Catalan regional election, 2006

Catalan regional election, 2006
Catalonia
1 November 2006
All 135 seats in the Parliament of Catalonia
68 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered 5,321,274 0.3%
Turnout 2,982,108 (56.0%)
6.5 pp

  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Artur Mas José Montilla Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira
Party CiU PSC–CpC ERC
Leader since 7 January 2002 15 July 2006[1] 25 November 1996
Leader's seat Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona
Last election 46 seats, 30.9% 42 seats, 31.2% 23 seats, 16.4%
Seats won 48 37 21
Seat change 2 5 2
Popular vote 935,756 796,173 416,355
Percentage 31.5% 26.8% 14.0%
Swing 0.6 pp 4.4 pp 2.4 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Josep Piqué Joan Saura Albert Rivera
Party PP ICV–EUiA C's
Leader since 4 September 2003 26 November 2000 9 July 2006
Leader's seat Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona
Last election 15 seats, 11.9% 9 seats, 7.3% Did not contest
Seats won 14 12 3
Seat change 1 3 3
Popular vote 316,222 282,693 89,840
Percentage 10.7% 9.5% 3.0%
Swing 1.2 pp 2.2 pp New party

Constituency results map for the Parliament of Catalonia
President before election

Pasqual Maragall
PSC–CpC

 Elected President

José Montilla
PSC–PSOE

The 2006 Catalan regional election was held on Wednesday, 1 November 2006, to elect the 8th Parliament of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

Background

The November 2006 Catalan parliament election was an early one (the original election date was due for the Fall of 2007, roughly one year after the actual early election took place). This was mostly a result of the uneasy and controversial redaction of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia amended text, which has further expanded the authority of the Catalan Government ever since it was passed in June 2006.

The Statute amendment was approved in a referendum on June 18, 2006 in which 73.24% of voters were in favour of the new Statute, 20.57% of the votes were against. This referendum was noted for its huge abstention: only 48.85% of the electorate participated in it.

Since the 2003 elections a coalition of three left-wing parties, Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia Greens-United and Alternative Left (ICV-EUiA) had been in power, with Pasqual Maragall as President. However, in May 2006 ERC, following internal tensions, left the coalition due to its disagreement on the final draft of the Statute of Autonomy which themselves had partially redacted, thus leaving Maragall without a majority and forcing him to call for this early election. On June 21, 2006 Maragall announced his intention to personally step down at the upcoming election, arguably due to the political erosion his government had suffered after an uneasy relationship with ERC.

Besides the issue of Catalan nationalism, the main issues of the campaign were taxes, social security, housing and immigration.

Unlike the previous 2003 election, when Convergence and Union (CiU) achieved a plurality of seats in the autonomous Parliament but did not get the highest number of votes (PSC achieved a narrow lead in votes, the discrepancy between votes number and seats being explained by the electoral law) in this occasion CiU won the elections both in seats and votes numbers. Still those weren't enough to have an absolute majority. Then, after coalition negotiations, the PSC, ERC and ICV-EUiA agreed to renew the three-party coalition that had been in power, which made PSC's leader José Montilla President.

This election saw a new party (Citizens-Party of the Citizenry) entering the autonomous parliament, which has increased the already high diversity of this parliament from five political parties with representation to now six, which contrasts with the increasingly bipartisan Spanish -and European in general- politic scenario.

Overview

Electoral system

The Parliament of Catalonia was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, having legislative power in matters of regional competence as underlined by the Spanish Constitution and the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to grant or revoke confidence from a President of the Generalitat.[2][3] Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all nationals over eighteen, registered in Catalonia and in full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote.

The 135 members of the Parliament of Catalonia were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of 3 per 100 of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Parties not reaching the threshold were not taken into consideration for seat distribution. Additionally, the use of the D'Hondt method might result in an effective threshold over three percent, dependant on the district magnitude.[4] Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona. Each constituency was allocated a fixed number of seats: 85 for Barcelona, 17 for Girona, 15 for Lleida and 18 for Tarragona.[2][3][5]

The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure at least the signature of 1 per 100 of the electors entered in electoral register of the constituency for which they were seeking election. Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days from the election call.[6][7]

Election date

Article 56 of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 established that the term of the Parliament expired four years from the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. Article 56 also required for the President of the Generalitat to call an election fifteen days prior to the date of expiry of Parliament, with election day taking place within from forty to sixty days after the call. The previous election was held on 16 November 2003, which meant that the legislature's term would expire on 16 November 2007. The election was required to be called no later than 1 November 2007, with it taking place on the sixtieth day from the call, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament at Monday, 31 December 2007.

Article 75 of the Statute granted the President the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since a previous one under this procedure. Additionally, under Article 67 the Parliament was to be dissolved and a new election called if an investiture process failed to elect a regional President within a two-month period from the first ballot.[2][3]

Parties

Opinion polls

Vote estimations

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.

Parliamentary seat projections

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.

Color key:

  Exit poll

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 1 November 2006 Parliament of Catalonia election results →
Parties and coalitions Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Won +/−
Convergence and Union (CiU) 935,756 31.52 +0.58 48 +2
Socialists' Party of Catalonia–Citizens for Change (PSC–CpC) 796,173 26.82 –4.34 37 –5
Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) 416,355 14.03 –2.41 21 –2
People's Party (PP) 316,222 10.65 –1.24 14 –1
Initiative for Catalonia Greens–United and Alternative Left (ICV–EUiA) 282,693 9.52 +2.24 12 +3
Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (C's) 89,840 3.03 New 3 +3
Blank ballots 60,244 2.03 +1.12
Total 2,968,534 100.00 135 ±0
Valid votes 2,968,534 99.54 –0.20
Invalid votes 13,574 0.46 +0.20
Votes cast / turnout 2,982,108 56.04 –6.50
Abstentions 2,339,166 43.96 +6.50
Registered voters 5,321,274
Source(s): Generalitat of Catalonia, historiaelectoral.com
Popular vote
CiU
  
 31.52%
PSC–CpC
  
 26.82%
ERC
  
 14.03%
PP
  
 10.65%
ICV–EUiA
  
 9.52%
C's
  
 3.03%
Others
  
 2.40%
Blank ballots
  
 2.03%
Seats
CiU
  
 35.56%
PSC–CpC
  
 27.41%
ERC
  
 15.56%
PP
  
 10.37%
ICV–EUiA
  
 8.89%
C's
  
 2.22%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency CiU PSC ERC PP ICV–EUiA C's
% S % S % S % S % S % S
Barcelona 29.9 27 27.9 25 12.6 11 11.2 10 10.4 9 3.5 3
Girona 38.2 7 22.1 4 19.2 4 7.2 1 7.6 1 0.9 −
Lleida 40.0 7 22.0 3 17.7 3 9.1 1 6.6 1 1.0 −
Tarragona 32.4 7 26.0 5 17.6 3 11.0 2 6.5 1 2.4 −
Total 31.5 48 26.8 37 14.0 21 10.7 14 9.5 12 3.0 3

Post-election

Investiture voting

24 November 2006
Investiture voting for José Montilla (PSC)
Absolute majority: 68/135
Vote Parties Votes
Yes Yes PSC (37), ERC (21), ICV (12)
70 / 135
No CiU (48), PP (14), C's (3)
65 / 135
Abstentions
0 / 135
Source: historiaelectoral.com

Notes

  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. ↑ "Montilla, elegido candidato del PSC a la Generalitat con el 98% de los votos". El País. 16 July 2006. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Organic Law No. 6 of July 19, 2006 Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved on 14 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "Organic Act 6/2006 of the 19th July, on the Reform of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia" (PDF). parlament.cat. Parliament of Catalonia. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  4. ↑ "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  5. ↑ Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979, Organic Law No. 4 of December 18, 1979 Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved on 14 March 2017.
  6. ↑ General Electoral System Organic Law of 1985, Organic Law No. 5 of June 19, 1985 Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved on 28 December 2016.
  7. ↑ "Representation of the people Institutional Act". juntaelectoralcentral.es. Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
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