Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 1999

The Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 1999 were the fifth democratic elections to the Corts Valencianes, the Valencian regional parliament, since the Spanish transition to democracy and were held on 13 June of that year. As in 1995, the elections were won by the People's Party (PP) who won an absolute majority of seats for the first time.

Contents

Electoral system

The elections were held using closed list proportional representation in three electoral districts corresponding to each of the three Provinces of the Valencian Community. With a total number of 89 seats, Valencia elected 37 members, Alicante 30 and Castellon 22. Only lists which polled 5% or more in the entire Valencian Community were eligible for seats. Seats were then allocated on a Provincial basis using the D'Hondt method of allocation. This electoral system proved disadvantageous for two smaller regional parties: the Valencian Nationalist Bloc and Unió Valenciana (UV) both of which narrowly failed to reach the threshold. Thus, in the case in UV, in Valencia Province, despite the fact that they received more votes than United Left (IU), they received no seats whereas IU were awarded two seats in Valencia Province.[1]

Election results

The results would continue the trends which had been seen in the 1990s in the Valencian Community. Beginning in 1993, PP had overtaken the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSPV-PSOE) and had steadily increased their vote thereafter. UV had declined from their peak in 1991 and had also suffered internal splits which led to them missing the threshold. They were the main beneficiaries, gaining 7 seats. IU also declined from their mid 1990s peak and lost 5 of their 10 seats. Although PSOE only registered a small increase in their vote share from 34.3% to 34.4%, they gained 3 seats.[2] BNV had been formed in 1998 as an electoral alliance of Unitat del Poble Valencià (UPV) which had been represented in the 1987-1991 Corts, with smaller regional parties such as the Valencian Nationalist Party and Alcoi Nationalists. Its 4.6% share represented an improvement on the vote of the UPV which had traditionally been around the 3% mark.

The elections produced the lowest turnout to date and saw a much lower turnout than in 1995. Out of a total of 3,361,989 voters, the turnout was 2,279,805 (67.8%) compared to 76% in 1995.

Election of President of the Valencian Community

One of the first tasks of the newly elected deputies was to elect the President of the Valencian Community.

The regional leader of each party was the candidate for President. These were:-

Eduardo Zaplana was re-elected Valencian President. He resigned in July 2002 and was replaced by the Vice-President José Luis Olivas.

Results

Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 1999

Party Votes % Seats
People's Party (Spain) 1,085,011 48.63 49
PSPV-PSOE 768,548 34.5 35
United Left 137.212 6,15 5
Unió Valenciana 106.119 4,76
Valencian Nationalist Bloc - Greens 102.700 4,6
Others 31,517 1.4

Additionally 35,158 votes (1.6%) were cast "en blanco" i.e. for "none of the above."

References

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