A regional election was held in Catalonia on 19 November 1995 to elect the 5th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election.
Overview Under the 1979 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of Catalonia was the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a regional president.. The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions.; .
Date The term of the Parliament of Catalonia expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. The election was required to be called no later than 15 days before the scheduled expiration date of parliament, with election day taking place within 60 days from the call.; . The previous election was held on 15 March 1992, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 15 March 1996. The election was required to be called no later than 29 February 1996, setting the latest possible date for election day on 29 April 1996.
The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Catalonia at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year after a previous one under this procedure. ( by ). In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called..
The Parliament of Catalonia was officially dissolved on 26 September 1995 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the Official Journal of the Government of Catalonia (DOGC), setting election day for 19 November..
Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Catalonia 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. ( by ).
The Parliament of Catalonia had a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 150 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 135. All were elected in four multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona, each of which was assigned a fixed number of seats—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency. ( by ); . The use of this electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats:; .
Seats Constituencies 85 Barcelona 18 Tarragona 17 Girona 15 Lleida
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..
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..
Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:
Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats CiU Jordi Pujol Catalan nationalismCentrism 46.2% PSC–PSOE Joaquim Nadal Social democracy 27.5% ERC Àngel Colom Catalan independenceLeft-wing nationalismSocial democracy 8.0% IC–EV Rafael Ribó Eco-socialismGreen politics 7.7% PP Alejo Vidal-Quadras ConservatismChristian democracy 6.0%
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; 68 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Catalonia.
Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout IC Lead 1995 regional election 19 Nov 1995 63.6 40.9 24.9 9.5 9.7 13.1 16.0 Vox Pública/Antena 3 19 Nov 1995?? 44.0 22.0 11.0 9.5 12.0 22.0 Eco Consulting/CCRTV 19 Nov 1995?? 43.0 22.0 11.0 9.9 12.0 21.0 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 12 Nov 1995 1,000? 45.2 23.8 8.8 7.4 11.4 21.4 Demoscopia/El País 12 Nov 1995 2,000 63 45.4 23.2 7.2 11.6 11.7 22.2 Vox Pública/El Periódico 12 Nov 1995 1,200? 46.5 23.2 8.3 9.4 8.4 23.3 Imagen & Opinión/ABC 7–8 Nov 1995 1,260? 44.7 24.3 9.2 7.8 10.4 20.4 Opina/La Vanguardia 6–7 Nov 1995 2,000? 46.0 21.0 10.0 10.0 11.0 25.0 EMB Yankelovich/Avui 5 Nov 1995 1,223? 46.7 22.1 9.3 9.3 12.6 24.6 Vox Pública/El Periódico 25–26 Oct 1995 1,200? 46.3 21.7 8.2 10.3 9.8 24.6 Imagen & Opinión/ABC 22–24 Oct 1995 1,000? 45.5 24.4 8.6 8.7 11.4 21.1 Opina/La Vanguardia 16–17 Oct 1995 1,500? 45.5 22.3 10.2 8.4 10.5 23.2 Demoscopia/El País 9 Oct 1995 800? 42.0 23.0 9.0 12.0 13.0 19.0 CIS 22 Sep–4 Oct 1995 2,492 67.0 44.5 24.0 9.0 9.5 10.0 20.5 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 20 Sep 1995?? 40.6 27.7 7.4 7.6 12.1 12.9 Imagen & Opinión/ABC 14–20 Jul 1995 2,000? 42.1 23.0 8.4 8.0 16.4 19.1 1994 EP election 12 Jun 1994 51.9 31.5 28.2 5.5 11.1 18.5 3.3 1993 general election 6 Jun 1993 75.4 31.8 34.9 5.1 7.5 17.0 3.1 1992 regional election 15 Mar 1992 54.9 46.2 27.5 8.0 6.5 6.0 18.7
Voting preferences The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.
Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size IC Lead 1995 regional election 19 Nov 1995 26.1 15.8 6.1 6.2 8.3 36.0 10.3 CIS 28 Oct–6 Nov 1995 2,491 38.1 14.0 5.0 9.3 5.7 19.5 7.0 24.1 CIS 22 Sep–4 Oct 1995 2,492 29.9 17.9 5.4 7.2 5.7 20.9 9.1 12.0 CIS 20 Feb–6 Mar 1995 1,995 30.4 14.3 5.3 6.7 6.0 21.5 13.2 16.1 1994 EP election 12 Jun 1994 16.4 14.6 2.9 5.8 9.6 47.9 1.8 1993 general election 6 Jun 1993 24.0 26.3 3.8 5.6 12.9 24.3 2.3 CIS 7–21 Nov 1992 2,470 28.2 17.7 6.9 5.2 3.0 23.5 13.5 10.5 1992 regional election 15 Mar 1992 25.2 15.0 4.3 3.5 3.2 45.1 10.2
Victory preferences The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.
Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size IC Other/None Lead CIS 28 Oct–6 Nov 1995 2,491 49.5 13.7 5.2 9.0 5.2 1.7 15.7 35.8
Victory likelihood The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.
Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None Lead CIS 28 Oct–6 Nov 1995 2,491 80.6 3.7 1.9 13.8 76.9
Preferred President The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become president of the Government of Catalonia.
Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead CIS 28 Oct–6 Nov 1995 2,491 51.9 12.7 5.3 8.6 4.7 7.0 9.9 39.2 Opina/La Vanguardia 16–17 Oct 1995 1,500 42.2 8.9 4.3 3.8 3.2 – 37.6 33.3
Predicted President The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood for each leader to become president.
Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead Opina/La Vanguardia 16–17 Oct 1995 1,500 71.0 1.7 0.5 0.0 0.7 – 26.1 69.3
Results Overall + ← Summary of the 19 November 1995 Parliament of Catalonia election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Convergence and Union (CiU) 1,320,071 40.95 −5.24 60 −10 Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE) 802,252 24.89 −2.66 34 −6 People's Party (PP) 421,752 13.08 +7.11 17 +10 Initiative for Catalonia–The Greens (IC–EV)1 313,092 9.71 +1.98 11 +4 Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) 305,867 9.49 +1.53 13 +2 Ecologist Alternative of Catalonia (AEC)2 14,651 0.45 −0.08 0 ±0 Ecologist Party of Catalonia–VERDE (PEC–VERDE) 5,639 0.17 −0.12 0 ±0 Revolutionary Workers' Party (POR) 3,886 0.12 +0.03 0 ±0 Workers' Revolutionary Party (PRT)3 2,221 0.07 −0.32 0 ±0 Citizens of Catalonia–Platform of Independents of Spain (PICC–PIE) 1,580 0.05 New 0 ±0 Civic Platform–New Socialist Party (PC–NPS)4 869 0.03 −0.05 0 ±0 Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) 327 0.01 New 0 ±0 Party of Self-employed of Spain (PAE) 194 0.01 New 0 ±0 Democratic Party of the People (PDEP) 134 0.00 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 31,417 0.97 −0.21 Total 3,223,952 135 ±0 Valid votes 3,223,952 99.72 +0.14 Invalid votes 9,007 0.28 −0.14 Votes cast / turnout 3,232,959 63.64 +8.77 Abstentions 1,847,022 36.36 −8.77 Registered voters 5,079,981 Sources
Distribution by constituency Constituency CiU PSC PP IC–EV ERC % S % S % S % S % S Barcelona 39.1 34 25.4 22 13.6 12 11.2 10 8.7 7 Girona 48.6 9 25.7 5 7.9 1 4.0 − 12.3 2 Lleida 49.7 8 19.5 3 12.2 2 4.2 − 12.8 2 Tarragona 43.2 9 23.2 4 14.3 2 6.4 1 11.1 2 Total 40.9 60 24.9 34 13.1 17 9.7 11 9.5 13 Sources
Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 14 December 1995 16 December 1995 Required majority → 68 out of 135 Simple Sources
Notes
References Opinion poll sources
Other
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