Spanish general election, 2000

Legislative elections were held in Spain on 12 March 2000. The elections were for 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, and the 208 directly elected seats in the upper house, the Senate, determining the Prime Minister of Spain. The elections were commonly referred to as 12-M in the Spanish media in the weeks previous and next to the election day.

While most opinion polls gave him a clear victory, the incumbent People's Party of Prime Minister José María Aznar was elected to a second term in office with a surprising absolute majority of 183: a 27 seat gain from the previous election: a rise from opinion polls which gave him a plurality victory only. The opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party saw their number of seats reduced to 125, one of its worst results ever. While neither one of its worst defeats since Spanish transition to democracy (it lost more seats in the 1986 election, losing 18; and a similar number of seats were lost in 1996, with 16) nor the party's worst electoral result ever since (winning 118 and 121 seats in 1977 and 1979, respectively) the party's result in these elections quickly became known as Almunia's defeat, a psychological barrier for the PSOE in future elections; a result which would be vastly exceeded 11 years later.

This election featured some notable aspects. This was the first absolute majority the PP obtained in a general election, and its best result in both popular vote share and seats won until 2011. In contrast, the PSOE got its worst election result in 21 years. This was also the second time a candidate received more than 10 million votes, the last time being in 1982, when 10.1 million voters elected Felipe González from the PSOE. The voters' turnout registered was one of the lowest in democratic Spain for Spanish election standards (which tend to be usually high), with only 68.71% of the voting-able population casting a vote.

Overview

The Congress of Deputies consists of 350 members, elected in 50 multi-member districts using the D'Hondt method, with Ceuta and Melilla electing one member each using plurality voting.^[1]

Apportionment

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution, the boundaries of the electoral districts must be the same as the provinces of Spain and, under Article 141, this can only be altered with the approval of Congress.^[2]

The apportionment of seats to provinces follows the largest remainder method over the resident population ("Padrón") with a minimum of two seats (cf. Art. 162 of the Electoral Law).^[3]

Electoral system

Voting is on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The electoral system used is closed list proportional representation with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. Only lists which poll 3% of the total vote (which includes votes "en blanco", i.e., for none of the above) can be considered. Under articles 12 and 68 of the constitution, the minimum voting age is 18.^[2]

Eligibility

Article 67.3 of the Spanish Constitution prohibits dual membership of both chambers of the Cortes or of the Cortes and regional assemblies, meaning that candidates must resign from regional assemblies if elected. Article 70 also makes active judges, magistrates, public defenders, serving military personnel, active police officers and members of constitutional and electoral tribunals ineligible.^[2] Article 55, Section 2 of the 1985 electoral law also disqualifies director generals or equivalent leaders of state monopolies and public bodies such as the Spanish state broadcaster RTVE.^[4]

Opinion polls

Results

Congress

The ruling People's Party saw its vote share increase little in comparison to 1996 (roughly 600,000 votes), yet it achieved one of its greatest electoral victories until the 2011 election, winning an absolute majority of 183. The opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, in contrast, lost the support of around 1.5 million voters (who either abstained or voted for other parties), which resulted in the loss of 16 seats to stay at 125 seats from the 141 it held in the previous legislature. This election also resulted in the second highest abstention rate for a Spanish general election; surpassed by small margins only by the abstention registered in 1979. Both elections registered an abstention of around 32% of the electorate.

PSOE losses were severe. It won the popular vote in only 6 out of the 52 constituencies and in just two of the 19 autonomous regions (17 communities and 2 cities): Catalonia and Andalusia. Meanwhile, the PP won in 9 of the regions with an absolute majority of the popular vote, while winning another 16 regions with a plurality of the votes, winning an overall majority of 183 seats and a vote share of 44.5%. As a result of the election's outcome, Joaquín Almunia resigned as party leader, paving the way for the 35th PSOE Congress in which José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, future Prime Minister of Spain, would be elected as his successor.

While most opinion polls gave an advantage to Aznar's PP, they failed to determine the scope of his victory, and gave away the possibility of winning an absolute majority. This came mostly because in previous elections, opinion polls usually overestimated the PP's advantage while underestimating PSOE's popular support; something which opinion agencies wanted to avoid this time. However, unlike what happened in 1993 and 1996, the Socialists failed to mobilize its electorate this time. Not so the PP, which achieved the largest support (in number of votes) a Spanish Prime Ministerial candidate had ever received until the next election.^[5]

Party vote share by electoral district

Party seat allocation by electoral district

Senate

The People's Party increased its majority on the Senate up to 127 seats, to the detriment of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party which saw its own representation reduced from 81 to 53: a net loss of 28 seats.

Investiture voting

On April 26, José María Aznar was invested Prime Minister for a second term by the Congress of Deputies, thanks to the absolute majority of his party. Also supporting Aznar were CiU and Canarian Coalition. To date, this is the only investiture voting in which all 350 deputies voted either Yes or No, without abstentions or absences.^[6]

External links

• People's Party
• Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
• Convergence and Unity
• United Left

References