2003 Aragonese regional election

The 2003 Aragonese regional election was held on Sunday, 25 May 2003, to elect the 6th Cortes of the autonomous community of Aragon. All 67 seats in the Cortes were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in 12 other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

2003 Aragonese regional election

25 May 2003
All 67 seats in the Cortes of Aragon 34 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	1,019,644 0.2%
Turnout	717,457 (70.4%) 5.8 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Marcelino Iglesias Gustavo Alcalde Chesús Bernal Party PSOE PP CHA Leader since 15 February 1995 18 May 2001 29 June 1986 Leader's seat Zaragoza Zaragoza Zaragoza Last election 23 seats, 30.8% 28 seats, 38.2% 5 seats, 11.0% Seats won 27 22 9 Seat change 4 6 4 Popular vote 270,468 219,058 97,763 Percentage 37.9% 30.7% 13.7% Swing 7.1 pp 7.5 pp 2.7 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader José Ángel Biel Adolfo Barrena Party PAR IU Leader since 2 June 2000 May 2002 Leader's seat Teruel Zaragoza Last election 10 seats, 13.3% 1 seat, 3.9% Seats won 8 1 Seat change 2 0 Popular vote 79,670 21,795 Percentage 11.2% 3.1% Swing 2.1 pp 0.8 pp
Constituency results map for the Cortes of Aragon
President before election Marcelino Iglesias PSOE Elected President Marcelino Iglesias PSOE

The election saw the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which had ruled Aragon since the previous election, becoming the largest party in the Courts for the first time since the 1991 election. The PSOE gains came at the expense of the People's Party (PP), which saw a drop of 7 points on its vote share. The Aragonese Union (CHA) made gains and overtook the Aragonese Party (PAR) as the third largest party in the Courts. For the PAR, this was the fourth consecutive election where it lost ground. United Left (IU) held its single seat, albeit with a slightly reduced vote share.

The PSOE and PAR maintained the coalition administration formed after the previous election. As a result, Marcelino Iglesias was re-elected as President of Aragon.

Overview

Electoral system

The Cortes of Aragon were the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Aragon, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Aragonese 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 Cortes was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in Aragon and in full enjoyment of their political rights.

The 67 members of the Cortes of Aragon 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 Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza. Each constituency was entitled to an initial minimum of 13 seats, with the remaining 28 allocated among the constituencies in proportion to their populations on the condition that the seat to population ratio in the most populated province did not exceed 2.75 times that of the least populated one.[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 Aragon expired four years after the date of their previous election. Elections to the Cortes were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The previous election was held on 13 June 1999, setting the election date for the Cortes on Sunday, 25 May 2003.[1][3][4][5]

The President of the Government had the prerogative to dissolve the Cortes of Aragon and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no nationwide election was due and some time requirements were met: namely, that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or within the legislature's last year ahead of its scheduled expiry, nor before one year had elapsed since a previous dissolution under this procedure. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional President within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Cortes were to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called. Any snap election held as a result of these circumstances would not alter the period to the next ordinary election, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.[1][6]

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. 34 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Aragon.

Color key:

  Exit poll

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout						Lead
2003 regional election	25 May 2003	N/A	70.4	30.7 22	37.9 27	11.2 8	13.7 9	3.1 1	7.2
Sigma Dos/Antena 3[p 1]	25 May 2003	?	?	? 23/25	? 24/26	? 6/8	? 8/10	? 1/3	?
Ipsos–Eco/RTVE[p 2]	25 May 2003	?	?	? 23/25	? 24/26	? 7/8	? 9/10	? 1	?
C&J/El Periódico[p 3]	12–17 May 2003	?	?	29.0 20/21	37.9 27/28	13.8 9/10	13.3 9/10	? 1	8.9
CIS[p 4][p 5]	22 Mar–28 Apr 2003	1,339	68.6	30.4 22	35.6 26	13.9 10	14.5 8	3.9 1	5.2
C&J/El Periódico[p 6]	27 Apr 2003	?	?	28.0 19/20	38.1 27/28	15.2 9/10	? 9/10	? 0/1	10.1
CIS[p 7][p 8][p 9]	9 Sep–9 Oct 2002	492	71.6	35.1	33.1	10.7	15.3	4.1	2.0
2000 general election	12 Mar 2000	N/A	71.4	47.2 34	31.1 24	5.4 3	10.4 5	3.5 1	16.1
1999 regional election	13 Jun 1999	N/A	64.6	38.2 28	30.8 23	13.3 10	11.0 5	3.9 1	7.4

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 25 May 2003 Cortes of Aragon election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	270,468	37.94	+7.13	27	+4
	People's Party (PP)	219,058	30.73	–7.48	22	–6
	Aragonese Union (CHA)	97,763	13.71	+2.67	9	+4
	Aragonese Party (PAR)	79,670	11.18	–2.07	8	–2
	United Left of Aragon (IU)	21,795	3.06	–0.80	1	±0
	The Greens–SOS Nature (LV–SOS)^1	4,308	0.60	+0.05	0	±0
	Aragonese Initiative (INAR)	1,703	0.24	New	0	±0
	Family and Life Party (PFyV)	1,300	0.18	New	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	1,056	0.15	New	0	±0
	Republican Left (IR)	519	0.07	New	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	330	0.05	–0.10	0	±0
Blank ballots		14,874	2.09	+0.01
Total		712,844			67	±0
Valid votes		712,844	99.36	+0.07
Invalid votes		4,613	0.64	–0.07
Votes cast / turnout		717,457	70.36	+5.76
Abstentions		302,187	29.64	–5.76
Registered voters		1,019,644
Sources[7][8][9]

Popular vote PSOE   37.94% PP   30.73% CHA   13.71% PAR   11.18% IU   3.06% Others   1.29% Blank ballots   2.09%

Seats PSOE   40.30% PP   32.84% CHA   13.43% PAR   11.94% IU   1.49%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PSOE		PP		CHA		PAR		IU
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
Huesca	42.4	8	29.7	6	10.0	2	12.3	2	2.6	−
Teruel	34.8	5	33.6	5	7.6	1	18.2	3	3.7	−
Zaragoza	37.4	14	30.5	11	15.7	6	9.7	3	3.1	1
Total	37.9	27	30.7	22	13.7	9	11.2	8	3.1	1
Sources[7][8][9]

Aftermath

Investiture Marcelino Iglesias (PSOE)
Ballot →		3 July 2003
Required majority →		34 out of 67 Y
	Yes • PSOE (27) • PAR (8)	35 / 67
	No • PP (22) • CHA (9)	31 / 67
	Abstentions • IU (1)	1 / 67
	Absentees	0 / 67
Sources[9]

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "El sondeo de Sigma Dos determina una lucha codo a codo entre populares y socialistas en Madrid". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 25 May 2003. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
2. "Sondeo a pie de urna de Ipsos Eco Consulting para TVE". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 25 May 2003. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
3. "El PSOE ganará en Aragón e Iglesias podrá repetir si le apoyan PAR o CHA". El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 18 May 2003.
4. "Preelectoral elecciones autonómicas, 2003. CA de Aragón (Estudio nº 2484. Marzo-Abril 2003)" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 17 May 2003.
5. "La guerra pasa factura electoral al PP". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 18 May 2003.
6. "Iglesias podrá elegir entre PAR y CHA para un nuevo pacto". El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 27 April 2003.
7. "Instituciones y autonomías, II. CA de Aragón (Estudio nº 2455. Septiembre-Octubre 2002)". CIS (in Spanish). 19 November 2002.
8. "El PP, partido más votado en diez Comunidades Autónomas" (PDF). El Mundo (in Spanish). 19 November 2002.
9. "El PP ganaría las autonómicas en diez Comunidades y el PSOE en cuatro, según el CIS". ABC (in Spanish). 20 November 2002.

Other

1. "Statute of Autonomy of Aragon of 1982". Organic Law No. 8 of 10 August 1982. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2017.
2. Gallagher, Michael (30 July 2012). "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
3. "Autonomous Community of Aragon Electoral Law of 1987". Law No. 2 of 12 February 1987. Official Gazette of Aragon (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 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. "Statute of Autonomy of Aragon Reform of 1996". Organic Law No. 5 of 30 December 1996. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 September 2017.
7. "Cortes of Aragon election results, 25 May 2003" (PDF). www.juntaelectoralcentral.es (in Spanish). Electoral Commission of Aragon. 20 June 2003. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
8. "Aragon Electoral Archive. Cortes of Aragon election, 2003. Autonomous Community of Aragon". servicios.aragon.es (in Spanish). Government of Aragon. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
9. "Cortes of Aragon elections since 1983". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 26 September 2017.