Cantabrian parliamentary election, 1983

Cantabrian parliamentary election, 1983
Cantabria
8 May 1983

All 35 seats in the Regional Assembly of Cantabria
18 seats needed for a majority
Registered 384,993
Turnout 283,197 (73.4%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader José Antonio Rodríguez Jaime Blanco Miguel Ángel Revilla
Party CP PSOE PRC
Leader since 1983 1977 1983
Seats won 18 15 2
Popular vote 122,748 107,168 18,767
Percentage 44.0% 38.4% 6.7%

President before election

José Antonio Rodríguez
UCD

Elected President

José Antonio Rodríguez
CP

The 1983 Cantabrian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st Parliament of Cantabria (known from 1983 to 1998 as Regional Assembly of Cantabria), the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Cantabria. At stake were all 35 seats in the Assembly, determining the President of Cantabria.

The election was won by the People's Coalition, an electoral alliance led by the People's Alliance (AP) and also including the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL), with an absolute majority of seats. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) came second with 15 seats, while the Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC) entered the Assembly with 2 seats.

As a result, AP candidate José Antonio Rodríguez Martínez was elected as regional President. Rodríguez, however, resigned on 2 March 1984 as a result of political discrepancies with AP, being replaced by Ángel Díaz de Entresotos until the end of the legislature.[1]

Electoral system

The number of seats in the Regional Assembly of Cantabria was set to 35 for the 1983-1987 period. All Assembly members were elected in a single multi-member district, consisting of the Community's territory (the province of Cantabria), using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. As the community had not passed an electoral law of its own at the time, the electoral system came regulated under Royal Decree 451/1983.

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 5% of valid votes (which include blank ballotsfor none of the above) in all of the community were entitled to enter the seat distribution.[2]

Results

Summary of the 8 May 1983 Cantabrian Regional Assembly election results
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Won +/−
People's Coalition (AP-PDP-UL) 122,748 43.99 18
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 107,168 38.41 15
Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC) 18,767 6.73 2
Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 11,052 3.96 0
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 7,164 2.57 0
Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) 4,474 1.60 0
United Cantabrian Left Group (AICU) 3,179 1.14 0
Cantabria Nationalist Electoral Group (AENC) 1,869 0.67 0
Ecologist Movement of Spain (MEE) 1,019 0.37 0
Blank ballots 1,569 0.56
Total 279,009 100.00 35
Valid votes 279,009 98.52
Invalid votes 4,188 1.48
Votes cast / turnout 283,197 73.56
Abstentions 101,796 26.44
Registered voters 384,993
Source: Argos Information Portal
Vote share
AP-PDP-UL
 
43.99%
PSOE
 
38.41%
PRC
 
6.73%
PCE
 
3.96%
CDS
 
2.57%
PDL
 
1.60%
AICU
 
1.14%
Others
 
1.04%
Blank ballots
 
0.56%
Parliamentary seats
AP-PDP-UL
 
51.43%
PSOE
 
42.86%
PRC
 
5.71%

References