A regional election was held in Castile and León on 13 June 1999 to elect the 5th of the autonomous community. All 83 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, as well as the 1999 European Parliament election.

Overview Under the 1999 Statute of Autonomy, the Cortes of Castile and León 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. ( by ). The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions..

Date The term of the of Castile and León expired four years after the date of its previous ordinary election, with election day being fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years, but a 1998 amendment allowed for regional elections held in May 1995 to be held concurrently with European Parliament elections, provided that they were scheduled for within a four month-timespan. 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 Castile and León (BOCYL). ( by ); ( by ). The previous election was held on 28 May 1995, setting the date for election day concurrently with that year's European Parliament election on 13 June 1999.

Amendments earlier in 1999 granted the regional president the prerogative to dissolve the of Castile and León at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no nationwide election had been called and that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or during the last year of parliament before its planned expiration, nor before one year after a previous one. ( by ). In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the were to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called, except if it happened in the final year before the expiry of the legislative term. ( by ). Any snap election held as a result of these circumstances would not alter the period to the next ordinary election, with elected lawmakers serving the remainder of its original four-year term.

The election to the of Castile and León was officially called on 20 April 1999 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOCYL, setting election day for 13 June and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 5 July..

Electoral system Voting for the was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Castile and León 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 ); ( by ).

The of Castile and León had three seats per each multi-member constituency—corresponding to the provinces of Ávila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora—plus one additional seat per 45,000 inhabitants or fraction above 22,500. All were elected using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency. ( by ); . 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 14 León, Valladolid 11 Burgos, Salamanca 8 Zamora 7 Ávila, Palencia 6 Segovia 5 Soria

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 April 1999 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group PP 50 50 Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 27 27 United Left–Left of Castile and León's Parliamentary Group IUCyL 4 4 Mixed Parliamentary Group UPL 1 3 INDEP 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 Juan José Lucas ConservatismChristian democracy 52.2% PSOE Jaime González Social democracy 29.7% IUCyL Antonio Herreros SocialismCommunism 9.6% UPL Joaquín Otero LeonesismRegionalismAutonomism 2.6% TC–PNC Carlos Rad Castilian nationalismProgressivism 0.6%

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; 42 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Castile and León (43 in the 1995 election).

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout UPL Lead 1999 regional election 13 Jun 1999 67.6 50.4 33.1 5.4 3.7 1.4 17.3 Eco Consulting/ABC 24 May–2 Jun 1999?? 51.6 28.6 10.1 3.2 – 23.0 Demoscopia/El País 26 May–1 Jun 1999? 71 56.3 32.4 6.1 1.6 – 23.9 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 24–31 May 1999 1,750? 53.1 32.7 7.7 2.9 – 20.4 CIS 3–21 May 1999 2,990 73.3 52.9 30.6 8.3 2.5 – 22.3 1996 general election 3 Mar 1996 79.0 52.2 35.0 9.1 0.7 0.3 17.2 1995 regional election 28 May 1995 73.5 52.2 29.7 9.6 2.6 0.6 22.5

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size UPL Lead 1999 regional election 13 Jun 1999 34.7 22.6 3.7 2.5 1.0 30.7 12.1 CIS 3–21 May 1999 2,990 36.6 19.5 4.0 1.6 – 29.0 5.3 17.1 1996 general election 3 Mar 1996 41.6 27.7 7.3 0.6 0.2 20.1 13.9 1995 regional election 28 May 1995 37.9 21.4 7.0 1.9 0.4 25.6 16.5

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 UPL Other/None Lead CIS 3–21 May 1999 2,990 40.0 21.0 4.4 2.0 1.5 31.1 19.0

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 UPL Other/None Lead CIS 3–21 May 1999 2,990 72.9 3.6 0.2 0.1 0.0 23.2 69.3

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead CIS 3–21 May 1999 2,990 37.9 10.7 4.5 2.2 44.7 27.2

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 13 June 1999 Cortes of Castile and León election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP) 737,982 50.45 −1.75 48 −2 Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 483,675 33.06 +3.35 30 +3 United Left of Castile and León (IUCyL) 79,390 5.43 −4.15 1 −4 Leonese People's Union (UPL) 54,158 3.70 +1.15 3 +1 Commoners' Land–Castilian Nationalist Party (TC–PNC) 20,274 1.39 +0.77 1 +1 Regionalist Unity of Castile and León (URCL) 11,195 0.77 +0.36 0 ±0 Centrist Union–Democratic and Social Centre (UC–CDS) 10,422 0.71 New 0 ±0 Independent Candidacy of Valladolid (CIV) 6,784 0.46 +0.32 0 ±0 Party of El Bierzo (PB) 3,851 0.26 −0.17 0 ±0 Spanish Democratic Party (PADE) 3,237 0.22 New 0 ±0 Salamanca–Zamora–León–PREPAL (PREPAL) 3,043 0.21 −0.03 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 2,333 0.16 New 0 ±0 Independent Salamancan Union (USI) 1,851 0.13 New 0 ±0 Zamoran People's Union (UPZ) 1,556 0.11 New 0 ±0 The Greens–Green Group (LV–GV) 1,383 0.09 ±0.00 0 ±0 Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) 1,012 0.07 ±0.00 0 ±0 Confederation of the Greens (LV) 791 0.05 New 0 ±0 Party of Self-employed of Spain and Spanish Independent Groups (PAE–I) 565 0.04 New 0 ±0 Nationalist Party of Castile and León (PANCAL) 276 0.02 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 39,036 2.67 +0.84 Total 1,462,814 83 −1 Valid votes 1,462,814 99.05 −0.06 Invalid votes 14,044 0.95 +0.06 Votes cast / turnout 1,476,858 67.58 −6.01 Abstentions 711,396 32.42 +6.01 Registered voters 2,185,507 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PP PSOE IUCyL UPL TC–PNC % S % S % S % S % S Ávila 62.4 5 26.9 2 6.4 − 0.4 − Burgos 48.7 6 31.6 4 6.8 − 7.4 1 León 42.5 6 31.0 5 4.0 − 18.4 3 0.1 − Palencia 51.0 4 37.7 3 5.8 − 0.9 − Salamanca 54.9 7 34.1 4 3.9 − 0.3 − Segovia 53.7 4 32.1 2 5.8 − 0.6 − Soria 56.7 3 32.1 2 5.8 − 0.8 − Valladolid 48.7 8 36.1 5 7.5 1 0.8 − Zamora 53.0 5 33.9 3 2.9 − 0.2 − Total 50.4 48 33.1 30 5.4 1 3.7 3 1.4 1 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 13 July 1999 Required majority → 42 out of 83 Abstentions Absentees Sources

2001 investiture Investiture Ballot → 15 March 2001 Required majority → 42 out of 83 Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

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