Riojan regional election, 1991

Riojan regional election, 1991

26 May 1991
All 33 seats in the Parliament of La Rioja 17 seats needed for a majority
Registered	209,866 4.0%
Turnout	144,729 (69.0%) 3.5 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader José Ignacio Pérez Sáenz Joaquín Espert Leopoldo Virosta Party PSOE PP PR Leader since 1987 1983 23 June 1990 Leader's seat La Rioja La Rioja La Rioja Last election 14 seats, 39.6% 13 seats, 38.1% 2 seats, 6.4% Seats won 16 15 2 Seat change 2 2 0 Popular vote 60,843 59,876 7,731 Percentage 42.4% 41.7% 5.4% Swing 2.8 pp 3.6 pp 1.0 pp
President before election José Ignacio Pérez Sáenz PSOE Elected President José Ignacio Pérez Sáenz PSOE

The 1991 Riojan regional election was held on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the 3rd Parliament of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja. All 33 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 election was won again by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which increased its size and obtained 16 seats, one short for an overall majority. The Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) did not reach the required 5% threshold and lost all its seats, in benefit of the newly founded People's Party (PP) (AP new incarnation), which won two additional seats for a total of 5. United Left remained 0.5 percentage points short of entering the Parliament, while the Riojan Party (PR) was able to maintain its 2 seats despite not being able to halt its long-term decline.

As a result of the election, incumbent regional premier and PSOE leader José Ignacio Pérez Sáenz was able to get re-elected for a full term in office, after he was elected to the post in January 1990 through a motion of confidence against the former President, Joaquín Espert from AP/PP.

Electoral system

The number of seats in the Parliament of La Rioja was set to a fixed-number of 33. All Parliament members were elected in a single multi-member district, consisting of the Community's territory (the province of La Rioja), using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system.

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 5% of valid votes in all of the community (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.^[1]

Results

← Summary of the 26 May 1991 Parliament of La Rioja election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	60,843	42.37	+2.73	16	+2
	People's Party (PP)1	59,876	41.70	+3.65	15	+2
	Riojan Party (PR)	7,731	5.38	–1.01	2	±0
	United Left (IU)	6,499	4.53	+2.12	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	6,271	4.37	–6.47	0	–4
	Blank ballots	2,373	1.65	–0.05
Total		143,593	100.00		33	±0
Valid votes		143,593	99.22	+0.59
Invalid votes		1,136	0.78	–0.59
Votes cast / turnout		144,729	68.96	–3.54
Abstentions		65,137	31.04	+3.54
Registered voters		209,866
Source(s): Argos Information Portal, historiaelectoral.com
Notes: 1 People's Party results are compared to People's Alliance totals in the 1987 election.

References