1987 Canarian regional election

The 1987 Canarian regional election was held on Wednesday, 10 June 1987, to elect the 2nd Parliament of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. All 60 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain, as well as the 1987 European Parliament election.

1987 Canarian regional election

10 June 1987
All 60 seats in the Parliament of the Canary Islands 31 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	1,002,775 8.3%
Turnout	676,795 (67.5%) 5.1 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jerónimo Saavedra Fernando Fernández Martín Manuel Hermoso Party PSOE CDS AIC Leader since 1977 1983 1986 Leader's seat Gran Canaria Tenerife Tenerife Last election 27 seats, 41.5% 8 seats, 7.8%[lower-alpha 1] 0 seats, 0.5%[lower-alpha 2] Seats won 21 13 11 Seat change 6 5 11 Popular vote 185,749 130,297 134,667 Percentage 27.8% 19.5% 20.1% Swing 13.7 pp 11.7 pp 19.6 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Paulino Montesdeoca Pedro Lezcano Montalvo Antonio Fernández Viéitez Party AP AC–INC ICU Leader since 1987 1987 1987 Leader's seat Gran Canaria Gran Canaria Gran Canaria Last election 17 seats, 29.0%[lower-alpha 3] 2 seats, 8.3%[lower-alpha 4] 1 seat, 4.4%[lower-alpha 5] Seats won 6 2 2 Seat change 11 0 1 Popular vote 74,767 46,229 40,837 Percentage 11.2% 6.9% 6.1% Swing 17.8 pp 1.4 pp 1.7 pp
Constituency results map for the Parliament of the Canary Islands
President before election Jerónimo Saavedra PSOE Elected President Fernando Fernández Martín CDS

Overview

Electoral system

The Parliament of the Canary Islands was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Canarian Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a President of the Government.[1] Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the Canary Islands and in full enjoyment of their political rights.

The 60 members of the Parliament of the Canary Islands were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of 20 percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Parties not reaching the threshold were not taken into consideration for seat distribution. Alternatively, parties could also enter the seat distribution as long as they reached 3 percent regionally. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the islands of El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, La Palma, Lanzarote and Tenerife. Each constituency was allocated a fixed number of seats: 3 for El Hierro, 7 for Fuerteventura, 15 for Gran Canaria, 4 for La Gomera, 8 for La Palma, 8 for Lanzarote and 15 for Tenerife.[1]

The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of at least 1 percent of the electors registered in the constituency for which they sought election. Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.[2][3][4]

Election date

The term of the Parliament of the Canary Islands expired four years after the date of its previous election. The election Decree was required to be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication. The previous election was held on 8 May 1983, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 8 May 1987. The election Decree was required to be published no later than 14 April 1987, with the election taking place no later than the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Saturday, 13 June 1987.[1][2][3][4]

The Parliament of the Canary Islands could not be dissolved before the date of expiry 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, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.[1]

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 given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 31 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of the Canary Islands.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout			AC			UCC	AM	AGI					Lead
1987 regional election	10 Jun 1987	N/A	67.4	27.8 21	–	6.9 2	19.5 13	6.1 2	2.3 0	0.8 3	[lower-alpha 6]	20.1 11	0.2 2	11.2 6	2.0 0	7.7
Demoscopia/El País[p 1]	22–26 May 1987	?	68	30.8 20	–	2.9 2	26.7 16	5.4 3	–	? 3	[lower-alpha 6]	12.2 2	–	18.9 14	–	4.1
1986 general election	22 Jun 1986	N/A	68.3	36.1	23.3	5.5	16.9	4.3	–	–	–	9.8	–	[lower-alpha 7]	[lower-alpha 7]	12.8
1983 regional election	8 May 1983	N/A	62.4	41.5 27	29.0 17	8.3 2	7.2 6	4.4[lower-alpha 8] 1	4.3 1	1.0 3	0.6 2	0.5 0	0.2 1	[lower-alpha 7]	[lower-alpha 7]	12.5

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 10 June 1987 Parliament of the Canary Islands election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	185,749	27.77	–13.73	21	–6
	Canarian Independent Groups (AIC)^1	134,667	20.13	+19.65	11	+11
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)^2	130,297	19.48	+11.66	13	+5
	People's Alliance (AP)^3	74,767	11.18	–17.80	6	–11
	Canarian Assembly–Canarian Nationalist Left (AC–INC)^4	46,229	6.91	–1.39	2	±0
	United Canarian Left (ICU)^5	40,837	6.10	+1.69	2	+1
	Centre Canarian Union (UCC)^6	15,580	2.33	–1.99	0	–1
	People's Democratic Party–Canarian Centrists (PDP–CC)	13,274	1.98	New	0	±0
	National Congress of the Canaries (CNC)	8,769	1.31	New	0	±0
	Majorera Assembly (AM)	5,423	0.81	–0.17	3	±0
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	2,110	0.32	–0.37	0	±0
	Independent Herrenian Group (AHI)	1,415	0.21	+0.04	2	+1
	Union of Left Nationalists (UNI)	1,287	0.19	New	0	±0
	Humanist Platform (PH)	1,146	0.17	New	0	±0
	Popular Front of the Canary Islands–Awañac (FREPIC–Awañac)	1,106	0.17	New	0	±0
	Workers' Party of Spain–Communist Unity (PTE–UC)	987	0.15	New	0	±0
	Assembly (Tagoror)	552	0.08	New	0	±0
	Canarian Democratic Union (UDC)	428	0.06	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		4,321	0.65	+0.65
Total		668,944			60	±0
Valid votes		668,944	98.84	+1.24
Invalid votes		7,851	1.16	–1.24
Votes cast / turnout		676,795	67.49	+5.08
Abstentions		325,980	32.51	–5.08
Registered voters		1,002,775
Sources[5][6][7][8]

Popular vote PSOE   27.77% AIC   20.13% CDS   19.48% AP   11.18% AC–INC   6.91% ICU   6.10% UCC   2.33% PDP–CC   1.98% CNC   1.31% AM   0.81% AHI   0.21% Others   1.14% Blank ballots   0.65%

Seats PSOE   35.00% CDS   21.67% AIC   18.33% AP   10.00% AM   5.00% AC–INC   3.33% ICU   3.33% AHI   3.33%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PSOE		AIC		CDS		AP		AC–INC		ICU		AM		AHI
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
El Hierro	23.9	1			10.4	−	16.7	−			13.3	−			35.5	2
Fuerteventura	15.8	1	14.7	1	27.0	2	5.2	−					35.8	3
Gran Canaria	26.8	5	1.6	−	25.1	4	15.3	3	10.1	2	8.3	1
La Gomera	58.3	3	2.5	−	29.4	1	4.3	−			4.9	−
La Palma	26.2	2	25.6	2	16.7	1	20.0	2			11.1	1
Lanzarote	34.4	4	10.1	1	32.0	3	4.0	−	2.5	−	4.6	−
Tenerife	28.3	5	41.5	7	12.0	2	6.6	1	5.5	−	3.4	−
Total	27.8	21	20.1	11	19.5	13	11.2	6	6.9	2	6.1	2	0.8	3	0.2	2
Sources[5][6][7][8]

Notes

1. Aggregated data for CDS and AGI in the 1983 election.
2. Data for AIL in the 1983 election.
3. Data for AP–PDP–UL in the 1983 election.
4. Data for UPC–AC in the 1983 election.
5. Data for PCC–PCE in the 1983 election.
6. Within CDS.
7. Within CP.
8. Result for PCC–PCE.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "El partido centrista, segunda fuerza" (PDF). El País (in Spanish). 4 June 1987.

Other

1. "Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands of 1982". Organic Law No. 10 of 10 August 1982. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 September 2017.
2. "Electoral Matters Urgent Measures Law of 1987". Law No. 3 of 3 April 1987. Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 September 2017.
3. "General Electoral System Organic Law of 1985". Organic Law No. 5 of 19 June 1985. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 December 2016.
4. "Representation of the people Institutional Act". www.juntaelectoralcentral.es. Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
5. "Number 75. Audit report on the regularity of electoral accounting derived from the elections held on June 10, 1987" (PDF). tcu.es (in Spanish). Court of Auditors. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
6. "Electoral Information System in the Canary Islands". www.gobiernodecanarias.org (in Spanish). Canarian Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
7. "Election Results in the Canary Islands (1979-1987)" (PDF). datosdelanzarote.com (in Spanish). Statistics and Documentation Center of the Canary Islands. November 1987. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
8. "Parliament of the Canary Islands elections since 1983". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 30 September 2017.