A regional election was held in Catalonia on 20 March 1980 to elect the 1st Parliament of the autonomous community. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. This was the first regional election to be held in Catalonia since the Spanish transition to democracy and the second democratic regional election in Catalan history after that of 1932.
The election results granted a victory with nearly 28% of the vote and 43 seats for the Catalan nationalist Convergence and Union (CiU), the alliance of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC) led by Jordi Pujol, despite earlier predictions that the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE) would emerge as the largest party in parliament and maintain the first place it had achieved in the 1977 and 1979 general elections. Compared to the general elections, the PSC ambiguous positions throughout the campaign were said to have cost them votes both to the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) and to the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC)—both of which saw improvements to their general election results—as well as to abstention and, to a lesser extent, to the Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA), which was only narrowly able to enter the Parliament. Results for the Centrists of Catalonia (CC–UCD) alliance were seen as disappointing, having lost many votes to Pujol's coalition and being shut from any chance to lead the regional government.
The complicated parliamentary arithmetic resulting from the election—with the only alliances able to command an absolute majority being CiU–PSC (76 seats), CiU–UCD–ERC (75) and PSC–PSUC–ERC (72)—raised concerns on Pujol's prospects for a successful investiture. In the end, Pujol would be able to get elected as Catalan president through the support from both UCD and ERC in a second ballot held on 24 April 1980. The election would mark the beginning of 23 years of uninterrupted Pujol's rule and the start of CiU's hegemony in regional politics for decades to come.
Background
Historical precedents for Catalan autonomy after the Nueva Planta decrees of 1714 dated back to the Spanish Draft Constitution of 1873, with Catalonia as one out of the seventeen projected states within the Spanish federal state; the Commonwealth of Catalonia established in 1914 as the only such provincial association that came to exist; and finally as an autonomous region during the Second Spanish Republic. In 1931, the Government of Catalonia () was restored, followed by the approval of a Statute of Autonomy in 1932 which was of application until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and the disestablishment of the Second Republic, when Catalan autonomy was suppressed by the Francoist regime.
The death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and the start of the Spanish transition to democracy led to negotiations between the Spanish government under then Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez and Catalan president-in-exile Josep Tarradellas over the issue of Catalan autonomy, leading to the re-establishment of the regional Catalan government on 5 October 1977 and in Tarradellas's return to Catalonia on 23 October. Further negotiations between Catalan political parties ensued for the drafting of a new statute of autonomy, to be known as the "Statute of Sau" (), which would be submitted for review on 29 December 1978 and would secure the favourable ruling of the Cortes Generales on 13 August 1979. After being ratified in referendum it would obtain the final approval of the Cortes and published in the Official State Gazette on 22 December, paving the way for the first Catalan regional election since the Second Spanish Republic to be held.
Overview Under the 1979 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of Catalonia 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 (which were those used in the 1977 general election).; .
Date The Executive Council of the Provisional Generalitat of Catalonia, in agreement with the Government of Spain, was required to call an election to the Parliament of Catalonia within 15 days after the date of enactment of the Statute, with election day taking place within 60 days after the call..
The Parliament of Catalonia could not be dissolved before the expiration date of parliament, except in the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot. In such a case, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called..
Initially scheduled for either 13 or 16 March 1980, lack of agreement on the date of the election between the various Catalan political parties resulted in several weeks of speculation that President Josep Tarradellas would choose to trigger a government crisis that could further delay the election in an attempt to ensure his continuity in office. However on 17 January, after deliberations by the Executive Council and in agreement with the State Government, President Tarradellas announced the election for 20 March.
The election to the Parliament of Catalonia was officially called on 21 January 1980 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the Official Journal of the Government of Catalonia, setting election day for 20 March..
Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Catalonia and with full political rights. ( by ).
The Parliament of Catalonia had 135 seats in its first election. All were elected in four multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Barcelona, Gerona, Lérida and Tarragona, each of which was assigned a fixed number of seats—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 Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats:; .
Seats Constituencies 85 Barcelona 18 Tarragona 17 Gerona 15 Lérida
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..
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 15 days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one permille—and, in any case, 500 signatures—of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list..
Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:
Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology PSC–PSOE Joan Reventós Social democracy CC–UCD Antón Cañellas Christian democracySocial democracyLiberalism PSUC Josep Benet CommunismCatalanism CiU Jordi Pujol Catalan nationalismCentrism ERC Heribert Barrera Catalan nationalismLeft-wing nationalismSocial democracy PSA–PA Francisco Hidalgo Andalusian nationalismSocialismMarxism
The Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE) had been formed in July 1978 out of the merger between the Socialist Party of Catalonia–Congress (PSC–C), the Socialist Party of Catalonia–Regrouping (PSC–R) and the Catalan Socialist Federation (FSC–PSOE), as a result of lengthy negotiations throughout 1977 after the success of the Socialists of Catalonia alliance in the 1977 general election. Tensions resulting from the merger would be common during the ensuing years, and in late 1979 political and organizational discrepancies between the various factions within the unified PSC–PSOE led to an internal crisis, which had led party leader and prospective leading candidate Joan Reventós to threaten with his resignation should the crisis not be resolved ahead of the incoming Catalan regional election.
Throughout 1978, an operation was launched for the establishment of two centrist electoral blocs, aimed at supporting Tarradellas's re-election and dispute the electoral hegemony in Catalonia from the PSC–PSOE and the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) ahead of the incoming 1979 general, local and, ultimately, 1980 regional elections: a Catalan nationalist pole formed by Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Jordi Pujol's Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), and another one formed around the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)—and joined by christian democratic parties breaking away from the Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC)-led Union of the Centre and Christian Democracy of Catalonia (UCiDCC) coalition, such as the Union of the Centre of Catalonia (UCC) or the Democratic Union Broad Centre (UDCA). This attempt would not succeed, with Tarradellas ending up forfeiting his re-election bid after a final, last-ditch attempt to form a candidacy made of independents in February 1980, but it would provide the basis for the long-term Convergence and Union (CiU) alliance formed between CDC and UDC, as well as for the constitution of Centrists of Catalonia (CC–UCD), a merger of UCD and UDCA which had also included UCC in its first years.
Negotiations for the formation of CiU had been underway between CDC and UDC throughout August 1978 and were formalized on September that year, aiming at establishing a big tent alliance of Catalan nationalist parties that could appeal both to centre-left and centre-right voters. CDC had contested the 1977 general election within the Democratic Pact for Catalonia, together with Democratic Left of Catalonia (EDC)—which merged into CDC in June 1978—and National Front of Catalonia (FNC) for the Congress, whereas UDC had formed the UCiDCC coalition together with the Catalan Centre party; the parties from both alliances had also formed the Democracy and Catalonia coalition for the 1977 Senate election. In the case of CC–UCD, it had been formed as an electoral alliance in 1978 by UCD, UCC and UDCA ahead of the 1979 general and local elections. UCC itself had been the result of the merging between the Catalan Centre, the League of Catalonia–Catalan Liberal Party and defectors from UDC, and it had been intended that the regional UCD branch would also eventually merge with the party. In a joint congress on 22 December 1979, UCD and UDCA agreed to transform the alliance into a permanent political party, but UCC did not join the operation and chose not to contest the regional election, with the party eventually merging into CDC in late 1980.
The Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA) chose to contest the Catalan election out of "defending the interests of Andalusian people wherever they are", in reference to the large Andalusian community in Catalonia (840,000 at the beginning of the 1970s). The People's Alliance (AP) did not directly contest the election, instead giving its support to the Catalan Solidarity candidacy.
About 2,100 candidates from 16 political parties stood for election, with eleven candidacies running in all four provinces: the main parties PSC, UCD, PSUC, CiU, ERC and PSA, as well as the Left Nationalists (NE), the Unity for Socialism (CUPS) alliance, New Force (FN), the Left Bloc for National Liberation (BEAN) and the Communist Unity (UC).
Opinion polls