2001 Galician regional election

A regional election was held in Galicia on 21 October 2001 to elect the 6th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

Overview Under the 1981 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of Galicia was the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a regional president.. The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions..

Date The term of the Parliament of Galicia 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 Journal of Galicia (DOG), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication.; ( by ). The previous election was held on 19 October 1997, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 19 October 2001. The election decree was required to be published in the DOG no later than 25 September 2001, setting the latest possible date for election day on 18 November 2001.

The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Galicia at any given time and call a snap election, provided that it did not occur before one year after a previous one under this procedure. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called..

The Parliament of Galicia was officially dissolved on 28 August 2001 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the DOG, setting election day for 21 October and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 20 November..

Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Galicia 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 Parliament of Galicia had a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 80 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 75. All were elected in four multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra, each of which was assigned an initial minimum of 10 seats and the remaining 35 distributed in proportion to population—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 use of this electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution.

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats:.

Seats Constituencies 24 A Coruña 22 Pontevedra 15 Lugo 14 Ourense

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 ).

Outgoing parliament The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.

+ Parliamentary composition in August 2001 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group of Galicia PP 42 42 Galician Nationalist Bloc's Parliamentary Group BNG 18 18 Socialists of Galicia's Parliamentary Group PSdeG–PSOE 13 13 Mixed Parliamentary Group EdeG 2 2

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 PP Manuel Fraga ConservatismChristian democracy 52.2% BNG Xosé Manuel Beiras Galician nationalismLeft-wing nationalismSocialism 24.8% PSdeG–PSOE Emilio Pérez Touriño Social democracy 19.5%

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 Parliament of Galicia.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout BNG Lead 2001 regional election 21 Oct 2001 60.2 51.6 22.6 21.8 0.7 29.0 Ipsos–Eco/TVG 21 Oct 2001 25,000? 52.2 23.4 19.1 0.9 28.8 Sigma Dos/Antena 3 21 Oct 2001 18,000? 52.0 25.1 19.8 – 26.9 Sondaxe/Tele 5 12–20 Oct 2001 4,375? 51.4 27.1 19.0 – 24.3 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 9–13 Oct 2001 2,500? 51.3 25.9 20.5 – 25.4 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 8–12 Oct 2001 2,500? 50.8 26.3 20.7 – 24.5 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 7–11 Oct 2001 2,500? 51.7 25.7 20.5 – 26.0 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 6–10 Oct 2001 2,500? 51.6 25.6 20.5 – 26.0 USC 5–10 Oct 2001?? 48.3 26.8 23.1 – 21.5 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 5–9 Oct 2001 2,500? 51.6 25.9 20.4 – 25.7 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 4–8 Oct 2001 2,500? 50.6 26.6 20.8 – 24.0 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 3–7 Oct 2001 2,500? 50.0 26.8 21.2 – 23.2 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 2–6 Oct 2001 2,500? 49.5 26.7 21.6 – 22.8 Celeste-Tel/Terra 5 Oct 2001?? 49.7 24.4 22.7 – 25.3 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 1–5 Oct 2001 2,500? 49.3 26.4 22.0 – 22.9 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 30 Sep–4 Oct 2001 2,500? 50.6 25.6 21.7 – 25.0 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 29 Sep–3 Oct 2001 2,500? 51.7 24.9 21.2 – 26.8 Opina/Cadena SER 2 Oct 2001?? 50.0 26.0 20.5 1.0 24.0 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 28 Sep–2 Oct 2001 2,500? 51.8 25.0 21.0 – 26.8 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 27 Sep–1 Oct 2001 2,500? 51.7 25.1 20.9 – 26.6 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 26–30 Sep 2001 2,500? 51.7 25.4 20.7 – 26.3 CIS 15–30 Sep 2001 2,991 64.0 49.7 25.2 21.4 1.0 24.5 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 25–29 Sep 2001 2,500? 51.2 25.6 20.8 – 25.6 Infortécnica/La Región 10–17 Sep 2001?? 49.6 24.8 23.6 – 24.8 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 3–7 Sep 2001 2,400? 50.4 26.0 21.2 – 24.4 Infortécnica/La Región Aug 2001?? 49.1 26.2 22.7 – 22.9 PP 29 Jul 2001 2,000???? –? USC 18 Jul 2001?? 49.9 25.7 23.3 – 24.2 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 14 Jul 2001?? 47.1 27.2 22.8 – 19.9 PSOE Jul 2001????? –? PP 2 Jun 2001????? –? Infortécnica/La Región Jun 2001?? 50.7 27.0 21.4 – 23.7 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 14 Apr 2001? 61.5 50.7 24.4 19.5 – 26.3 Sondaxe/BNG 24 Mar 2001?? 46.2 28.0 23.0 – 18.2 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 1 Jan 2001? 71.0 48.0 28.5 18.7 – 19.5 USC 11–23 Dec 2000?? 50.1 25.5 23.9 – 24.6 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 23 Sep 2000? 71.5 48.7 28.5 17.1 – 20.2 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 2 Jul 2000? 73.8 50.3 28.3 15.7 – 22.0 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 2 Apr 2000? 73.1 48.4 31.6 15.0 – 16.8 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 65.0 54.0 18.6 23.7 1.3 30.3 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 23 Jan 2000? 71.2 50.3 30.2 18.8 – 20.1 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 19 Sep 1999? 73.9 49.4 30.9 18.0 – 18.5 1999 EP election 13 Jun 1999 60.8 49.9 22.0 23.6 1.1 26.3 1997 regional election 19 Oct 1997 62.5 52.2 24.8 19.5 0.9 27.4

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size BNG Lead 2001 regional election 21 Oct 2001 29.0 13.3 12.5 0.4 35.8 15.7 CIS 15–30 Sep 2001 2,991 31.2 13.2 12.1 0.6 34.7 4.5 18.0 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 37.1 13.2 16.2 0.9 30.5 20.9 1999 EP election 13 Jun 1999 32.4 14.5 15.2 0.7 34.4 17.2 1997 regional election 19 Oct 1997 30.9 15.3 11.6 0.5 33.7 15.6

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 BNG Other/None Lead CIS 15–30 Sep 2001 2,991 35.7 14.7 14.4 0.6 7.3 27.2 21.0

Preferred President The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become president of the Regional Government of Galicia.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead CIS 15–30 Sep 2001 2,991 37.2 14.8 12.2 13.5 22.4 22.4

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 21 October 2001 Parliament of Galicia election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP) 791,885 51.62 −0.57 41 −1 Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) 346,430 22.58 −2.20 17 −1 Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdeG–PSOE) 334,819 21.83 +2.37 17 +2 United Left (EU–IU) 10,431 0.68 −0.20 0 ±0 Galician Progressive Democracy (DPG) 6,938 0.45 −0.27 0 ±0 Left of Galicia (EdeG) 5,001 0.33 New 0 ±0 Party of Self-employed and Professionals (AUTONOMO) 4,481 0.29 +0.16 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 4,137 0.27 +0.11 0 ±0 Galician People's Front (FPG) 3,176 0.21 ±0.00 0 ±0 Social Democratic Party of Law (SDD) 646 0.04 −0.03 0 ±0 Blank ballots 25,988 1.69 +0.38 Total 1,533,932 75 ±0 Valid votes 1,533,932 99.30 −0.20 Invalid votes 10,755 0.70 +0.20 Votes cast / turnout 1,544,687 60.16 −2.35 Abstentions 1,022,983 39.84 +2.35 Registered voters 2,567,670 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PP BNG PSdeG % S % S % S A Coruña 48.7 12 24.1 6 22.9 6 Lugo 56.0 9 19.5 3 21.6 3 Ourense 57.4 8 20.3 3 19.3 3 Pontevedra 50.8 12 23.1 5 21.7 5 Total 51.6 41 22.6 17 21.8 17 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 5 December 2001 Required majority → 38 out of 75 Abstentions Absentees Sources

2002 motions of no confidence

Motion of no confidence Ballot → 12 December 2002 Required majority → 38 out of 75 Abstentions Absentees Sources

Motion of no confidence Ballot → 12 December 2002 Required majority → 38 out of 75 Abstentions Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography