Catalonian parliamentary election, 2012

Catalonian parliamentary election, 2012
Catalonia
25 November 2012
All 135 seats in the Parliament of Catalonia
68 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout 3,668,310 (67.8%)
Increase9.0 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Artur Mas Pere Navarro Oriol Junqueras
Party CiU PSC ERC
Leader since 7 January 2002 17 December 2011 17 September 2011
Last election 62 seats, 38.4% 28 seats, 18.4% 10 seats, 7.0%
Seats won 50 20 21
Seat change Decrease12 Decrease8 Increase11
Popular vote 1,116,259 524,707 498,124
Percentage 30.7% 14.4% 13.7%
Swing Decrease7.7 pp Decrease4.0 pp Increase6.7 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Alicia Sánchez-Camacho Joan Herrera Albert Rivera
Party PPC ICV-EUiA C's
Leader since 6 July 2008 23 November 2008 9 July 2006
Last election 18 seats, 12.4% 10 seats, 7.4% 3 seats, 3.4%
Seats won 19 13 9
Seat change Increase1 Increase3 Increase6
Popular vote 471,681 359,705 274,925
Percentage 13.0% 9.9% 7.6%
Swing Increase0.6 pp Increase2.5 pp Increase4.2 pp

On the left: Winning party map for each municipality.
  CiU hold
  CiU gain
  PSC hold
  PSC gain
  ERC hold
  ERC gain
  PP gain
  ICV-EUiA gain
  CUP gain
On the right: Map showing the winning party in each comarque and the distribution of seats in every election boundary.
  CiU
  PSC
  PSC (less >5%)
  ERC
  PP
  ICV
  C's
  CUP
President before election

Artur Mas
CiU

 Elected President

Artur Mas
CiU

The 2012 Catalonian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 25 November 2012, to elect the 10th Parliament of Catalonia, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. At stake were all 135 seats in the Parliament, determining the President of Catalonia.

This was a snap election, announced on 25 September by President Artur Mas.[1] It was called following the pro-independence demonstration in Barcelona on 11 September (the National Day of Catalonia), as a result of the failed talks between President of Catalonia Artur Mas (Convergence and Union) and Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy (People's Party) to give greater fiscal autonomy to Catalonia.[2]

Despite Artur Mas campaigning to win an absolute majority of seats, in the end his party, Convergence and Union (CiU), suffered a large electoral setback, largely unnoticed by opinion polls. The Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) also fared badly, obtaining the worst result in its history (a record which had already been broken in the 2010 election). While polling in third place, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) was able to attract the growing pro-independence movement and recovered the 21 seats it had lost in the previous election, becoming the main parliamentary opposition party for the first time.

The People's Party of Catalonia (PPC) and Citizens (C's) benefitted from the electoral polarization into a pro-independence bloc and an anti-independence bloc, scoring their best results until then, with 19 and 9 seats, respectively. The Popular Unity Candidates (CUP) entered in the Parliament for the first time with 3 seats.

Electoral system

The 135 members of the Parliament of Catalonia are elected in 4 multi-member districts using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation. Barcelona is allocated 85 seats, Girona 17, Lleida 15 and Tarragona 18. Only lists polling above 3% of the total vote in each district (which includes blank ballots—for none of the above) are entitled to enter the seat distribution.[3] Under articles 12 and 68 of the Constitution, the minimum voting age is 18.[4]

Background

In the 2010 election, Convergence and Union (CiU) was returned to power after 7 years in opposition, as a result of the electoral collapse of all three parties comprising the "Catalan tripartite" government (Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV). Newly-elected President of Catalonia Artur Mas was able to govern comfortably thanks to his party's large parliamentary representation allowing for punctual support of several parties on different issues, in what was known as a policy of "variable geometry".[5][6] In 2011, CiU signed several agreements with the People's Party of Catalonia (PPC) in order to pass the 2011 and 2012 budgets, as well as for the approval of several spending cuts. In spite of this, the relationship between both parties quickly deteriorated after the 2011 general election, as a result of Mas asking new Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy for greater fiscal autonomy for Catalonia.[7][8]

On 11 September 2012, a massive pro-independence demonstration marked the Catalan political agenda and re-opened the debate about the right to hold a referendum on the independence of Catalonia,[9][10][11] as well as the debate about the feasibility of an independent Catalan state and its integration into the European Union. On 25 September 2012, President of the Generalitat of Catalonia Artur Mas announced a snap parliamentary election to be held on 25 November and argued, referring to the demonstration, that "this election will not be held to help a party [referring to CiU] to perpetuate itself in power. It will be held so that the whole of the Catalan population decides democratically and peacefully what will their future be as a nation."[12] President Mas signed the decree to officially call the Catalan election on 1 October.[13] Mas' move was criticized as an attempt to try to funnel the popular support for independence seen in the September demonstration into an absolute majority of seats in the election.[14]

Opinion polls

Vote

Poll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first, and using the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. If such date is unknown, the date of publication is given instead. 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. When a specific poll does not show a data figure for a party, the party's cell corresponding to that poll is shown empty.

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. 68 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Catalonia.

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 25 November 2012 Catalonian Parliament election results →
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Won +/−
Convergence and Union (CiU) 1,116,259 30.71 Decrease7.72 50 Decrease12
Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC-PSOE) 524,707 14.43 Decrease3.95 20 Decrease8
Republican Left of Catalonia-Catalonia Yes (ERC-Cat Sí) 498,124 13.70 Increase6.70 21 Increase11
People's Party of Catalonia (PPC) 471,681 12.98 Increase0.61 19 Increase1
Initiative for Catalonia Greens-United and Alternative Left (ICV-EUiA) 359,705 9.90 Increase2.53 13 Increase3
Citizens-Party of the Citizenry (C's) 275,007 7.57 Increase4.18 9 Increase6
Popular Unity Candidates (CUP) 126,435 3.48 New 3 Increase3
Platform for Catalonia (PxC) 60,107 1.65 Decrease0.75 0 ±0
Catalan Solidarity for Independence (SI) 46,838 1.29 Decrease2.00 0 Decrease4
Blank Seats (Eb) 28,288 0.78 Increase0.18 0 ±0
Animal Rights Party (PACMA) 20,861 0.57 Increase0.12 0 ±0
Pirates of Catalonia (Pirata.cat) 18,219 0.50 Increase0.29 0 ±0
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) 14,614 0.40 Increase0.23 0 ±0
Jaded.org (Hartos.org) 11,702 0.32 New 0 ±0
Democratic Way (VD) 5,984 0.16 New 0 ±0
Communist Unification of Spain (UCE) 2,582 0.07 Increase0.04 0 ±0
Republican Left (IR) 826 0.02 Decrease0.03 0 ±0
Socialists and Republicans (SyR) 333 0.01 New 0 ±0
Blank ballots 52,898 1.46 Decrease1.47
Total 3,635,170 100.00 135 ±0
Valid votes 3,635,170 99.10 Decrease0.19
Invalid votes 33,140 0.90 Increase0.19
Votes cast / turnout 3,668,310 67.76 Increase8.98
Abstentions 1,745,558 32.24 Decrease8.98
Registered voters 5,413,868
Source(s):
Vote share
CiU
  
 30.71%
PSC-PSOE
  
 14.43%
ERC-Cat Sí
  
 13.70%
PPC
  
 12.98%
ICV-EUiA
  
 9.90%
C's
  
 7.57%
CUP
  
 3.48%
PxC
  
 1.65%
SI
  
 1.29%
Others
  
 2.83%
Blank
  
 1.46%
Parliamentary seats
CiU
  
 37.04%
ERC-Cat Sí
  
 15.56%
PSC-PSOE
  
 14.81%
PPC
  
 14.07%
ICV-EUiA
  
 9.63%
C's
  
 6.67%
CUP
  
 2.22%

Results by province

Election results by comarque.

Post-election

Investiture voting

21 December 2012
Investiture voting for Artur Mas i Gavarró (CiU)
Absolute majority: 68/135
Vote Parties Votes
Yes Yes CiU (50), ERC (21)
71 / 135
No PSC (20), PP (18), ICV (13), C's (9), CUP (3)
63 / 135
Abstentions
0 / 135
1 PPC deputy missed the voting.
Source: Historia Electoral

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 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.
  2. ↑ This poll provides data ranges, approximations and/or various electoral scenario hypotheses calculated using similar weighting parameters. In order to simplify, the average of these data is given.

References

  1. ↑ "Mas: "I have decided to dissolve Parliament and call an election for 25 November"" (in Catalan). El Punt Avui. 2012-09-25. Retrieved 2012-09-25.
  2. ↑ Spain's Catalonia region to hold early elections on Nov 25, Reuters
  3. ↑ (Spanish), Parliament of Catalonia
  4. ↑ "The Spanish Constitution of 1978".
  5. ↑ "PSC, PP and ERC criticize the variable geometry of a Mas defending "broad consensus"" (in Spanish). El Economista. 2011-07-06.
  6. ↑ "Sánchez-Camacho to Mas: 'The variable geometry will not always work'" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2012-01-18.
  7. ↑ "Mas and Sánchez-Camacho sign the CiU-PP pact for the budget" (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 2011-06-11.
  8. ↑ "CiU and PP ally again to maintain the sanitary cuts" (in Spanish). El País. 2011-10-20.
  9. ↑ "Catalan parties assess the independence demonstration" (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 2012-09-12.
  10. ↑ "Independentism marks the political agenda in a critical autumn for the Spanish State" (in Spanish). Gara. 2012-09-23.
  11. ↑ "CiU, ICV-EUiA, ERC and SI negotiate a resolution for self-determination" (in Spanish). El Periódico de Catalunya. 2012-09-24.
  12. ↑ "Mas sets course for self-determination" (in Spanish). El País. 2012-09-24.
  13. ↑ "Mas: "Ningú no pot utilitzar les armes contra la voluntat d'un poble"". Nació Digital. 1 October 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  14. ↑ "Catalan election: Mas asks for an absolute majority like the one of the Scottish SNP for a referendum" (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 2012-11-19.

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