Aragonese parliamentary election, 1995

Aragonese parliamentary election, 1995

28 May 1995

All 67 seats in the Courts of Aragon 34 seats needed for a majority Registered 993,975 3.9% Turnout 706,954 (71.1%) 6.5 pp   First party Second party Third party   Leader Santiago Lanzuela Marcelino Iglesias Emilio Eiroa Party PP PSOE PAR Leader since 24 September 1993 15 February 1995 12 July 1991 Last election 17 seats, 20.7% 30 seats, 40.3% 17 seats, 24.7% Seats won 27 19 14 Seat change 10 11 3 Popular vote 263,524 180,728 143,573 Percentage 37.5% 25.7% 20.4% Swing 16.8 pp 14.6 pp 4.3 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Miguel Ángel Fustero Chesús Bernal Party IU CHA Leader since 1994 29 June 1986 Last election 3 seats, 6.7% 0 seats, 2.3% Seats won 5 2 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 64,685 34,077 Percentage 9.2% 4.8% Swing 2.5 pp 2.5 pp

President before election Ramón Tejedor PSOE Elected President Santiago Lanzuela PP

The 1995 Aragonese parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 28 May 1995, to elect the 4th democratically-elected Courts of Aragon, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Aragon. At stake were all 67 seats in the Courts, determining the President of the Government of Aragon.

The election saw a marked increase for the People's Party (PP), which went on to win the election doubling its 1991 vote and gaining ten seats. Much of the increase came at the expense of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), at the moment beset by corruption scandals. The Aragonese Party (PAR) lost ground for the second consecutive election and was displaced to 3rd place. United Left (IU) improved its position while the left-wing regionalist Aragonese Union (CHA) won seats in the Courts for the first time.

The new legislature elected Santiago Lanzuela as the first PP President of Aragon by 41 votes to 26. The PP and PAR deputies backed Lanzuela while PSOE, CHA and IU voted against. Lanzuela headed a PP administration with the initial support of the PAR.

Electoral system

The number of seats in the Aragonese Courts was set to a fixed-number of 67. All Courts members were elected in 3 multi-member districts, corresponding to Aragon's three provinces, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Each district was entitled to an initial minimum of 13 seats, with the remaining 28 seats allocated among the three provinces in proportion to their populations, on the required condition that the number of inhabitants per seat in each district did not exceed 2.75 times those of any other. For the 1995 election, seats were distributed as follows: Huesca (18), Teruel (16) and Zaragoza (33).

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]

Background

The previous legislature had been tightly divided between the left and right blocs, with an independent, former PP deputy holding the balance of power. This had resulted in a coalition between the PP and PAR being replaced by a PSOE administration in 1993. However, legal difficulties had forced the resignation of the PSOE Aragonese President José Marco in January 1995, being replaced by party colleague Ramón Tejedor. The PSOE Federal Executive designated Marcelino Iglesias as candidate for President in the 1995 election, marginalizing Marco from the election of the regional candidates.^[2]

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 28 May 1995 Aragonese Courts election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	263,524	37.50	16.82	27	10
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	180,728	25.72	14.62	19	11
	Aragonese Party (PAR)	143,573	20.43	4.25	14	3
	United Left of Aragon (IU)	64,685	9.20	2.46	5	2
	Aragonese Union (CHA)	34,077	4.85	2.55	2	2
	Spain Independents' Platform (PIE)	2,349	0.33	New	0	±0
	Aragonese Unity (UA)	1,342	0.19	New	0	±0
	SOS Nature (SOS)	923	0.13	New	0	±0
	Spanish Falange of the JONS (FE-JONS)	445	0.06	New	0	±0
	Blank ballots	11,098	1.58	0.28
Total		702,744	100.00		67	±0
Valid votes		702,744	99.40	0.10
Invalid votes		4,210	0.60	0.10
Votes cast / turnout		706,954	71.12	6.55
Abstentions		287,021	28.88	6.55
Registered voters		993,975
Source: Argos Information Portal

Vote share
PP			37.50%
PSOE			25.72%
PAR			20.43%
IU			9.20%
CHA			4.85%
Others			0.72%
Blank ballots			1.58%

Parliamentary seats
PP			40.30%
PSOE			28.36%
PAR			20.90%
IU			7.46%
CHA			2.99%

Results by province

References

1. "Law 1/1987, of 31 March, electoral of the Autonomous Community of Aragon".
2. "The PSOE marginalizes Marco from the designation of the Aragonese candidates" (in Spanish). El País. 1995-02-16.