Madrilenian regional election, 1995

Madrilenian regional election, 1995

28 May 1995
All 103 seats in the Assembly of Madrid 52 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	4,129,852 7.9%
Turnout	2,907,141 (70.4%) 11.6 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Joaquín Leguina Ángel Pérez Party PP PSOE IU Leader since 8 February 1987 14 December 1979 24 February 1993 Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid Last election 47 seats, 42.7% 41 seats, 36.6% 13 seats, 12.1% Seats won 54 32 17 Seat change 7 9 4 Popular vote 1,476,442 860,726 464,167 Percentage 51.0% 29.7% 16.0% Swing 8.3 pp 6.9 pp 3.9 pp
President before election Joaquín Leguina PSOE Elected President Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón PP

The 1995 Madrilenian regional election was held on Sunday, 28 May 1995, to elect the 4th Assembly of the Autonomous Community of Madrid. All 103 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.

The election resulted in the People's Party (PP) winning an absolute majority of votes and seats for the first time, which allowed Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón to become President and end 12 years of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) rule in the community. Joaquín Leguina's PSOE suffered from PM Felipe González' unpopularity at national level and fell below 30% for the first time in a regional election. The third party, United Left (IU), benefitted from the PSOE's decline and polled just over 16%, their highest vote share at a Madrid Assembly election to date.

Electoral system

The 103 members of the Assembly of Madrid 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 regionally. Parties not reaching the threshold were not taken into consideration for seat distribution. The Assembly was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 25,000, according to the updated data of the population census.^[1][2] Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all nationals over eighteen, registered in the Community of Madrid and in full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote.

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 0.5 per 100 of the electors entered in electoral register of the Community of Madrid. 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.^[1][3][4]

Elections were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. Additionally, the chamber was to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called if an investiture process failed to elect a regional President within a two-month period from the first ballot, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.^[2][3]

Opinion polls

Individual 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 that date is unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance of a tie, the figures with the highest percentages are shaded. Seat projections are displayed in bold and in a different font. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. 52 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Assembly of Madrid.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout				Lead
1995 regional election	28 May 1995	N/A	70.4	51.0 54	29.7 32	16.0 17	21.3
Demoscopia/El País[5][6]	10–15 May 1995	?	?	51.1 53/54	25.5 27/28	20.3 22/23	25.6
CIS[p 1][p 2]	24 Apr–10 May 1995	1,395	72.6	51.5	27.6	15.9	23.9
Tábula-V/ABC[p 3]	19–25 Apr 1995	1,000	?	50.0 55	24.0 26	20.0 22	26.0
Tábula-V/ABC[p 4]	28 Nov–2 Dec 1994	?	?	47.0	19.0	23.0	24.0
1994 EP election	12 Jun 1994	N/A	49.9	50.3 56	24.0 26	19.6 21	26.3
Tábula-V/ABC[p 3]	10–11 May 1994	?	?	48.0	24.0	23.0	24.0
1993 general election	6 Jun 1993	N/A	78.9	43.9 48	35.0 38	14.6 15	8.9
1991 regional election	26 May 1991	N/A	58.8	42.7 47	36.6 41	12.1 13	6.1

Results

← Summary of the 28 May 1995 Assembly of Madrid election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	1,476,442	50.98	+8.31	54	+7
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	860,726	29.72	–6.87	32	–9
	United Left (IU)	464,167	16.03	+3.96	17	+4

Aftermath

Investiture

Investiture processes to elect the President of the Community of Madrid required for an absolute majority—more than half the votes cast—to be obtained in the first ballot. If unsuccessful, a new ballot would be held 48 hours later requiring only of a simple majority—more affirmative than negative votes—to succeed. If such majorities were not achieved, successive candidate proposals would be processed under the same procedure. In the event of the investiture process failing to elect a regional President within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Assembly would be automatically dissolved and a snap election called.^[2]

Opinion poll sources

References