1991 Castilian-Manchegan regional election

The 1991 Castilian-Manchegan regional election was held on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the 3rd Cortes of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. All 47 seats in the Cortes were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

1991 Castilian-Manchegan regional election

26 May 1991
All 47 seats in the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha 24 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	1,304,996 3.6%
Turnout	946,138 (72.5%) 2.9 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader José Bono José Manuel Molina José Molina Martínez Party PSOE PP IU Leader since 25 March 1983 23 December 1989 1991 Leader's seat Toledo Toledo Albacete Last election 25 seats, 46.3% 18 seats, 35.9%[lower-alpha 1] 0 seats, 5.4% Seats won 27 19 1 Seat change 2 1 1 Popular vote 489,876 336,642 57,967 Percentage 52.2% 35.9% 6.2% Swing 5.9 pp 0.0 pp 0.8 pp
Constituency results map for the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha
President before election José Bono PSOE Elected President José Bono PSOE

For the third consecutive time, the election was won by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, which under José Bono obtained a new absolute majority, with 27 out of 47 seats and over 52% of the share. The People's Party (PP), a party formed in 1989 from the merger of the People's Alliance (AP), the People's Democratic Party and the Liberal Party (PL), obtained 19 seats and 35.9% of the vote. United Left (IU) entered the Courts for the first time with 1 seat.

The three parties' gains came at the cost of the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS), which lost 2/3 of its votes and its 4 seats, being expelled from the Courts as a result.

Overview

Electoral system

The Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha were the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Castilian-Manchegan Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a President of the Junta of Communities.[1] Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in Castilla–La Mancha and in full enjoyment of their political rights.

The 47 members of the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of 3 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. Additionally, the use of the D'Hondt method might result in an effective threshold over three percent, depending on the district magnitude.[2] Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo. Each constituency was entitled to an initial minimum of five seats, with the remaining 22 allocated among the constituencies in proportion to their populations.[1][3]

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.[3][4][5]

Election date

The term of the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha expired four years after the date of their previous election. Legal amendments earlier in 1991 established that elections to the Cortes were to be fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The previous election was held on 10 June 1987, setting the election date for the Cortes on Sunday, 26 May 1991.[1][3][4][5]

The Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha could not be dissolved before the date of expiry of parliament. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional President within a two-month period from the first ballot, the candidate from the party with the highest number of seats was to be deemed automatically elected.[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. 24 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout							Lead
1991 regional election	26 May 1991	N/A	72.5	52.2 27	[lower-alpha 2]	3.5 0	6.2 1	[lower-alpha 2]	35.9 19	16.3
Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 1][p 2]	18 May 1991	?	?	47.9 25/27	[lower-alpha 2]	5.8 0	6.9 0/1	[lower-alpha 2]	35.8 20/21	12.1
Metra Seis/El Independiente[p 1][p 2]	12 May 1991	?	?	47.1 25/26	[lower-alpha 2]	7.0 1	6.3 0	[lower-alpha 2]	35.2 20/21	11.9
Demoscopia/El País[p 1][p 2][p 3][p 4]	4–7 May 1991	750	?	51.2 26	[lower-alpha 2]	3.9 0	6.2 1/2	[lower-alpha 2]	36.3 19/20	14.9
1989 general election	29 Oct 1989	N/A	76.4	48.0 25	[lower-alpha 2]	7.7 2	7.0 1	[lower-alpha 2]	33.8 19	14.2
1989 EP election	15 Jun 1989	N/A	59.8	48.3 27	[lower-alpha 2]	7.4 3	5.4 0	[lower-alpha 2]	29.2 17	19.1
1987 regional election	10 Jun 1987	N/A	75.4	46.3 25	34.1 18	10.5 4	5.4 0	1.7 0	–	12.2

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 26 May 1991 Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	489,876	52.17	+5.84	27	+2
	People's Party (PP)^1	336,642	35.85	–0.07	19	+1
	United Left (IU)	57,967	6.17	+0.81	1	+1
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	32,793	3.49	–7.00	0	–4
	The Greens Ecologist–Humanist List (LVLE–H)^2	4,836	0.52	+0.33	0	±0
	Action for Talavera (ACTAL)	2,441	0.26	New	0	±0
	Social Democratic Party of Castilla–La Mancha (PSDCLM)	1,102	0.12	–0.02	0	±0
	Regionalist Unitary Party (PUR)	1,052	0.11	–0.02	0	±0
	Regionalist Party of Castilla–La Mancha (PRCM)	984	0.10	New	0	±0
	Commoners' Land (TC)	918	0.10	New	0	±0
	Regionalist Party of Guadalajara (PRGU)	769	0.08	New	0	±0
	Alliance for the Republic (AxR)	294	0.03	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		9,300	0.99	+0.01
Total		938,974			47	±0
Valid votes		938,974	99.24	+0.40
Invalid votes		7,164	0.76	–0.40
Votes cast / turnout		946,138	72.50	–2.93
Abstentions		358,858	27.50	+2.93
Registered voters		1,304,996
Sources[6][7][8][9]

Popular vote PSOE   52.17% PP   35.85% IU   6.17% CDS   3.49% Others   1.32% Blank ballots   0.99%

Seats PSOE   57.45% PP   40.43% IU   2.13%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PSOE		PP		IU
	%	S	%	S	%	S
Albacete	54.0	6	31.5	3	8.7	1
Ciudad Real	56.4	7	31.7	4	5.6	−
Cuenca	50.3	5	39.8	3	3.3	−
Guadalajara	40.9	3	44.5	4	8.0	−
Toledo	51.3	6	38.1	5	5.8	−
Total	52.2	27	35.9	19	6.2	1
Sources[6][7][8][9]

Aftermath

Investiture José Bono (PSOE)
Ballot →		3 July 1991
Required majority →		24 out of 47 Y
	Yes • PSOE (28)	28 / 47
	No • PP (18)	18 / 47
	Abstentions • IU (1)	1 / 47
	Absentees	0 / 47
Sources[9]

Notes

1. Aggregated data for AP and PDP in the 1987 election.
2. Within PP.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "Seis comunidades dependen de pactos". ABC (in Spanish). 20 May 1991.
2. "Las elecciones de 26-5-91". CEPC (in Spanish). August 1991.
3. "José Bono se hace fuerte en Fuensalida". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.
4. "Ficha técnica". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.

Other

1. "Statute of Autonomy of Castilla–La Mancha of 1982". Organic Law No. 9 of 10 August 1982. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 September 2017.
2. Gallagher, Michael (30 July 2012). "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
3. "Castilla–La Mancha Electoral Law of 1986". Law No. 5 of 23 December 1986. Official Journal of Castilla–La Mancha (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 September 2017.
4. "General Electoral System Organic Law of 1985". Organic Law No. 5 of 19 June 1985. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 December 2016.
5. "Representation of the people Institutional Act". www.juntaelectoralcentral.es. Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
6. "Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha election results, 26 May 1991" (PDF). www.juntaelectoralcentral.es (in Spanish). Electoral Commission of Castilla–La Mancha. 14 June 1991. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
7. "III Legislature. Regional election, 26 May 1991". www.cortesclm.es (in Spanish). Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
8. "Number 157. Report-declaration of the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha election of 26 May 1991" (PDF). tcu.es (in Spanish). Court of Auditors. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
9. "Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha elections since 1983". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 29 September 2017.