Extremaduran regional election, 2011

Extremaduran regional election, 2011
Extremadura
22 May 2011
All 65 seats in the Assembly of Extremadura
33 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered 906,551 1.5%
Turnout 676,768 (74.7%)
0.3 pp

  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader José Antonio Monago Guillermo Fernández Vara Pedro Escobar
Party PP–EU PSOE–r IU–SIEx
Leader since 8 November 2008 20 September 2006 30 September 2007
Leader's seat Badajoz Badajoz Badajoz
Last election 27 seats, 38.7% 38 seats, 53.0% 0 seats, 4.5%
Seats won 32 30 3
Seat change 5 8 3
Popular vote 307,975 290,045 38,157
Percentage 46.1% 43.4% 5.7%
Swing 7.4 pp 9.6 pp 1.2 pp

Constituency results map for the Assembly of Extremadura
President before election

Guillermo Fernández Vara
PSOE

 Elected President

José Antonio Monago
PP

The 2011 Extremaduran regional election was held on Sunday, 22 May 2011, to elect the 8th Assembly of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura. All 65 seats in the Assembly were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in 12 other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

For the first time since the first democratic election in 1983 in the region, the People's Party (PP) was able to win a regional election, obtaining its best historical result, with 46.1% of the share and 32 seats. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which had formed the government of the Extremaduran region since 1983, achieving an absolute majority of seats at every election except in 1995, was ousted from power in the worst result obtained by the party until that time.[1]

However, as the PP stood one seat short of an overall majority, the possibility arose of PSOE pact with United Left (IU), which had re-entered the Assembly after a four-year absence, in order to maintain the regional government.[2] However, IU declined to support outgoing Socialist Guillermo Fernández Vara after a 24-year PSOE rule over the region, opting to abstain in the investiture voting and allowing the most-voted candidate to be elected. As a result of the PP having more seats than the PSOE, party candidate José Antonio Monago became the first not-Socialist democratically elected President of the region.[3]

Electoral system

The 65 members of the Assembly of Extremadura were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of 5 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. Alternatively, parties failing to reach the threshold in one of the constituencies would also be entitled to enter the seat distribution as long as they ran candidates in both districts and reached 5 per 100 regionally. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Badajoz and Cáceres. Each constituency was entitled to an initial minimum of 20 seats, with the remaining 25 allocated among the constituencies in proportion to their populations.[4][5] Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all nationals over eighteen, registered in Extremadura and in full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote. Amendments to the electoral law in 2011 required for Extremadurans abroad to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote (Spanish: Voto rogado).[6]

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 2 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.[4][7][8]

A 2011 statutory amendment abolished the fixed-term mandate fixing elections for the fourth Sunday of May every four years, instead allowing for them to be held up to 30 days from the legislature's expiry date, which would take place four years after the previous election.[n 1] The President of Extremadura had the prerogative to dissolve the Assembly 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 the previous one. Additionally, the chamber was to be automatically 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.[5][7]

Opinion polls

Vote

Poll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first. 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. Poll results use the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. However, if such date is unknown, the date of publication will be given instead.

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. 33 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Extremaduran Assembly.

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 22 May 2011 Assembly of Extremadura election results →
Parties and coalitions Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Won +/−
People's Party–United Extremadura (PP–EU) 307,975 46.13 +7.42 32 +5
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party–Regionalists (PSOE–regionalistas) 290,045 43.45 –9.55 30 –8
United Left–Independent Socialists of Extremadura (IU–SIEx) 38,157 5.72 +1.20 3 +3
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) 7,058 1.06 New 0 ±0
Blank ballots 9,394 1.41 +0.22
Total 667,599 100.00 65 ±0
Valid votes 667,599 98.65 –0.62
Invalid votes 9,169 1.35 +0.62
Votes cast / turnout 676,768 74.65 –0.30
Abstentions 229,783 25.35 +0.30
Registered voters 906,551
Source(s): Argos Information Portal, historiaelectoral.com
Popular vote
PP
  
 46.13%
PSOE–r
  
 43.45%
IU–SIEx
  
 5.72%
UPyD
  
 1.06%
Others
  
 2.24%
Blank ballots
  
 1.41%
Seats
PP
  
 49.23%
PSOE–r
  
 46.15%
IU–SIEx
  
 4.62%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency PP–EU PSOE–r IU–SIEx
% S % S % S
Badajoz 45.0 17 44.7 17 6.2 2
Cáceres 47.9 15 41.4 13 5.0 1
Total 46.1 32 43.4 30 5.7 3

Notes

  1. ↑ As per Article 42 of the General Electoral System Law of 1985, the election Decree was to be issued on the twenty-fifth day prior to the date of expiry of the Assembly and published on the following day in the Official Journal of Extremadura, with election day being held on the fifty-fourth day from publication. As a result, an election could not be held later than the thirtieth day from the date of expiry of the Assembly.
  1. 1 2 This survey shows its poll results 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 surveys, a rule of three has been applied to the survey projections, with the results of the calculation being shown instead.

References

  1. ↑ Extremaduran election results Historiaelectoral.com. Retrieved 2011-04-05.
  2. ↑ "Vara sees a PSOE-IU pact as the 'only chance'" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2011-05-23.
  3. ↑ "Extremadura takes a political change for granted" (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 2011-07-04.
  4. 1 2 Assembly of Extremadura Elections Law of 1987, Law No. 2 of March 16, 1987 Official Journal of Extremadura (in Spanish). Retrieved on 17 March 2017.
  5. 1 2 Statute of Autonomy of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura of 2011, Organic Law No. 1 of January 28, 2011 Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved on 17 March 2017.
  6. ↑ Reig Pellicer, Naiara (16 December 2015). "Spanish elections: Begging for the right to vote". cafebabel.co.uk. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  7. 1 2 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.
  8. ↑ "Representation of the people Institutional Act". juntaelectoralcentral.es. Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
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