Valencian parliamentary election, 1983

Valencian parliamentary election, 1983

8 May 1983

All 89 seats in the Valencian Courts 45 seats needed for a majority Opinion polls Registered 2,654,967 Turnout 1,931,142 (72.7%)   First party Second party Third party   Leader Joan Lerma Manuel Giner Miralles José Galán Party PSPV–PSOE AP–PDP–PL PCE Leader since 31 July 1979 December 1981 23 September 1980 Seats won 51 32 6 Popular vote 982,567 609,519 142,570 Percentage 51.4% 31.9% 7.5%

President before election Joan Lerma PSPV–PSOE Elected President Joan Lerma PSPV–PSOE

The 1983 Valencian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st democratically-elected Valencian Courts, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia. At stake were all 89 seats in the Courts, determining the President of the Valencian Government.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) won the election with an absolute majority of 51 out of 89 seats and almost 1 million votes (51.4% of the vote). The People's Coalition, headed by the conservative People's Alliance, became the second political force and the main opposition party in the Valencian Courts with 32 seats. The Communist Party of Spain (PCE) managed to surpass the 5% autonomic threshold and entered the Courts with 6 seats.

As a result of the election, PSPV-PSOE leader Joan Lerma became the first democratically-elected President of the Valencian Community.

Electoral system

The number of seats in the Valencian Courts was set to a fixed-number of 89. All Courts members were elected in 3 multi-member districts, corresponding to the Valencian Community's three provinces, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. As the community had not passed an electoral law of its own at the time, the electoral system came regulated under Decree 29/1983, which distributed the Courts seats as follows: Alicante (29), Castellon (25) and Valencia (35).

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 5% of valid votes in all of the community (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution. This meant that in the case a list polled above 5% in one or more of the districts but below 5% in the community totals, it would remain outside of the seat apportionment.^[1]

Opinion polls

Seat projections

Opinion polls showing seat projections are displayed in the table below. The highest seat figures in each polling survey have their background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. 45 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Valencian Courts.

45 seats needed for majority

Date	Polling Firm/Source	PSPV	CP	PCE	CDS	Others
8 May 1983	Regional Election	51	32	6	0	0
Exit polls
23–26 Apr	Sofemasa	62−67	23−26	0−1	0	0
1983
28 Oct 1982	General Election	(54)	(29)	(0)	(0)	(6)

Results

Overall

Summary of the 8 May 1983 Valencian Courts election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV-PSOE)	982,567	51.41	−	51	−
	People's Coalition-Valencian Union (AP-PDP-UL-UV)	609,519	31.89	−	32	−
	Communist Party of the Valencian Country (PCE-PCPV)	142,570	7.46	−	6	−
	Valencian People's Unity (UPV)	58,712	3.07	−	0	−
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	36,015	1.88	−	0	−
	Liberal Democratic Party (PDL)	29,788	1.56	−	0	−
	Valencian Independent Organization (OIV)	12,585	0.66	−	0	−
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	10,156	0.53	−	0	−
	Valencian Nationalist Left-Valencianist Regional Union (ENV-URV)	7,623	0.40	−	0	−
	Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE)	5,945	0.31	−	0	−
	People's Fight Coalition (CLP)	2,586	0.14	−	0	−
	Blank ballots	13,180	0.69	−
Total		1,911,246	100.00		89	−
Valid votes		1,911,246	98.97	−
Invalid votes		19,896	1.03	−
Votes cast / turnout		1,931,142	72.74	−
Abstentions		723,825	27.26	−
Registered voters		2,654,967
Source(s): Valencian Courts Argos Information Portal

Vote share
PSPV-PSOE			51.41%
AP-PDP-UL-UV			31.89%
PCE-PCPV			7.46%
UPV			3.07%
CDS			1.88%
PDL			1.56%
Others			2.04%
Blank ballots			0.69%

Parliamentary seats
PSPV-PSOE			57.30%
AP-PDP-UL-UV			35.96%
PCE-PCPV			6.74%

Results by province

Election results by province.

References

1. "Decree 29/1983, of 10 March, for the calling of the election to the Valencian Courts." (PDF).