1991 Valencian regional election
Election in the Spanish region of the Valencian Community
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A regional election was held in the Valencian Community on 26 May 1991 to elect the 3rd Corts of the autonomous community. All 89 seats in the Corts were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.
6.9%
5.3 pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
26 May 1991
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All 89 seats in the Corts Valencianes 45 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Registered | 2,916,465 6.9% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 2,019,411 (69.2%) 5.3 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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For the third and final time to date, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) won a regional election in the Valencian Community, regaining the overall majority of seats it had lost in the 1987 election. This was the last time the PSOE was able to access the Valencian government on its own, and the last until the 2015 election in which it went on to form the regional government of the Valencian Community. The main right of centre parties, both the newly founded People's Party (PP) (a merger of the People's Alliance (AP) and other right-wing parties) and the regionalist Valencian Union (UV), came out reinforced from the election, mainly at the cost of the declining CDS. However, they were left unable to command an overall majority of seats, unlike what happened in the city of Valencia in the same year's election, in which a post-election agreement between both parties managed to oust the PSOE from the city's government and elect 1987 AP regional candidate Rita Barberá as city mayor.
As in other Spanish communities, the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) saw a substantial drop in its vote share, causing it to fall below the 5% threshold and lose all its 10 seats. The party's poor results across Spain led to the resignation of party leader and former Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez and to the eventual demise of the CDS as a relevant actor in Spanish politics. United Left (EU) maintained the results obtained by the IU–UPV alliance in the 1987 election. Valencian People's Unity (UPV) had broken its alliance with IU in 1988 and was left out of the Corts as a result, being unable to surpass the 5% regional threshold to win seats.
Overview
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.[2] The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions.[3]
Date
The term of the Corts Valencianes expired four years after the date of their previous 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 Journal of the Valencian Government (DOGV).[4] 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 Corts Valencianes could not be dissolved before the expiration date of parliament.[5]
The Corts Valencianes were officially dissolved on 2 April 1991 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the DOGV, setting election day for 26 May and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 18 June.[6]
Electoral system
Voting for the Corts was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Valencian Community 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.[7]
The Corts Valencianes had a minimum of 75 and a maximum of 100 seats, with the electoral law fixing its size at 89. All were elected in three multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Alicante, Castellón and Valencia, each of which was assigned an initial minimum of 20 seats and the remaining 29 distributed in proportion to population (with the seat-to-population ratio in any given province not exceeding three times that of any other)—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a five percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) regionally.[8]
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Corts constituency was entitled the following seats:[9]
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.[10]
Outgoing parliament
The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.[1]
Parties and candidates
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 10 days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list.[11]
Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:
| Candidacy | Parties and alliances |
Leading candidate | Ideology | Previous result | Gov. | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vote % | Seats | ||||||||
| PSOE | List |
|
Joan Lerma | Social democracy | 41.3% | 42 |  |
[12] | |
| PP | List
|
.jpg) |
Pedro Agramunt | Conservatism Christian democracy |
24.7% [a] |
25 |  |
[13] [14] [15] [16] | |
| CDS | List |
.jpg) |
Alejandro Font de Mora | Centrism Liberalism |
11.2% | 10 | |
[17] | |
| UV | List
|
.jpg) |
Héctor Villalba | Blaverism Conservatism |
9.1% | 6 | |
[17] | |
| EU | List
|
 |
Albert Taberner | Socialism Communism |
7.9% [b] |
6 | |
[17] | |
| UPV | List
|
|
Pere Mayor | Valencian nationalism Socialism |
|
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Opinion polls
The tables below list opinion polling results 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.
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; 45 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Corts Valencianes.
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Turnout |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
LV |  |
 |
Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 regional election | 26 May 1991 | N/a | 69.2 | 42.8 45 |
[c] | 3.8 0 |
10.4 7 |
7.5 6 |
3.7 0 |
1.8 0 |
[c] | 27.8 31 |
15.0 |
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 1][p 2] | 18 May 1991 | ? | ? | 40.0 41/43 |
[c] | 5.1 4/5 |
10.9 8/9 |
9.1 7/9 |
3.2 0 |
3.4 0 |
[c] | 23.0 25/27 |
17.0 |
| Metra Seis/El Independiente[p 1][p 2] | 12 May 1991 | ? | ? | 40.4 42/44 |
[c] | 7.0 7 |
10.2 7/8 |
7.8 6 |
3.1 0 |
1.0 0 |
[c] | 23.6 25/27 |
16.8 |
| Demoscopia/El País[p 1][p 2][p 3][p 4] | 4–7 May 1991 | 650 | ? | 39.4 44 |
[c] | 4.5 0 |
10.8 7 |
8.3 8 |
– | 3.8 0 |
[c] | 28.3 30 |
11.1 |
| 1989 general election | 29 Oct 1989 | N/a | 74.8 | 41.5 (42) |
[c] | 7.8 (7) |
6.8 (4) |
9.1 (8) |
1.9 (0) |
1.7 (0) |
[c] | 27.0 (28) |
14.5 |
| 1989 EP election | 15 Jun 1989 | N/a | 61.7 | 42.7 (46) |
[c] | 7.5 (7) |
6.8 (5) |
5.9 (6) |
2.6 (0) |
1.0 (0) |
[c] | 22.7 (25) |
20.0 |
| 1987 regional election | 10 Jun 1987 | N/a | 74.5 | 41.3 42 |
23.7 25 |
11.2 10 |
9.1 6 |
7.9 6 |
1.1 0 |
1.0 0 |
– | 17.6 | |
Results
Overall
 | ||||||
| Parties and alliances | Popular vote | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Total | +/− | ||
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) | 860,429 | 42.85 | +1.57 | 45 | +3 | |
| People's Party (PP)1 | 558,617 | 27.82 | +3.11 | 31 | +6 | |
| Valencian Union (UV) | 208,126 | 10.36 | +1.22 | 7 | +1 | |
| United Left of the Valencian Country (EU)2 | 151,242 | 7.53 | n/a | 6 | +2 | |
| Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 76,433 | 3.81 | −7.43 | 0 | −10 | |
| Valencian People's Union (UPV)2 | 73,813 | 3.68 | n/a | 0 | −2 | |
| The Greens (LV) | 35,375 | 1.76 | +0.65 | 0 | ±0 | |
| The Greens of Alicante–Green Union (LVA–UVE) | 5,569 | 0.28 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Socialist Democracy (DS) | 5,207 | 0.26 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Cantonalist Party of the Alicantine Country (Alicantón) | 4,119 | 0.21 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Left Platform (PCE (m–l)–CRPE)3 | 2,758 | 0.14 | −0.02 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Valencian Nationalist Union (UNV)4 | 2,248 | 0.11 | −0.10 | 0 | ±0 | |
| National Front (FN) | 2,184 | 0.11 | New | 0 | ±0 | |
| Alliance for the Republic (AxR)5 | 1,383 | 0.07 | −0.02 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Blank ballots | 20,606 | 1.03 | −0.04 | |||
| Total | 2,008,109 | 89 | ±0 | |||
| Valid votes | 2,008,109 | 99.44 | +0.56 | |||
| Invalid votes | 11,302 | 0.56 | −0.56 | |||
| Votes cast / turnout | 2,019,411 | 69.24 | −5.21 | |||
| Abstentions | 897,054 | 30.76 | +5.21 | |||
| Registered voters | 2,916,465 | |||||
| Sources[1][18][19] | ||||||
Footnotes:
| ||||||
Distribution by constituency
Aftermath
Government formation
| Investiture | |||||
| Candidate | Ballot → | 9 July 1991 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Required majority → | 45 out of 89 | ||||
| Joan Lerma (PSOE) | Yes
|
45 / 89 |
 | ||
44 / 89 | |||||
| Abstentions | 0 / 89 | ||||
| Absentees | 0 / 89 | ||||
| Pedro Agramunt (PP) | Yes
|
31 / 89 |
 | ||
58 / 89 | |||||
| Abstentions | 0 / 89 | ||||
| Absentees | 0 / 89 | ||||
| Héctor Villalba (UV) | Yes
|
7 / 89 |
| ||
82 / 89 | |||||
| Abstentions | 0 / 89 | ||||
| Absentees | 0 / 89 | ||||
| Albert Taberner (EU) | Yes
|
6 / 89 |
| ||
83 / 89 | |||||
| Abstentions | 0 / 89 | ||||
| Absentees | 0 / 89 | ||||
| Sources[1] | |||||