1991 Extremaduran regional election

The 1991 Extremaduran regional election was held on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the 3rd 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.

1991 Extremaduran regional election

26 May 1991
All 65 seats in the Assembly of Extremadura 33 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	824,866 2.0%
Turnout	583,172 (70.8%) 3.6 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra Luis Ramallo Manuel Pareja Party PSOE PP IU Leader since 20 December 1982 1990 1983 Leader's seat Badajoz Badajoz Badajoz Last election 34 seats, 49.2% 17 seats, 25.4%[lower-alpha 1] 2 seats, 5.4% Seats won 39 19 4 Seat change 5 2 2 Popular vote 314,384 155,485 41,290 Percentage 54.2% 26.8% 7.1% Swing 5.0 pp 1.4 pp 1.7 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Tomás Martín Tamayo Pedro Cañada Party CDS EU Leader since 1983 10 December 1980 Leader's seat Badajoz Cáceres (lost) Last election 8 seats, 12.4% 4 seats, 5.8% Seats won 3 0 Seat change 5 4 Popular vote 33,291 14,503 Percentage 5.7% 2.5% Swing 6.7 pp 3.3 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 largest absolute majority a party would achieve in a regional election in the history of Extremadura, with 39 out of 65 seats (60% of the seats) and slightly above 54% of the vote share. The newly founded People's Party, successor of the late People's Alliance, recovered from AP 1987 results and gained two seats. The Democratic and Social Centre lost seats and votes, falling behind United Left (IU), which gained support and finished in third place for the first time in a regional election. Meanwhile, the regionalist United Extremadura (EU) lost more than half its support and was left out from the Assembly, losing all its seats.

As a result of the election, Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra was elected for a third consecutive term in office.

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. Legal amendments earlier in 1991 established that elections to the Assembly 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 Assembly on Sunday, 26 May 1991.[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][5]

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
1991 regional election	26 May 1991	N/A	70.8	54.2 39	[lower-alpha 2]	5.7 3	2.5 0	7.1 4	26.8 19	27.4
Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 1][p 2]	18 May 1991	?	?	53.4 38/39	[lower-alpha 2]	5.3 2/3	–	8.8 5/7	25.4 18/19	28.0
Metra Seis/El Independiente[p 1][p 2]	12 May 1991	?	?	47.0 35	[lower-alpha 2]	6.7 4	8.7 6	5.8 2	25.5 18	21.5
Demoscopia/El País[p 1][p 2][p 3][p 4]	4–7 May 1991	400	?	53.3 36/37	[lower-alpha 2]	5.3 3	6.1 3/4	8.6 4	25.0 18	28.3
1989 general election	29 Oct 1989	N/A	75.6	53.9 37	[lower-alpha 2]	9.5 6	1.8 0	6.9 4	25.0 18	28.9
1989 EP election	15 Jun 1989	N/A	60.4	54.8 41	[lower-alpha 2]	8.6 5	2.3 0	4.9 3	21.8 16	33.0
1987 regional election	10 Jun 1987	N/A	74.4	49.2 34	24.2 17	12.4 8	5.8 4	5.4 2	–	25.0

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 26 May 1991 Assembly of Extremadura election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	314,384	54.16	+4.98	39	+5
	People's Party (PP)^1	155,485	26.78	+1.34	19	+2
	United Left (IU)	41,290	7.11	+1.70	4	+2
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	33,291	5.73	–6.62	3	–5
	United Extremadura (EU)	14,503	2.50	–3.31	0	–4
	Extremaduran Regionalist Party (PREx)	8,660	1.49	New	0	±0
	The Greens (LV)	6,011	1.04	New	0	±0
	Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)	2,379	0.41	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		4,508	0.78	–0.02
Total		580,511			65	±0
Valid votes		580,511	99.34	+0.33
Invalid votes		3,867	0.66	–0.33
Votes cast / turnout		584,378	70.85	–3.54
Abstentions		240,488	29.15	+3.54
Registered voters		824,866
Sources[6][7][8]

Popular vote PSOE   54.15% PP   26.76% IU   7.13% CDS   5.75% EU   2.50% PREx   1.49% LV   1.01% PCPE   0.41% Blank ballots   0.80%

Seats PSOE   60.00% PP   29.23% IU   6.15% CDS   4.62%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PSOE		PP		IU		CDS
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
Badajoz	56.3	21	25.1	9	8.7	3	5.9	2
Cáceres	50.9	18	29.3	10	4.8	1	5.5	1
Total	54.2	39	26.8	19	7.1	4	5.7	3
Sources[6][7][8]

Aftermath

Investiture Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra (PSOE)
Ballot →		2 July 1991
Required majority →		33 out of 65 Y
	Yes • PSOE (39)	39 / 65
	No • PP (19) • IU (4)	23 / 65
	Abstentions	0 / 65
	Absentees • CDS (3)	3 / 65
Sources[8]

Notes

1. Aggregated data for AP, PDP and PL 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. "Rodríguez Ibarra arrasa". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.
4. "Ficha técnica". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.

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. "Assembly of Extremadura Elections Law 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. "Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura Reform of 1991". Organic Law No. 5 of 13 March 1991. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 April 2017.
6. "Assembly of Extremadura election results, 26 May 1991. Badajoz and Cáceres" (PDF). www.juntaelectoralcentral.es (in Spanish). Electoral Commission of Extremadura. 13 June 1991. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
7. "Number 152. Report-declaration of the Assembly of Extremadura election of 26 May 1991" (PDF). tcu.es (in Spanish). Court of Auditors. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
8. "Assembly of Extremadura elections since 1983". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 26 September 2017.