Asturian parliamentary election, 1999

Asturian parliamentary election, 1999

13 June 1999

All 45 seats in the Asturian General Junta 23 seats needed for a majority Registered 979,618 3.7% Turnout 623,242 (63.6%) 5.5 pp   First party Second party Third party   Leader Vicente Álvarez Areces Ovidio Sánchez Gaspar Llamazares Party PSOE PP IU Leader since 14 June 1998 9 December 1998 1991 Last election 17 seats, 33.8% 21 seats, 42.0% 6 seats, 16.4% Seats won 24 15 3 Seat change 7 6 3 Popular vote 284,972 200,164 55,747 Percentage 46.0% 32.3% 9.0% Swing 12.2 pp 9.7 pp 7.4 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Sergio Marqués Xuan Xosé Sánchez Party URAS PAS Leader since 2 December 1998 1985 Last election Did not stand 1 seat, 3.2% Seats won 3 0 Seat change 3 1 Popular vote 44,261 15,998 Percentage 7.1% 2.6% Swing New party 0.6 pp

President before election Sergio Marqués URAS Elected President Vicente Álvarez Areces PSOE

The 1999 Asturian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 13 June 1999, to elect the 5th General Junta of the Principality of Asturias, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Asturias. At stake were all 45 seats in the General Junta, determining the President of the Principality of Asturias.

An internal People's Party (PP) crisis starting in 1997 between the regional PP leadership and President Sergio Marqués resulted in a party split, with Marqués' government breaking away from the PP in 1998, maintaining the support of only 5 of the 21 PP deputies for the remainder of the legislature.

As a result of the ensuing political crisis, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) of Vicente Álvarez Areces went on to win an absolute majority of seats, at the cost of the greatly weakened PP. United Left (IU) also suffered from the party crisis at the national level and lost half of its support, while Sergio Marqués' party, the Asturian Renewal Union (URAS), entered parliament with 3 seats.

Electoral system

The 45 members of the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias were elected in 3 multi-member districts using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Unlike other regions, districts did not coincide with provincial limits, being determined by law as such:

• Central District, comprising the municipalities of: Aller, Avilés, Bimenes, Carreño, Caso, Castrillón, Corvera de Asturias, Gijón, Gozón, Illas, Las Regueras, Langreo, Laviana, Lena, Llanera, Mieres, Morcín, Noreña, Oviedo, Proaza, Quirós, Ribera de Arriba, Riosa, San Martín del Rey Aurelio, Santo Adriano, Sariego, Siero, Sobrescobio and Soto del Barco.
• Eastern District, comprising the municipalities of: Amieva, Cabrales, Cabranes, Cangas de Onís, Caravia, Colunga, Llanes, Nava, Onís, Parres, Peñamellera Alta, Peñamellera Baja, Piloña, Ponga, Ribadedeva, Ribadesella and Villaviciosa.
• Western District, comprising the municipalities of: Allande, Belmonte de Miranda, Boal, Candamo, Cangas del Narcea, Castropol, Coaña, Cudillero, Degaña, El Franco, Grado, Grandas de Salime, Ibias, Illano, Muros del Nalón, Navia, Pesoz, Pravia, Salas, San Martín de Oscos, Santa Eulalia de Oscos, San Tirso de Abres, Somiedo, Tapia de Casariego, Taramundi, Teverga, Tineo, Valdés, Vegadeo, Villanueva de Oscos, Villayón and Yernes y Tameza.

Each district was entitled to an initial minimum of 2 seats, with the remaining 39 seats allocated among the three districts in proportion to their populations. For the 1999 election, seats were distributed as follows: Central District (33), Eastern District (5) and Western District (7).

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 3% of the total vote in each district (which includes blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.^[1]

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 13 June 1999 Asturian General Junta election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	284,972	46.00	12.17	24	7
	People's Party (PP)	200,164	32.31	9.69	15	6
	United Left (IU)	55,747	9.00	7.42	3	3
	Asturian Renewal Union (URAS)	44,261	7.14	New	3	3
	Asturianist Party (PAS)	15,998	2.58	0.61	0	1
	The Greens (LV)	3,343	0.54	0.15	0	±0
	Andecha Astur (AA)	2,206	0.36	0.06	0	±0
	Asturian Left Bloc (BIA)	1,366	0.22	New	0	±0
	Centrist Union-Democratic and Social Centre (UC-CDS)	737	0.12	1.66	0	±0
	Asturian Council (Conceyu)	496	0.08	0.05	0	±0
	The Falange (FE)	453	0.07	New	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	23	0.00	New	0	±0
	Blank ballots	9,720	1.57	0.39
Total		619,486	100.00		45	±0
Valid votes		619,486	99.40	0.01
Invalid votes		3,756	0.60	0.01
Votes cast / turnout		623,242	63.62	5.43
Abstentions		356,376	36.38	5.43
Registered voters		979,618
Source(s): General Junta of the Principality of Asturias Argos Information Portal

Results by district

Election results by district.

Central District

Party Vote Seats Votes % ±pp Won +/− Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 224,710 46.30 14.95 17 6 People's Party (PP) 153,940 31.72 10.28 11 4 United Left (IU) 49,659 10.23 8.38 3 3 Asturian Renewal Union (URAS) 28,476 5.87 New 2 2 Asturianist Party (PAS) 13,045 2.69 0.83 0 1 The Greens (LV) 2,866 0.59 0.18 0 ±0 Andecha Astur (AA) 1,755 0.36 0.03 0 ±0 Asturian Left Bloc (BIA) 1,170 0.24 New 0 ±0 Centrist Union-Democratic and Social Centre (UC-CDS) 737 0.15 1.39 0 ±0 Asturian Council (Conceyu) 496 0.10 0.07 0 ±0 The Falange (FE) 382 0.08 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 8,047 1.66 0.44 Total 485,283 100.00 33 ±0 Valid votes 485,283 99.50 0.04 Invalid votes 2,455 0.50 0.04 Votes cast / turnout 487,738 63.15 5.83 Abstentions 284,641 36.85 5.83 Registered voters 772,379 Source: General Junta of the Principality of Asturias

Eastern District

Party Vote Seats Votes % ±pp Won +/− Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 22,227 44.24 1.66 3 1 People's Party (PP) 18,564 36.95 7.13 2 1 Asturian Renewal Union (URAS) 4,752 9.46 New 0 ±0 United Left (IU) 1,937 3.86 2.64 0 ±0 Asturianist Party (PAS) 1,641 3.27 0.48 0 ±0 Andecha Astur (AA) 240 0.48 0.24 0 ±0 The Greens (LV) 141 0.28 0.13 0 ±0 Asturian Left Bloc (BIA) 77 0.15 New 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 23 0.05 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 638 1.27 0.20 Total 50,240 100.00 5 ±0 Valid votes 50,240 99.14 0.12 Invalid votes 434 0.86 0.12 Votes cast / turnout 50,674 66.43 5.51 Abstentions 25,608 33.57 5.51 Registered voters 76,282 Source: General Junta of the Principality of Asturias

Western District

Party Vote Seats Votes % ±pp Won +/− Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 38,035 45.30 1.77 4 ±0 People's Party (PP) 27,660 32.94 7.80 2 1 Asturian Renewal Union (URAS) 11,033 13.14 New 1 1 United Left (IU) 4,151 4.94 4.26 0 ±0 Asturianist Party (PAS) 1,312 1.56 0.12 0 ±0 The Greens (LV) 336 0.40 0.01 0 ±0 Andecha Astur (AA) 211 0.25 0.11 0 ±0 Asturian Left Bloc (BIA) 119 0.14 New 0 ±0 The Falange (FE) 71 0.08 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 1,035 1.23 0.24 Total 83,963 100.00 7 ±0 Valid votes 83,963 98.98 0.27 Invalid votes 867 1.02 0.27 Votes cast / turnout 84,830 64.78 3.10 Abstentions 46,127 35.22 3.10 Registered voters 130,957 Source: General Junta of the Principality of Asturias

References

Elections in Asturias Parliamentary elections 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2012 2015