A regional election was held in Aragon on 22 May 2011 to elect the 8th of the autonomous community. All 67 seats in the were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.

The outgoing Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) administration suffered a serious defeat after losing nearly 30% of its 2007 vote. The opposition People's Party (PP) obtained the best result of its history in the region, though it remained four seats short for an absolute majority. This was the first time since the 1999 election that the PP had received the most votes in Aragon. United Left (IU) had its best result since 1995, gaining three seats. The Aragonese Party (PAR), on the other hand, obtained its worst historical result up until that point, while the Aragonese Union (CHA) remained static at its 2007 result.

As a result of the election, Luisa Fernanda Rudi from the People's Party was elected President of Aragon as part of a PP–PAR coalition agreement. The PAR had been previously the PSOE coalition partner from 1999 to 2011.

Overview Under the 2007 Statute of Autonomy, the Cortes of Aragon 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 of Aragon 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 Aragon (BOA), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication.; ( by ). The previous election was held on 27 May 2007, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 27 May 2011. The election decree was required to be published in the BOA no later than 3 May 2011, setting the latest possible date for election day on 26 June 2011.

The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the of Aragon at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year after a previous one.; ; . In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the 's reconvening, the chamber was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called..

The election to the of Aragon was officially called on 29 March 2011 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOA, setting election day for 22 May and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 21 June..

Electoral system Voting for the was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Aragon 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 ). Amendments earlier in 2011 required non-resident citizens to apply for voting, a system known as "begged" voting ()..

The of Aragon had a minimum of 65 and a maximum of 80 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 67. All were elected in three multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza, each of which was assigned an initial minimum of 13 seats and the remaining 28 distributed in proportion to population (with the seat-to-population ratio in the most populated province not exceeding 2.75 times that of the least populated one)—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three 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 constituency was entitled the following seats:.

Seats Constituencies 35 Zaragoza 18 Huesca 14 Teruel

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 the election call.

+ Parliamentary composition in March 2011 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 30 30 People's Parliamentary Group in the Cortes of Aragon PP 23 23 Aragonese Party's Parliamentary Group PAR 8 8 Aragonese Union Parliamentary Group CHA 4 4 Mixed Parliamentary Group IU 1 2 INDEP 1

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 ). Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition..

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

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PSOE Eva Almunia Social democracy 41.1% PP Luisa Fernanda Rudi ConservatismChristian democracy 31.1% PAR José Ángel Biel RegionalismCentrism 12.1% CHA Nieves Ibeas Aragonese nationalismEco-socialism 8.1% IU Adolfo Barrena SocialismCommunism 4.1% UPyD Cristina Andreu Social liberalismRadical centrism colspan="2"

Campaign Debates + 2011 Aragonese regional election debates Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s) PSOE PP PAR CHA IU Audience 16 May Aragón TV Pepe Quílez NI NI NI 14.0% 20 May Aragón TV Pepe Quílez N/A

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; 34 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Aragon.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 2011 regional election 22 May 2011 67.9 29.0 39.7 9.2 8.2 6.2 2.3 10.7 Ipsos–Eco/FORTA 22 May 2011?? 30.3 36.7 10.6 8.5 6.5 2.0 6.4 IACOM/El Periódico 15 May 2011??????? –? Sigma Dos/El Mundo 10–12 May 2011 850? 33.6 38.4 9.8 8.1 4.9 – 4.8 NC Report/La Razón 3–10 May 2011?? 36.9 38.4? – – – 2.5 Ikerfel/Vocento 9 May 2011?? 36.9 34.6 9.5 7.7 5.4 – 2.3 TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3 27–28 Apr 2011 1,000? 30.4 37.0 11.9 9.2 5.0 – 6.6 NC Report/La Razón 25 Apr 2011?? 37.6 38.5 11.2 6.3 4.4 – 0.9 Celeste-Tel/Terra 13–20 Apr 2011 600? 31.1 39.6 10.3 7.8 5.9 – 8.5 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 1,596? 35.7 33.9 10.3 8.2 5.1 2.4 1.8 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 13–15 Apr 2011 1,207? 36.6 36.5 8.9 6.7 5.8 – 0.1 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 11–14 Apr 2011 850? 33.8 40.4 7.8 7.7 5.4 – 6.6 A+M/Heraldo de Aragón 1–14 Apr 2011 2,200 68.1 34.7 34.9 9.9 7.9 7.4 – 0.2 Radio Ebro 23 Mar–1 Apr 2011 1,525 68.7 32.0 38.9 9.9 10.0 4.8 – 6.9 A+M/Heraldo de Aragón 10–31 Jan 2011 2,200 67.6 35.6 39.2 9.3 7.4 6.2 – 3.6 NC Report/La Razón 30 Dec–3 Jan 2011?? 32.8 40.9 – – – – 8.1 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 17–21 Dec 2010 850? 30.3 40.0 9.4 8.6 5.7 – 9.7 PP 5 Dec 2010?? 33.7 38.2 9.5 9.0 4.7 – 4.5 A+M/DGA 6–14 Nov 2010 2,524? 29.7 37.9 13.0 9.1 5.3 – 8.2 A+M/Heraldo de Aragón 20 Sep–5 Oct 2010 2,000? 36.8 35.0 11.5 9.2 5.2 – 1.8 PSOE 6–28 Sep 2010 1,500?????? –? Sigma Dos/El Mundo 21–24 May 2010 850? 36.2 41.2 7.3 6.7 5.0 – 5.0 A+M/Heraldo de Aragón 5–19 Apr 2010 2,000 65.4 40.1 36.9 8.3 7.1 5.0 – 3.2 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 8–15 Mar 2010 865? 38.3 38.0 5.0 7.0 6.6 – 0.3 2009 EP election 7 Jun 2009 46.4 44.0 41.7 – 2.8 3.5 3.2 2.3 2008 general election 9 Mar 2008 75.9 46.4 37.0 5.2 5.0 2.8 1.1 9.4 2007 regional election 27 May 2007 66.5 41.1 31.1 12.1 8.1 4.1 – 10.0

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Lead 2011 regional election 22 May 2011 19.8 27.2 6.3 5.6 4.2 1.6 30.6 7.4 CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 1,596 17.0 16.6 2.8 3.1 2.0 1.3 41.0 12.2 0.4 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 13–15 Apr 2011 1,207 23.6 26.1 5.5 4.9 3.2 1.6 – – 2.5 A+M/DGA 6–14 Nov 2010 2,524 18.9 23.3 6.6 5.8 3.8 – 23.5 11.3 4.4 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 8–15 Mar 2010 865 25.4 23.2 2.6 4.4 4.6 – – – 2.2 2009 EP election 7 Jun 2009 20.5 19.6 – 1.3 1.6 1.5 52.9 0.9 2008 general election 9 Mar 2008 35.3 28.4 4.0 3.8 2.2 0.9 23.2 6.9 2007 regional election 27 May 2007 27.7 21.0 8.2 5.5 2.8 – 32.0 6.7

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 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 1,596 24.5 26.3 5.0 4.6 2.8 1.2 10.3 26.4 1.8

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 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 1,596 18.7 41.3 1.3 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.8 37.6 22.6

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

All candidates

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead CIS 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 1,596 21.1 26.5 4.7 3.6 1.1 0.6 5.8 36.7 5.4 A+M/DGA 6–14 Nov 2010 2,524 17.2 23.4 7.6 3.1 3.3 – 2.6 42.8 6.2

Almunia vs. Rudi

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 13–15 Apr 2011 1,207 34.9 36.4 28.7 1.5 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 8–15 Mar 2010 865 26.3 31.6 42.1 5.3

Predicted President The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood for each leader to become president.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 13–15 Apr 2011 1,207 29.3 40.0 30.7 10.7 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 8–15 Mar 2010 865 21.7 31.0 47.3 9.3

Results Overall