Navarrese regional election, 1983

Navarrese regional election, 1983

8 May 1983
All 50 seats in the Parliament of Navarre 26 seats needed for a majority
Registered	379,692 4.0%
Turnout	269,042 (70.9%) 0.1 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Gabriel Urralburu Balbino Bados José Luis Monge Recalde Party PSN–PSOE UPN AP–PDP–PL Leader since 15 June 1982 1983 1983 Leader's seat Navarre Navarre Navarre Last election 15 seats, 18.9% 13 seats, 16.0% Did not contest Seats won 20 13 8 Seat change 5 0 8 Popular vote 94,737 62,072 37,554 Percentage 35.6% 23.3% 14.1% Swing 16.7 pp 7.3 pp New party   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Iñaki Aldekoa Ignacio Cabasés Party HB EAJ/PNV Leader since 1983 1983 Leader's seat Navarre Navarre Last election 9 seats, 11.1% 3 seats, 5.0% Seats won 6 3 Seat change 3 0 Popular vote 28,055 18,161 Percentage 10.6% 6.8% Swing 0.5 pp 1.8 pp
President before election Juan Manuel Arza UCD Elected President Juan Manuel Arza (ad interim) Independent

The 1983 Navarrese regional election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st Parliament of the Foral Community of Navarre. All 50 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.

Electoral system

The 50 members of the Parliament of Navarre 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.^{[n 1][1]} Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all nationals over eighteen, registered in Navarre 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 0.1 per 100 of the electors entered in electoral register of the constituency for which they were seeking election—needing to secure, in any case, the signature of 500 electors—. 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 fifteen days from the election call.^[2]

The Enhancement Law required for the first regional election to be held between 1 February and 31 May 1983. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional President within a two-month period from the first ballot, the candidate from the party with the highest number of seats was deemed to be automatically elected.^[1][2]

Results

← Summary of the 8 May 1983 Parliament of Navarre election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Socialist Party of Navarre (PSN–PSOE)1	94,737	35.63	+16.69	20	+5
	Navarrese People's Union (UPN)	62,072	23.34	+7.35	13	±0
	People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL)	37,554	14.12	New	8	+8
	Popular Unity (HB)	28,055	10.55	–0.53	6	–3
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)2	18,161	6.83	+1.79	3	±0
	Neighborhood Labor (Auzolan)3	8,356	3.14	+0.44	0	±0
	Carlist Party (PC)	6,733	2.53	–2.24	0	–1
	Basque Country Left (EE)	6,292	2.37	New	0	±0

Aftermath

Investiture

Investiture processes to elect the President of Navarre 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 under the same majority requirement, with successive votes 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 candidate from the party with the highest number of seats was deemed to be automatically elected.^[1]

After successive failures in the investiture process resulted in a political deadlock, constitutional conflict arose in 1984 on whether the legal provision from Section 29.3 of the Enhancement Law meant the candidate from the largest party or the candidate with the highest number of votes. This was resolved in May 1984 by the Constitutional Court of Spain, which ruled that this was to correspond to the candidate from the largest party in the Parliament. As a result, Gabriel Urralburu was automatically elected as President of Navarre on 15 May 1984.

Notes

References