1983 Valencian regional election

Under the 1982 Statute of Autonomy, the Corts Valencianes were the unicameral legislature of the Valencian Community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a regional president.^[3] The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions (which were those used in the 1977 general election).^[4]

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within fifteen days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one permille—and, in any case, 500 signatures—of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list.^[12]

Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:

More information Candidacy, Parties and alliances ...

Candidacy		Parties and alliances	Leading candidate		Ideology	Gov.	Ref.
	PSOE	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)		Joan Lerma	Social democracy
	AP–PDP– UL–UV	List People's Alliance (AP) People's Democratic Party (PDP) Liberal Union (UL) Valencian Union (UV)		Manuel Giner	Conservatism Christian democracy
	PCE–PCPV	List Communist Party of the Valencian Country (PCE–PCPV)		José Galán	Eurocommunism

Close

The electoral disaster of the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) in the October 1982 general election and the outcome of its extraordinary congress held in December, in which the party's leadership chose to transform the UCD into a christian democratic political force,^[13] brought the party to a process of virtual disintegration as many of its remaining members either switched party allegiances, split into new, independent candidacies or left politics altogether.^[14][15] Subsequent attempts to seek electoral allies ahead of the incoming 1983 local and regional elections, mainly the conservative People's Alliance (AP) and the christian democratic People's Democratic Party (PDP),^[16][17] had limited success due to concerns from both AP and UCD over such alliance policy:^[18][19] AP strongly rejected any agreement that implied any sort of global coalition with UCD due to the party's ongoing decomposition,^[20][21] and prospects about a possible PDP–UCD merger did not come into fruition because of the latter's reluctance to dilute its brand within another party.^[22][23][24] By the time the UCD's executive had voted for the liquidation of the party's mounting debts and its subsequent dissolution on 18 February 1983,^[25][26][27] electoral alliances with the AP–PDP coalition had only been agreed in some provinces of the Basque Country and Galicia.^[28][29][30]

Together with AP, the PDP had agreed to maintain their general election alliance—now rebranded as the People's Coalition—for the May local and regional elections,^[31][32][33] with the inclusion of the Liberal Union (UL), a political party created in January 1983 out of independents from the AP–PDP coalition in an attempt to appeal to former UCD liberal voters.^[30][34] The Coalition had seen its numbers soar from late February as a result of many former members from the UCD's christian democratic wing joining the PDP.^[35][36][37]

The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are 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. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 45 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Corts Valencianes.

More information Polling firm/Commissioner, Fieldwork date ...

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout					Lead
1983 regional election	8 May 1983	—N/a	72.7	51.4 51	31.9 32	7.5 6	1.9 0	19.5
Sofemasa/El País[p 1][p 2]	23–26 Apr 1983	?	?	? 62/67	? 23/26	–	–	?
1982 general election	28 Oct 1982	—N/a	84.0	53.1 (54)	29.1 (29)	4.6 (0)	2.5 (0)	24.0

Close