1987 Extremaduran regional election

The 1987 Extremaduran regional election was held on Wednesday, 10 June 1987, to elect the 2nd Assembly of the autonomous community of Extremadura. All 65 seats in the Assembly 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 Extremaduran regional election

10 June 1987
All 65 seats in the Assembly of Extremadura 33 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	808,654 2.9%
Turnout	601,597 (74.4%) 2.5 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra Adolfo Díaz-Ambrona Tomás Martín Tamayo Party PSOE AP CDS Leader since 20 December 1982 1976 1983 Leader's seat Badajoz Badajoz Badajoz Last election 35 seats, 53.0% 20 seats, 30.1%[lower-alpha 1] 0 seats, 0.8% Seats won 34 17 8 Seat change 1 3 8 Popular vote 292,935 144,117 73,554 Percentage 49.2% 24.2% 12.4% Swing 3.8 pp 5.9 pp 11.6 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Pedro Cañada Manuel Pareja Party EU IU Leader since 10 December 1980 1983 Leader's seat Cáceres Badajoz Last election 6 seats, 8.5% 4 seats, 6.5%[lower-alpha 2] Seats won 4 2 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 34,606 32,240 Percentage 5.8% 5.4% Swing 2.7 pp 1.1 pp
Constituency results map for the Assembly of Extremadura
President before election Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra PSOE Elected President Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra PSOE

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) won the election with a new absolute majority of seats, albeit losing 1 seat from its 1983 result. The People's Alliance (AP), which had undergone an internal crisis after the breakup of the People's Coalition in 1986, lost support and fell from the coalition's 30% of the share to 24%, losing 3 seats as a result.

The main election winner was the centrist Democratic and Social Centre (CDS), a party led by the former Spanish Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez, which entered the Assembly for the first with 8 seats and 12% of the vote, becoming the only party within the Assembly that made gains, as all others (including regionalist United Extremadura (EU)) lost votes. United Left, an electoral coalition comprising the Communist Party of Spain and other left-wing parties, also lost 2 seats.

Overview

Electoral system

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

The 65 members of the Assembly of Extremadura were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of 5 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 failing to reach the threshold in one of the constituencies would also be entitled to enter the seat distribution as long as they ran candidates in both districts and reached 5 percent regionally. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Badajoz and Cáceres. Each constituency was entitled to an initial minimum of 20 seats, with the remaining 25 allocated among the constituencies in proportion to their populations.[1][2]

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 2 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 Assembly of Extremadura 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 Journal of Extremadura, with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication and set so as to make it coincide with elections to the regional assemblies of other autonomous communities. 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 Assembly on Saturday, 13 June 1987.[1][2][3][4]

The Assembly of Extremadura 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 Assembly 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. 33 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Assembly of Extremadura.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout							Lead
1987 regional election	10 Jun 1987	N/A	74.4	49.2 34	–	5.8 4	5.4 2	12.4 8	24.2 17	25.0
Demoscopia/El País[p 1]	22–26 May 1987	?	73	49.1 35	–	7.2 6	3.4 1	9.7 6	27.5 17	21.6
Sofemasa/AP[p 2][p 3]	16 Apr 1987	?	?	43.5	–	–	4.8	14.5	24.1	19.4
1986 general election	22 Jun 1986	N/A	73.6	55.9 39	26.7 19	2.7 1	3.9 1	8.0 5	[lower-alpha 3]	29.2
1983 regional election	8 May 1983	N/A	71.9	53.0 36	30.1 20	8.5 6	6.5[lower-alpha 4] 4	0.8 0	[lower-alpha 3]	22.9

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 10 June 1987 Assembly of Extremadura election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	292,935	49.18	–3.84	34	–1
	People's Alliance (AP)^1	144,117	24.19	–5.91	17	–3
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	73,554	12.35	+11.56	8	+8
	United Extremadura (EU)	34,606	5.81	–2.67	4	–2
	United Left (IU)^2	32,240	5.41	–1.07	2	–2
	Workers' Party of Spain–Communist Unity (PTE–UC)	5,317	0.89	New	0	±0
	People's Democratic Party (PDP)	5,203	0.87	New	0	±0
	Liberal Party (PL)	2,286	0.38	New	0	±0
	Humanist Platform (PH)	619	0.10	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		4,785	0.80	+0.33
Total		595,662			65	±0
Valid votes		595,662	99.01	–0.08
Invalid votes		5,935	0.99	+0.08
Votes cast / turnout		601,597	74.39	+2.49
Abstentions		207,057	25.61	–2.49
Registered voters		808,654
Sources[5][6][7]

Popular vote PSOE   49.18% AP   24.19% CDS   12.35% EU   5.81% IU   5.41% Others   2.25% Blank ballots   0.80%

Seats PSOE   52.31% AP   26.15% CDS   12.31% EU   6.15% IU   3.08%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PSOE		AP		CDS		EU		IU
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
Badajoz	51.9	19	23.8	9	13.2	5	1.6	−	7.0	2
Cáceres	45.1	15	24.9	8	11.1	3	12.2	4	3.0	−
Total	49.2	34	24.2	17	12.4	8	5.8	4	5.4	2
Sources[5][6][7]

Aftermath

Investiture Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra (PSOE)
Ballot →		17 July 1987
Required majority →		33 out of 65 Y
	Yes • PSOE (34)	34 / 65
	No • AP (14) • IU (2)	16 / 65
	Abstentions • CDS (8) • EU (4)	12 / 65
	Absentees • AP (3)	3 / 65
Sources[7]

Notes

1. Data for AP–PDP–UL in the 1983 election.
2. Data for PCE in the 1983 election.
3. Within CP.
4. Result for PCE.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "Los socialistas mantienen la hegemonía" (PDF). El País (in Spanish). 4 June 1987.
2. "Una encuesta de AP pronostica un fuerte descenso del PSOE en las municipales". ABC (in Spanish). 17 April 1987.
3. "Notable descenso del PSOE en los próximos comicios, según una encuesta encargada por AP". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 17 April 1987.

Other

1. "Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura of 1983". Organic Law No. 1 of 25 February 1983. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 March 2017.
2. "Law of Elections to the Assembly of Extremadura of 1987". Law No. 2 of 16 March 1987. Official Journal of Extremadura (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 March 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. "Assembly of Extremadura election results, 10 June 1987. Badajoz and Cáceres" (PDF). www.juntaelectoralcentral.es (in Spanish). Electoral Commission of Extremadura. 21 July 1987. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
6. "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.
7. "Assembly of Extremadura elections since 1983". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 26 September 2017.