Canarian regional election, 1983

Canarian regional election, 1983

8 May 1983
All 60 seats in the Parliament of the Canaries 31 seats needed for a majority
Registered	925,572
Turnout	578,570 (62.5%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jerónimo Saavedra Francisco Marcos Hernández Lorenzo Olarte Party PSOE AP–PDP–UL CDS Leader since 1977 1983 1983 Seats won 27 17 6 Popular vote 233,991 163,419 40,789 Percentage 41.2% 28.8% 7.2%
Island-level units won by PSOE (red), AP-PDP-UL (yellow) and AM (blue)
President before election Jerónimo Saavedra PSOE Elected President Jerónimo Saavedra PSOE

The 1983 Canarian regional election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st Parliament of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. All 60 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in 12 other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) emerged as the largest party in the archipelago with 27 seats (4 short of an overall majority), following the disintegration and dissolution of the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), former ruling party of Spain in the 1977-1982 period which had achieved virtually unopposed victories in the islands in the 1977 and 1979 general elections. As a result, the centre and centre-right vote became split between several small parties and splits from the UCD, such as the Democratic and Social Centre of former Spanish Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez, which entered Parliament with 6 seats; the Independents' Gomera Group (AGI), with 2 seats or the Canarian Nationalist Convergence (CNC), with 1 seat.

The People's Coalition, a party coalition comprising the People's Alliance (AP), the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL) became the second largest party and the main opposition force in the Parliament with 17 seats, while the also-nationwide Communist Party of Spain (PCE) obtained 1 seat.

Electoral system

The 60 members of the Canarian Parliament were elected in 7 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 for each of the main islands to become a district of its own.

As the community had not passed an electoral law of its own at the time, the electoral system came regulated under the Autonomous Statute of Autonomy, as well as under Royal Decree 453/1983, which distributed the Parliament seats as follows: El Hierro (3), Fuerteventura (7), Gran Canaria (15), La Gomera (4), La Palma (8), Lanzarote (8) and Tenerife (15).

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 20% of the total vote in each district or above 3% in all of the community (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.^[1][2]

Results

Overall

Summary of the 8 May 1983 Parliament of the Canaries election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	233,991	41.18	—	27	—
	People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL)	163,419	28.76	—	17	—
	Canarian People's Union–Canarian Assembly (UPC–AC)	46,784	8.23	—	2	—
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	40,789	7.18	—	6	—
	Communist Party of the Canaries (PCC)	24,868	4.38	—	1	—
	Canarian Nationalist Convergence (CNC)	24,376	4.29	—	1	—
	Party of the Canarian Country (PPC)	7,676	1.35	—	0	—

References

Elections in the Canary Islands
Regional elections	1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 next
General elections	1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008 2011 2015 2016 next
European Parliament elections	1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 next