Basque parliamentary election, 1998

Basque parliamentary election, 1998

25 October 1998

All 75 seats in the Basque Parliament 38 seats needed for a majority Registered 1,821,608 4.1% Turnout 1,275,008 (70.0%) 10.3 pp   First party Second party Third party   Leader Juan José Ibarretxe Carlos Iturgaiz Arnaldo Otegi Party EAJ-PNV PP EH Leader since 31 January 1998 5 October 1996 14 February 1998 Last election 22 seats, 29.3% 11 seats, 14.2% 11 seats, 16.0%[lower-alpha 1] Seats won 21 16 14 Seat change 1 5 3 Popular vote 350,322 251,743 224,001 Percentage 27.6% 19.9% 17.7% Swing 1.7 pp 5.7 pp 1.7 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Nicolás Redondo Carlos Garaikoetxea Javier Madrazo Party PSE-EE (PSOE) EA IU Leader since 20 October 1997 4 September 1986 14 May 1994 Last election 12 seats, 16.8% 8 seats, 10.1% 6 seats, 9.0% Seats won 14 6 2 Seat change 2 2 4 Popular vote 220,052 108,635 71,064 Percentage 17.4% 8.6% 5.6% Swing 0.6 pp 1.5 pp 3.4 pp

Lehendakari before election José Antonio Ardanza EAJ-PNV Elected Lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe EAJ-PNV

The 1998 Basque parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 25 October 1998, to elect the 6th Basque Parliament, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of the Basque Country. At stake were all 75 seats in the Parliament, determining the Lehendakari (President of the Basque Country).

The Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV) won 21 seats, the People's Party (PP) came second for the first time with 16 seats, the Basque Citizens (EH) coalition and the Socialist Party of the Basque Country-Basque Country Left (PSE-EE) won 14 seats each.

Electoral system

The 75 members of the Basque Parliament were elected in 3 multi-member districts, corresponding to the Basque Country's three provinces, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Each district was assigned a fixed set of seats, distributed as follows: Alava (25), Biscay (25) and Gipuzkoa (25).

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 5% of valid votes in each district (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.^[1]

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 25 October 1998 Basque Parliament election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV)	350,322	27.62	1.70	21	1
	People's Party (PP)	251,743	19.85	5.69	16	5
	Basque Citizens (EH)[lower-alpha 1]	224,001	17.66	1.65	14	3
	Socialist Party of the Basque Country-Basque Country Left (PSE-EE/PSOE)	220,052	17.35	0.52	14	2
	Basque Solidarity (EA)	108,635	8.57	1.56	6	2
	United Left-Greens (EB-B)	71,064	5.60	3.39	2	4
	Alavese Unity (UA)	15,738	1.24	1.44	2	3
	Natural Law Party (PLN-LNA)	4,858	0.38	New	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	3,288	0.26	New	0	±0
	Green Basque Country (EHB)	864	0.07	New	0	±0
	Blank ballots	17,641	1.39	0.35
Total		1,268,206	100.00		75	±0
Valid votes		1,268,206	99.47	0.06
Invalid votes		6,802	0.53	0.06
Votes cast / turnout		1,275,008	69.99	10.30
Abstentions		546,600	30.01	10.30
Registered voters		1,821,608
Source: Argos Information Portal

Notes

References

Elections and referendums in the Basque Country Parliamentary elections 1980 1984 1986 1990 1994 1998 2001 2005 2009 2012 next Referendums 1933 1979