 5.2 1989 general election 29 Oct 1989 15.1 14.0 11.2 7.4 5.8 2.3 6.2 – 33.0 1.1 1989 EP election 15 Jun 1989 12.2 10.6 11.1 7.6 5.7 1.6 4.4 – 41.4 1.1 1987 foral elections 10 Jun 1987 14.6 12.6 12.8 11.8 6.6 4.1 2.3 – – 32.6 1.8 1987 EP election 10 Jun 1987 12.9 12.7 13.1 10.7 6.5 4.8 2.6 – – 32.6 0.2 1986 regional election 30 Nov 1986 16.3 15.2 12.0 10.9 7.5 3.3 2.9 – – 30.4 1.1

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 28 October 1990 Basque Parliament election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) 289,701 28.28 +4.68 22 +5 Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE) 202,736 19.79 −2.16 16 −3 Popular Unity (HB) 186,410 18.20 +0.80 13 ±0 Basque Solidarity (EA) 115,703 11.30 −4.47 9 −4 People's Party (PP)1 83,719 8.17 +3.33 6 +4 Basque Country Left (EE) 79,105 7.72 −3.11 6 −3 United Left (IU/EB) 14,440 1.41 +0.82 0 ±0 Alavese Unity (UA) 14,351 1.40 New 3 +3 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 6,680 0.65 −2.87 0 −2 Socialist Democracy (DS) 5,023 0.49 New 0 ±0 The Ecologist Greens (LVE) 4,304 0.42 New 0 ±0 Ruiz-Mateos Group–European Democratic Alliance (ARM–ADE) 4,303 0.42 New 0 ±0 Basque Country Greens (EHB) 4,199 0.41 New 0 ±0 Workers' Socialist Party (PST) 3,010 0.29 +0.04 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 825 0.08 −0.04 0 ±0 Revolutionary Communist League–Communist Movement (LKI–EMK) 670 0.07 New 0 ±0 Alliance for the Republic (AxR)2 669 0.07 −0.03 0 ±0 Communist Party of the Basque Country People (PCPE/EHAC) 599 0.06 New 0 ±0 Communist Party of Spain (Marxist–Leninist) (PCE (m–l))3 272 0.03 −0.07 0 ±0 Blank ballots 7,580 0.74 +0.30 Total 1,024,299 75 ±0 Valid votes 1,024,299 99.50 +0.09 Invalid votes 5,158 0.50 −0.09 Votes cast / turnout 1,029,457 60.99 −8.63 Abstentions 658,479 39.01 +8.63 Registered voters 1,687,936 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PNV PSE HB EA PP EE UA % S % S % S % S % S % S % S Álava 22.3 6 21.2 6 12.7 3 8.1 2 10.8 3 6.7 2 11.1 3 Biscay 34.4 10 19.9 5 16.2 4 8.0 2 8.6 2 7.3 2 0.0 – Guipúzcoa 20.4 6 19.0 5 23.6 6 18.0 5 6.4 1 8.8 2 0.0 – Total 28.2 22 19.8 16 18.2 13 11.3 9 8.2 6 7.7 6 1.4 3 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 31 January 1991 1 February 1991 Required majority → 38 out of 75 Simple Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

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