Elections to the Madrid Assembly, 1987

The 1987 elections to the Madrid Assembly were the second elections to the Madrid Assembly, the unicameral regional legislature of the autonomous community of Madrid, since the Spanish transition to democracy. The elections were held on 10 June 1987 to elect the 96 members of the Assembly, an increase of two seats compared to the previous elections.

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The electoral system used was closed list proportional representation with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. Only lists which polled at least 5% of the total votes (including votes "en blanco" i.e. for "none of the above") were eligible for seats.

The elections saw a breakthrough by the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS), which emerged as the third largest party, gaining seats and votes at the expense of all the other parties in the legislature. The largest number of seats was won by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), who lost their overall majority.^[1] In total the PSOE won 40 seats.

The Popular Alliance (AP) maintained its position as the second largest party, while United Left slipped to fourth place in terms of seats.

One of the first tasks of the Assembly was to elect the President of Madrid from among their number. With the CDS abstaining, Joaquín Leguina, the incumbent, was re-elected President.

Subsequent developments in the Assembly

In 1988, in a development which later proved significant, an AP deputy, Nicolás Piñeiro Cuesta, resigned from the party after ideological differences with the Madrid AP leader, Ruiz-Gallardón. Piñeiro launched his own party, the Independent Madrilenian Regional Party, shortly after.

In January 1989, the AP joined with other parties to launch the People's Party (PP). In the first half of 1989, the PP and the CDS reached an agreement on co-operation in the Madrid Assembly. In June 1989, they tabled a motion of no confidence in the PSOE administration in an attempt to replace them with a PP-CDS administration headed by Ruiz-Gallardón as Madrid President. To succeed, the motion needed the support of a majority of members, meaning that 49 votes were needed. With the PP and CDS having 48 members, Piñeiro's support was necessary. However he abstained and the United Left members voted with the PSOE resulting in the no confidence motion failing.^[2]

Results

References