Basque parliamentary election, 2005

Basque parliamentary election, 2005

17 April 2005

All 75 seats in the Basque Parliament 38 seats needed for a majority Registered 1,799,523 0.8% Turnout 1,223,634 (68.0%) 11.0 pp   First party Second party Third party   Leader Juan José Ibarretxe Patxi López María San Gil Party PNV–EA PSE–EE (PSOE) PP Leader since 31 January 1998 23 March 2002 6 November 2004 Leader's seat Álava Biscay Gipuzkoa Last election 33 seats, 42.4% 13 seats, 17.8% 19 seats, 22.9% Seats won 29 18 15 Seat change 4 5 4 Popular vote 468,117 274,546 210,614 Percentage 38.4% 22.5% 17.3% Swing 4.0 pp 4.7 pp 5.6 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Maite Aranburu Javier Madrazo Aintzane Ezenarro Party EHAK/PCTV EB–B Aralar Leader since 2005 14 May 1994 14 November 2004 Leader's seat Biscay Biscay Gipuzkoa Last election 7 seats, 10.0%[lower-alpha 1] 3 seats, 5.5% Did not contest Seats won 9 3 1 Seat change 2 ±0 1 Popular vote 150,644 65,023 28,180 Percentage 12.4% 5.3% 2.3% Swing 2.4 pp 0.2 pp New party

Provinces won by PNV–EA (green)

Lehendakari before election Juan José Ibarretxe PNV–EA Elected Lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe PNV–EA

The 2005 Basque parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 17 April 2005, to elect the 8th Basque Parliament, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of the Basque Country. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

The electoral coalition Basque Nationalist Party-Basque Solidarity (EAJ-PNV/EA) won 29 seats, the Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE-EE) came second with 18 seats, the People's Party (PP) came in third with 15 seats. The controversial Communist Party of the Basque Homelands (PCTV-EHAK) won 9 seats, having been endorsed by the banned Batasuna party.

Electoral system

The 75 members of the Basque Parliament were elected in 3 multi-member districts, corresponding to the Basque Country's three provinces, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Each district was assigned a fixed set of seats, distributed as follows: Alava (25), Biscay (25) and Gipuzkoa (25).

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 3% of valid votes in each district (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.^[1]

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 17 April 2005 Basque Parliament election results →

Party		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Basque Nationalist Party–Basque Solidarity (PNV–EA)	468,117	38.38	–4.00	29	–4
	Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE (PSOE))	274,546	22.51	+4.75	18	+5
	People's Party of the Basque Country (PP)	210,614	17.27	–5.66	15	–4
	Communist Party of the Basque Homelands (PCTV/EHAK)[lower-alpha 1]	150,644	12.35	+2.31	9	+2
	United Left–Greens (EB–B)	65,023	5.33	–0.20	3	±0
	Aralar (Aralar)	28,180	2.31	New	1	+1

Parties with less than 1.0% of the vote		13,474	1.10	—	0	±0
	Alavese Unity (UA)	4,117	0.34	New	0	±0
	Greens–Anti-Bullfighting Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (B–PACMA)	4,049	0.33	New	0	±0
	Internationalist Socialist Workers' Party (POSI)	2,354	0.19	New	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	1,514	0.12	–0.14	0	±0
	For a Fairer World (PUM+J)	1,261	0.10	New	0	±0
	Carlist Party of the Basque Country–Carlist Party (EKA–PC)	179	0.01	–0.03	0	±0

	Blank ballots	9,001	0.74	–0.07
Total		1,219,599	100.00		75	±0
Valid votes		1,219,599	99.67	+0.10
Invalid votes		4,035	0.33	–0.10
Votes cast / turnout		1,223,634	68.00	–10.97
Abstentions		575,889	32.00	+10.97
Registered voters		1,799,523
Source: Argos Information Portal
PCTV/EHAK results are compared to Basque Citizens totals in the 2001 election.

Vote share
PNV–EA			38.38%
PSE–EE (PSOE)			22.51%
PP			17.27%
PCTV/EHAK			12.35%
EB–B			5.33%
Aralar			2.31%
Others			1.10%
Blank ballots			0.74%

Parliamentary seats
PNV–EA			38.67%
PSE–EE (PSOE)			24.00%
PP			20.00%
PCTV/EHAK			12.00%
EB–B			4.00%
Aralar			1.33%

References

1. "Law 5/1990, of 15 June, of elections to the Basque Parliament.".