A regional election was held in Castilla–La Mancha on 26 May 2019 to elect the 10th of the autonomous community. All 33 seats in the were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in eleven other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain, as well as the 2019 European Parliament election.

Overview Electoral system The Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha were the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Castilian-Manchegan Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president. Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Castilla–La Mancha and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Additionally, Castilian-Manchegan people abroad were required to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote ().

The 33 members of the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, with each being allocated an initial minimum of three seats and the remaining 18 being distributed in proportion to their populations.

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

Seats Constituencies 9 Toledo 7 Albacete, Ciudad Real 5 Cuenca, Guadalajara

In smaller constituencies, the use of the electoral method resulted in an effective threshold based on the district magnitude and the distribution of votes among candidacies.

Election date The term of the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha expired four years after the date of their previous election. Elections to the Cortes were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The previous election was held on 24 May 2015, setting the election date for the Cortes on 26 May 2019.

The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no nationwide election was due and some time requirements were met: namely, that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or within the legislature's last year ahead of its scheduled expiry, nor before one year had elapsed since a previous dissolution. 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. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the candidate from the party with the highest number of seats was to be deemed automatically elected.

The election to the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha were officially triggered on 2 April 2019 after the publication of the election decree in the Official Journal of Castilla–La Mancha (DOCM), scheduling for the chamber to convene on 19 June.

Parliamentary composition The tables below show the composition of the parliamentary groups in the Cortes at the time of dissolution.

+ Parliamentary composition in April 2019 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group PP 16 16 Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 15 15 We Can Parliamentary Group Podemos 2 2

Parties and candidates The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten 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 of candidates.

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

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PP Francisco Núñez ConservatismChristian democracy 37.5% PSOE Emiliano García-Page Social democracy 36.1% Podemos–IU–Equo José García Molina Left-wing populismDirect democracyDemocratic socialism 12.9% Cs Carmen Picazo Liberalism 8.6% Vox Daniel Arias Vegas Right-wing populismUltranationalismNational conservatism 0.5%

Campaign Debates + 2019 Castilian-Manchegan regional election debates Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s) PP PSOE UP Cs Vox Audience 20 May CMM Sonia Trigueros 9.2%

Opinion polls The table below lists voting intention estimates 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. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 17 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 2019 regional election 26 May 2019 69.4 28.5 44.1 11.4 7.0 6.9 15.6 GfK/FORTA 26 May 2019 26,000? 26.6 43.1 10.4 7.7 10.0 16.5 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 22–23 May 2019?? 27.3 35.6 15.4 8.7 9.5 8.3 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 21–22 May 2019?? 27.8 35.7 15.1 8.6 9.4 7.9 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 20–21 May 2019?? 27.6 35.4 15.2 8.9 9.6 7.8 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 19–20 May 2019?? 27.7 35.1 15.6 8.7 9.7 7.4 NC Report/La Razón 19 May 2019?? 28.1 38.4 ? ?? 10.3 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 16–19 May 2019?? 27.7 35.0 15.0 8.9 9.6 7.3 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 13–16 May 2019?? 26.9 33.7 17.5 9.1 9.5 6.8 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 10–13 May 2019?? 25.6 31.6 19.8 10.0 9.9 6.0 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 7–10 May 2019?? 24.5 31.0 20.6 10.6 10.2 6.5 Numeral8 6–9 May 2019 2,000? 27.1 38.8 13.3 8.7 9.0 11.7 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 4–7 May 2019?? 23.9 31.0 20.8 10.9 10.1 7.1 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 29 Apr–4 May 2019?? 23.6 30.7 20.9 11.0 10.2 7.1 April 2019 general election 28 Apr 2019 76.6 22.7 32.4 17.5 15.3 10.2 10.7 CIS 21 Mar–23 Apr 2019 1,088? 29.8 40.3 8.6 6.8 10.9 10.5 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 31 Mar–7 Apr 2019?? 27.0 34.8 11.8 12.3 9.9 7.8 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 24–31 Mar 2019?? 26.2 35.0 12.2 12.4 9.8 8.8 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 17–24 Mar 2019?? 26.5 36.0 12.0 12.0 9.5 9.5 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 10–17 Mar 2019?? 26.6 34.4 11.1 14.4 9.7 7.8 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 3–10 Mar 2019?? 26.1 33.9 11.7 14.3 9.9 7.8 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 22 Feb–3 Mar 2019?? 26.3 33.7 11.8 14.0 9.9 7.4 SW Demoscopia/PSOE 8 Jan 2019 2,000? 26.3 40.3 16.3 8.5 8.6 14.0 NC Report/La Razón 14–18 May 2018 1,400 68.9 33.3 32.9 9.9 15.0 4.2 – – 0.4 SyM Consulting 21–24 Mar 2018 3,200 73.5 32.2 35.0 9.5 14.3 3.4 – – 2.8 Celeste-Tel/PSOE 1–22 Mar 2018 1,950? 28.6 37.2 9.0 16.8 – – – 8.6 Noxa/PSOE 22–26 May 2017 1,000? 34.3 37.9 9.0 12.5 2.2 – – 3.6 2016 general election 26 Jun 2016 71.8 42.7 27.3 13.0 0.2 14.7 15.4 2015 general election 20 Dec 2015 75.3 38.1 28.4 13.7 13.8 3.6 0.3 – 9.7 2015 regional election 24 May 2015 71.5 37.5 36.1 9.7 8.6 3.1 0.5 – 1.4

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 26 May 2019 Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 476,469 44.10 +7.99 19 +4 People's Party (PP) 308,184 28.53 −8.96 10 −6 Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (Cs) 122,955 11.38 +2.74 4 +4 Vox (Vox) 75,813 7.02 +6.54 0 ±0 United We Can–United Left–Equo CLM (Podemos–IU–Equo)1 74,777 6.92 −5.93 0 −2 Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) 8,662 0.80 −0.01 0 ±0 Castilian Party–Commoners' Land (PCAS–TC) 1,411 0.13 −0.01 0 ±0 Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) 1,248 0.12 +0.03 0 ±0 Traditions and Rural World (ANATUR–UDEC) 1,244 0.12 New 0 ±0 For a Fairer World (PUM+J) 728 0.07 New 0 ±0 Together We Win (JG) 149 0.01 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 8,754 0.81 −0.94 Total 1,080,394 33 ±0 Valid votes 1,080,394 98.95 +1.13 Invalid votes 11,506 1.05 −1.13 Votes cast / turnout 1,091,900 69.45 −2.05 Abstentions 480,408 30.55 +2.05 Registered voters 1,572,308 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PSOE PP Cs % S % S % S Albacete 41.9 4 29.1 2 13.2 1 Ciudad Real 46.3 4 28.6 2 11.3 1 Cuenca 46.4 3 32.8 2 7.9 − Guadalajara 39.6 3 24.3 1 14.4 1 Toledo 44.6 5 28.3 3 10.5 1 Total 44.1 19 28.5 10 11.4 4 Sources

Aftermath

InvestitureEmiliano García-Page (PSOE) Ballot → 3 July 2019 Required majority → 17 out of 33 Abstentions Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

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