Riojan regional election, 1995

Riojan regional election, 1995

28 May 1995
All 33 seats in the Parliament of La Rioja 17 seats needed for a majority
Registered	218,519 4.1%
Turnout	166,422 (76.2%) 7.2 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Pedro Sanz José Ignacio Pérez Jesús Rodríguez Rubio Party PP PSOE IU Leader since 2 October 1993 1987 1995 Leader's seat La Rioja La Rioja La Rioja Last election 15 seats, 41.7% 16 seats, 42.4% 0 seats, 4.5% Seats won 17 12 2 Seat change 2 4 2 Popular vote 81,703 56,335 11,921 Percentage 49.4% 34.1% 7.2% Swing 7.7 pp 8.3 pp 2.7 pp   Fourth party   Leader Leopoldo Virosta Party PR Leader since 23 June 1990 Leader's seat La Rioja Last election 2 seats, 5.4% Seats won 2 Seat change 0 Popular vote 11,069 Percentage 6.7% Swing 1.3 pp
President before election José Ignacio Pérez Sáenz PSOE Elected President Pedro Sanz PP

The 1995 Riojan regional election was held on Sunday, 28 May 1995, to elect the 4th 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.

For the first time, the People's Party (PP) was able to win an absolute majority of seats, with nearly 50% of the share and gaining nearly eight percentage points from 1991. In contrast, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) vote fell to its lowest share until that time, losing four of its previously 16 seats and remaining with 12. United Left (IU) entered the Parliament for the first time, benefitting from the Socialist defeat, with 2 seats. The Riojan Party (PR) obtained its best result since 1983, moving away from the threat of failing to meet the 5% threshold, which had become real after the 1991 results.

As a result of the election, Pedro Sanz of the PP became the new regional President, succeeding Socialist José Ignacio Pérez Sáenz.

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 28 May 1995 Parliament of La Rioja election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	81,703	49.44	+7.74	17	+2
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	56,335	34.09	–8.28	12	–4
	United Left of La Rioja (IU)	11,921	7.21	+2.68	2	+2
	Riojan Party (PR)	11,069	6.70	+1.32	2	±0
	Riojan Alternative (AR)	1,368	0.83	New	0	±0
	Blank ballots	2,856	1.73	+0.08
Total		165,252	100.00		33	±0
Valid votes		165,252	99.30	+0.08
Invalid votes		1,170	0.70	–0.08
Votes cast / turnout		166,422	76.16	+7.20
Abstentions		52,097	23.84	–7.20
Registered voters		218,519
Source(s): Argos Information Portal, historiaelectoral.com

References