1991 Canarian regional election

Date

The term of the Parliament of the Canary Islands expired four years after the date of its previous ordinary election, with amendments earlier in 1991 fixing election day for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The election decree was required to be issued between 54 and 60 days before the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of the Canaries (BOC).^[3] The previous election was held on 10 June 1987, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 26 May 1991.

The Parliament of the Canary Islands could not be dissolved before the expiration date of parliament, except in the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot. In such a case, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called, with elected lawmakers serving the remainder of its original four-year term.^[4]

The election to the Parliament of the Canary Islands was officially called on 2 April 1991 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOC, setting election day for 26 May.^[5]

Electoral system

Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Canary Islands and with full political rights, provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence, nor were legally incapacitated.^[6]

The Parliament of the Canary Islands had a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 70 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 60. All were elected in seven multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the islands of El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, La Palma, Lanzarote and Tenerife, each of which was assigned a fixed number of seats—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a 20 percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency or three percent regionally.^[7]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats:^[8]

The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes.^[9]

Voting intention estimates

The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 31 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of the Canary Islands.

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

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout					AC			AM			ICAN	Lead
1991 regional election	26 May 1991	—N/a	61.7	33.0 23	22.7 16	14.4 7	[c]	[d]	[d]	[c]	0.7 2	0.2 1	12.8 6	12.2 5	10.3
Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 1][p 2]	18 May 1991	?	?	27.7 19/20	20.8 12/13	16.3 10/11	[c]	[d]	[d]	[c]	–	0.2 2	14.0 7/8	13.7 8/9	6.9
Metra Seis/El Independiente[p 1][p 2]	12 May 1991	?	?	32.0 19/20	21.7 15/17	14.8 10/11	[c]	[d]	[d]	[c]	–	–	14.7 7/8	13.5 6/8	10.3
Demoscopia/El País[p 1][p 2][p 3][p 4]	4–7 May 1991	600	?	31.4 24	21.6 12	15.2 7/8	[c]	[d]	[d]	[c]	0.4 2	0.1 2	20.2 8/10	11.1 4	9.8
1989 general election	29 Oct 1989	—N/a	62.1	36.1	9.7	17.6	[c]	3.2	8.0	[c]	–	–	19.4	–	16.7
1989 EP election	15 Jun 1989	—N/a	49.5	34.9	11.1	16.2	[c]	3.2	5.3	[c]	–	–	16.6	–	18.3
1987 regional election	10 Jun 1987	—N/a	67.4	27.8 21	20.1 11	19.5 13	11.2 6	6.9 2	6.1 2	2.0 0	0.8 3	0.2 2	–	–	7.7

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Overall

More information Parties and alliances, Popular vote ...

← Summary of the 26 May 1991 Parliament of the Canary Islands election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	229,692	33.03	+5.26	23	+2
	Canarian Independent Groups (AIC)	157,859	22.70	+2.57	16	+5
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	100,197	14.41	−5.07	7	−6
	People's Party (PP)1	89,251	12.83	−0.33	6	±0
	Canarian Initiative (ICAN)2	85,015	12.22	−0.98	5	+1
	Canarian Nationalist Party (PNC)	7,845	1.13	New	0	±0
	Majorera Assembly (AM)	4,906	0.71	−0.10	2	−1
	Canarian Coalition for Independence (CI (FREPIC–Awañac))	4,090	0.59	+0.43	0	±0
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	2,298	0.33	+0.02	0	±0
	The Greens (LV)	2,198	0.32	New	0	±0
	Independent Herrenian Group (AHI)	1,485	0.21	±0.00	1	−1
	Party of The People (LG)	1,484	0.21	New	0	±0
	Left Platform (PCE (m–l)–CRPE)	1,093	0.16	New	0	±0
	The Greens Ecologist–Humanist List (LVLE–H)3	1,092	0.16	−0.01	0	±0
	Insular Group of Gran Canaria (AIGRANC)	962	0.14	New	0	±0
	Assembly (Tagoror)	671	0.10	+0.01	0	±0
Blank ballots		5,323	0.77	+0.12
Total		695,461			60	±0
Valid votes		695,461	99.27	+0.43
Invalid votes		5,080	0.73	−0.43
Votes cast / turnout		700,541	61.69	−5.80
Abstentions		435,009	38.31	+5.80
Registered voters		1,135,550
Sources[10][11]
Footnotes: 1 People's Party results are compared to the combined totals of People's Alliance and People's Democratic Party–Canarian Centrists in the 1987 election. 2 Canarian Initiative results are compared to the combined totals of Canarian Assembly–Canarian Nationalist Left, United Canarian Left and Union of Left Nationalists in the 1987 election. 3 The Greens Ecologist–Humanist List results are compared to Humanist Platform totals in the 1987 election.

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Distribution by constituency

Government formation

More information Ballot →, 10 July 1991 ...

Investiture Nomination of Jerónimo Saavedra (PSOE)
Ballot →		10 July 1991
Required majority →		31 out of 60 Y
	Yes • PSOE (23) • AIC (16) • AHI (1)	40 / 60
	No • CDS (6) • PP (6) • ICAN (5)	17 / 60
	Abstentions • AM (2)	2 / 60
	Absentees • CDS (1)	1 / 60
Sources[10]

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1993 motion of no confidence

More information Ballot →, 31 March 1993 ...

Motion of no confidence Nomination of Manuel Hermoso (AIC)
Ballot →		31 March 1993
Required majority →		31 out of 60 Y
	Yes • AIC (16) • CDS (7) • ICAN (5) • AM (2) • AHI (1)	31 / 60
	No • PSOE (23)	23 / 60
	Abstentions • PP (6)	6 / 60
	Absentees	0 / 60
Sources[10][12]

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