Asturian parliamentary election, 2012

Asturian parliamentary election, 2012
Asturias
25 March 2012
All 45 seats in the Asturian General Junta
23 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered 989,993 Increase0.3%
Turnout 506,368 (51.1%)
Decrease10.6 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Javier Fernández Francisco Álvarez Cascos Mercedes Fernández
Party PSOE FAC PP
Leader since 23 October 2010 18 January 2011 14 February 2012
Last election 15 seats, 29.9% 16 seats, 29.7% 10 seats, 20.0%
Seats won 17 12 10
Seat change Increase2 Decrease4 ±0
Popular vote 161,159 124,518 108,091
Percentage 32.1% 24.8% 21.5%
Swing Increase2.2 pp Decrease4.9 pp Increase1.5 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Jesús Iglesias Ignacio Prendes
Party IU UPyD
Leader since 2007 2 November 2010
Last election 4 seats, 10.3% 0 seats, 2.4%
Seats won 5 1
Seat change Increase1 Increase1
Popular vote 69,118 18,801
Percentage 13.8% 3.7%
Swing Increase3.5 pp Increase1.3 pp
President before election

Francisco Álvarez Cascos
FAC

 Elected President

Javier Fernández
PSOE

The 2012 Asturian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 25 March 2012, to elect the 9th 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.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) under Javier Fernández, which had scored first in votes but second in seats in the 2011 election, went on to win the election with a comfortable 7 point and 5 seat-margin. Asturias Forum (FAC) of regional President Francisco Álvarez Cascos, on the other hand, lost the plurality of seats it had won in the previous election and fell from 16 to 12 seats (it scored 13 on election night, but the counting of the vote of those abroad robbed it of 1 seat in the Eastern District, awarding it to PSOE). The People's Party (PP) was unable to improve its 2011 results despite a change of leadership and remained stagnant at 10 seats, while United Left (IU) did win a seat from the 4 it already held.

The election resulted in a draw between the center-left (PSOE-IU) and center-right (FAC-PP) blocs, with Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD), which unlike 2011 this time was able to enter parliament, being determinant to attain an absolute majority of seats by either bloc. After some negotiations, UPyD agreed to support Javier Fernández as new President of Asturias.


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:

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 2012 election, seats were distributed as follows: Central District (34), Eastern District (5) and Western District (6).

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]

Opinion polls

Vote

Poll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. Poll results use the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. However, if such date is unknown, the date of publication will be given instead.

Seats

Opinion polls showing seat projections are displayed in the table below. The highest seat figures in each polling survey have their background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. 23 seats are required for an absolute majority in the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias.

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 25 March 2012 Asturian General Junta election results →
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Won +/−
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 161,159 32.10 Increase2.18 17 Increase2
Asturias Forum (FAC) 124,518 24.80 Decrease4.86 12 Decrease4
People's Party (PP) 108,091 21.53 Increase1.58 10 ±0
United Left (IU) 69,118 13.77 Increase3.49 5 Increase1
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) 18,801 3.74 Increase1.30 1 Increase1
Blank Seats (Eb) 4,107 0.82 New 0 ±0
Equo (EQUO) 2,558 0.51 New 0 ±0
Bloc for Asturias-Asturian Nationalist Unity (BA-UNA) 1,656 0.33 Decrease0.70 0 ±0
Animal Rights Party (PACMA) 1,449 0.29 Decrease0.03 0 ±0
Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) 782 0.16 Decrease0.08 0 ±0
Independents of Asturias-Jaded.org (IDEAS-Hartos.org) 738 0.15 New 0 ±0
Andecha Astur (AA) 674 0.13 New 0 ±0
Blank ballots 7,166 1.43 Decrease1.17
Total 502,073 100.00 45 ±0
Valid votes 502,073 99.15 Increase0.59
Invalid votes 4,295 0.85 Decrease0.59
Votes cast / turnout 506,368 51.15 Decrease10.54
Abstentions 483,625 48.85 Increase10.54
Registered voters 989,993
Source(s):
Vote share
PSOE
  
 32.10%
FAC
  
 24.80%
PP
  
 21.53%
IU
  
 13.77%
UPyD
  
 3.74%
Others
  
 2.63%
Blank
  
 1.43%
Parliamentary seats
PSOE
  
 37.78%
FAC
  
 26.67%
PP
  
 22.22%
IU
  
 11.11%
UPyD
  
 2.22%

Results by district

Election results by district.

Post-election

After the election, the leader of the Asturian PSOE, Javier Fernández, and incumbent Asturian President, Francisco Álvarez Cascos, were tasked to form a coalition government. The election led to a political impasse as the center-left (PSOE and IU) and center-right coalitions (FAC and PP) each gained 22 seats in the election (23 seats are required for a majority in the 45-seat Assembly). The remaining seat was held by the centrist UPyD, which became the kingmaker in the negotiation.

Coalition talks took almost two months to reach an agreement. One of the main events during the negotiation was the legal battle in the Spanish Constitutional Court over the 45th seat, the assignment of which was delayed by the counting of the ballots of those voting abroad. FAC disputed the seat's assignment to the PSOE and asked for a revote; however, the Constitutional Court rejected the appeal and upheld the seat for the PSOE.[2]

UPyD finally agreed to support a PSOE government, their main reason to do so being the threat by Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro to intervene in Asturian government accounts.[3] On 23 May 2012, PSOE leader Javier Fernández was elected as the new President of the Principality of Asturias with support from IU and UPyD.[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Poll results are shown projected over candidacy votes (that is, votes going for political parties, excluding blank ballots). The vote percentage in the official election is calculated including blank ballots into the estimation. In order to obtain data comparable to both the official results as well as those of other polls, a rule of three has been applied to the poll projections, with the results of the calculation being shown instead.

References

  1. ↑ "Law 14/1986, of 26 December, on the regulation of elections to the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias".
  2. ↑ "One month and 21 days of thrill" (in Spanish). El País. 2012-05-16.
  3. ↑ "The PSOE will govern in Asturias after reaching an agreement with UPyD" (in Spanish). El País. 2012-05-16.
  4. ↑ "Javier Fernández, President of Asturias with the support of IU and UPyD" (in Spanish). El País. 2012-05-23.