1994 Basque regional election

The 1994 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 23 October 1994, to elect the 5th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

1994 Basque regional election
23 October 1994
All 75 seats in the Basque Parliament
38 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered1,749,250 3.6%
Turnout1,044,085 (59.7%)
1.3 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader José Antonio Ardanza Ramón Jáuregui Karmelo Landa
Party EAJ/PNV PSE–EE (PSOE) HB
Leader since 2 March 1985 16 June 1988 1994
Leader's seat Guipúzcoa Guipúzcoa Biscay
Last election 22 seats, 28.3% 22 seats, 27.5%[lower-alpha 1] 13 seats, 18.2%
Seats won 22 12 11
Seat change 0 10 2
Popular vote 304,346 174,682 166,147
Percentage 29.3% 16.8% 16.0%
Swing 1.0 pp 10.7 pp 2.2 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Jaime Mayor Oreja Carlos Garaikoetxea Javier Madrazo
Party PP EA IU/EB
Leader since 20 January 1989 4 September 1986 14 May 1994
Leader's seat Álava Guipúzcoa Biscay
Last election 6 seats, 8.2% 9 seats, 11.3% 0 seats, 1.4%
Seats won 11 8 6
Seat change 5 1 6
Popular vote 146,960 105,136 93,291
Percentage 14.2% 10.1% 9.0%
Swing 6.0 pp 1.2 pp 7.6 pp
Constituency results map for the Basque Parliament
Lehendakari before election

José Antonio Ardanza
EAJ/PNV

 Elected Lehendakari

José Antonio Ardanza
EAJ/PNV

The Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) won 22 seats, the Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE) came second with 12 seats, People's Unity (HB) and the People's Party (PP) both won 11 seats each. Basque Solidarity (EA) won 8 seats.

This was also the first election to the Basque parliament that the Socialist Party and the Basque Country Left (EE) party contested together as a unified party.

Overview

Electoral system

The Basque Parliament was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of the Basque Country, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the regional Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a lehendakari.[1]

Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the Basque Country and in full enjoyment of their political rights. The 75 members of the Basque Parliament were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of five 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. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Álava, Biscay and Guipúzcoa, being allocated a fixed number of 25 seats each to provide for an equal representation of the three provinces in parliament as required under the regional statute of autonomy.[1][2] This meant that Álava was allocated the same number of seats as Biscay and Gipuzkoa, despite their populations being, as of 1 July 1994: 277,251, 1,146,347 and 675,470, respectively.[3]

Election date

The term of the Basque Parliament expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. 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 Basque Country (BOPV), with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication. The previous election was held on 28 October 1990, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 28 October 1994. The election decree was required to be published in the BOPV no later than 4 October 1994, with the election taking place up to the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Saturday, 3 December 1994.[1][2]

The lehendakari had the prerogative to dissolve the Basque Parliament at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a lehendakari within a sixty-day period from the Parliament re-assembly, the Parliament was to be dissolved and a fresh election called.[4]

Parties and candidates

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.[2][5]

Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:

Candidacy Parties and
alliances		 Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Gov. Ref.
Votes (%) Seats
EAJ/PNV José Antonio Ardanza Basque nationalism
Christian democracy
Conservative liberalism		 28.28% 22 Y
PSE–EE
(PSOE)		 Ramón Jáuregui Social democracy 27.51%[lower-alpha 1] 22 Y
HB Karmelo Landa Basque independence
Left-wing nationalism
Revolutionary socialism		 18.20% 13 N
EA Carlos Garaikoetxea Basque nationalism
Social democracy		 11.30% 9 N
PP Jaime Mayor Oreja Conservatism
Christian democracy		 8.17% 6 N
UA Enriqueta Benito Alavese regionalism
Christian democracy		 1.40% 3 N
IU/EB Javier Madrazo Socialism
Communism		 1.41% 0 N

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. 38 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Basque Parliament.

Results

Overall
← Summary of the 23 October 1994 Basque Parliament election results →
Parties and coalitions Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Total +/−
Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) 304,34629.32+1.04 22±0
Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE (PSOE))1 174,68216.83–10.68 12–10
Popular Unity (HB) 166,14716.01–2.19 11–2
People's Party (PP) 146,96014.16+5.99 11+5
Basque Solidarity (EA) 105,13610.13–1.17 8–1
United Left (IU/EB) 93,2918.99+7.58 6+6
Alavese Unity (UA) 27,7972.68+1.28 5+2
Coalition for a New Socialist Party (NPS)2 1,4620.14+0.07 0±0
Blank ballots 18,0801.74+1.00
Total 1,037,901 75±0
Valid votes 1,037,90199.41–0.09
Invalid votes 6,1840.59+0.09
Votes cast / turnout 1,044,08559.69–1.30
Abstentions 705,16540.31+1.30
Registered voters 1,749,250
Sources[6][7]
Popular vote
EAJ/PNV
 
 29.32%
PSE–EE (PSOE)
 
 16.83%
HB
 
 16.01%
PP
 
 14.16%
EA
 
 10.13%
IU/EB
 
 8.99%
UA
 
 2.68%
CNPS
 
 0.14%
Blank ballots
 
 1.74%
Seats
EAJ/PNV
 
 29.33%
PSE–EE (PSOE)
 
 16.00%
HB
 
 14.67%
PP
 
 14.67%
EA
 
 10.66%
IU/EB
 
 8.00%
UA
 
 6.67%

Distribution by constituency
Constituency PNV PSE–EE HB PP EA IU/EB UA
% S % S % S % S % S % S % S
Álava 21.8 6 15.6 4 10.1 2 15.9 4 7.2 2 9.1 2 18.5 5
Biscay 35.1 10 17.4 4 13.4 3 15.0 4 7.1 2 10.0 2 0.3 –
Guipúzcoa 22.3 6 16.4 4 23.1 6 11.9 3 16.7 4 7.1 2 0.3 –
Total 29.3 22 16.8 12 16.0 11 14.2 11 10.1 8 9.0 6 2.7 5
Sources[6][7]

Aftermath
Investiture
Ballot → 29 December 1994
Required majority → 38 out of 75
42 / 75
 Y
22 / 75
11 / 75
Sources[6]

Notes
  1. Results for Socialist Party of the Basque Country (19.79%, 16 seats) and Basque Country Left (7.72%, 6 seats) in the 1990 election.
  2. Within PSE–EE (PSOE).

References
Opinion poll sources
  1. "Suben PNV e IU, y el PP duplica su representación". El País (in Spanish). 16 October 1994.
  2. "Los sondeos electorales coinciden en el aumento del PP y una gran caída del PSOE". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 16 October 1994.
  3. "El PP se convierte en la tercera fuerza política de Euskadi, superando a HB". El Mundo (in Spanish). 16 October 1994.
  4. "Jáuregui apela a los votantes de Euskadiko Ezkerra para compensar la caída del PSOE". ABC (in Spanish). 17 October 1994.
  5. "Preelectoral País Vasco 1994 (Estudio nº 2116. Octubre 1994)". CIS (in Spanish). 13 October 1994.
  6. "Estudio CIS nº 2116. Ficha técnica" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 13 October 1994.
  7. "El PP será la tercera fuerza política, según Deia". ABC (in Spanish). 13 October 1994.
  8. "El PNV se consolida como el primer partido del País Vasco y se distancia de sus rivales". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 9 October 1994.
  9. "Encuesta electoral: PNV gana, suben PP e IU y bajan PSE y HB". ABC (in Spanish). 27 September 1994.
  10. "Situación y perspectivas electorales País Vasco (Estudio nº 2114. Septiembre 1994)". CIS (in Spanish). 20 September 1994.
  11. "Estudio CIS nº 2114. Ficha técnica" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 20 September 1994.
  12. "Una encuesta da al PNV mayoría clara, descenso del PSE y HB y alzas de PP e IU". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 31 August 1994.
  13. "Una encuesta refleja la subida del PP y PNV en las elecciones". ABC (in Spanish). 31 August 1994.
  14. "El PP duplicará sus votos en el País Vasco". ABC (in Spanish). 17 April 1994.
  15. "Guerra preelectoral de encuestas". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 28 March 1994.
  16. "El PP aumenta su peso electoral en el País Vasco y podría obtener nueve escaños". ABC (in Spanish). 5 February 1994.
  17. "Un sondeo que pronostica al PNV el hundimiento electoral propició su radicalización nacionalista". ABC (in Spanish). 9 January 1994.
Other
  1. "Ley Orgánica 3/1979, de 18 de diciembre, de Estatuto de Autonomía para el País Vasco". Organic Law No. 3 of 18 December 1979. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  2. "Ley 5/1990, de 15 de junio, de Elecciones al Parlamento Vasco". Law No. 5 of 15 June 1990. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  3. "Principales series desde 1971. Resultados por Provincias. Población residente por fecha, sexo y edad". ine.es (in Spanish). National Institute of Statistics. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  4. "Ley 7/1981, de 30 de junio, sobre Ley de Gobierno". Law No. 7 of 30 June 1981. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  5. "Ley Orgánica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del Régimen Electoral General". Organic Law No. 5 of 19 June 1985. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  6. "Basque Parliament elections since 1980". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  7. "Election Results Archive". euskadi.eus (in Spanish). Basque Government. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
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