A regional election was held in Andalusia on 9 March 2008 to elect the 8th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 109 seats in the Parliament were up for election. It was held concurrently with the 2008 Spanish general election.

Incumbent President Manuel Chaves from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE–A) was re-elected for a sixth term in office with a slightly reduced majority. Final results showed a major breakthrough by the People's Party (PP), which gained 10 seats from 37 to 47 and scored its best result in the community at the time. United Left (IULV–CA) remained stagnant with 6 seats, whereas the Andalusian Party (PA) suffered a major drop in support and failed to enter the regional parliament for the first time.

Background With the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) regaining its absolute majority in Andalusia in the 2004 election, Manuel Chaves was able to govern alone again, after 10 years of minority government, having relied on the support of the Andalusian Party in the previous 8 years. Teófila Martínez, who had been PP candidate for President of the Regional Government of Andalusia in the previous two elections (1996 and 2000), was replaced by Javier Arenas as head of the Andalusian People's Party (PP). Arenas had been PP candidate in the 1994 and 1996 elections, but left the PP regional leadership in order to become Spain's Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in the Aznar cabinet and, later, Secretary-General of the People's Party.

Concurrently in 2004, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from PSOE was elected as Spain's new prime minister, after unexpectedly winning the 2004 general election. This meant that, for the first time since 1996, both the regional and national governments were ruled by the same party.

Overview Under the 2007 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of Andalusia 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 Andalusia expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. The election decree was required to be issued no later than 25 days before the scheduled expiration date of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of the Regional Government of Andalusia (BOJA), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication (barring any date within from 1 July to 31 August).; ( by ). The previous election was held on 14 March 2004, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 14 March 2008. The election decree was required to be published in the BOJA no later than 19 February 2008, setting the latest possible date for election day on 13 April 2008.

The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Andalusia 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.; . 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 Andalusia was officially dissolved on 15 January 2008 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOJA, setting election day for 9 March and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 3 April..

Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Andalusia 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 Andalusia had a minimum of 109 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at that number. All were elected in eight multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and Seville, each of which was assigned an initial minimum of eight seats and the remaining 45 distributed in proportion to population (with the number of seats in each province not exceeding two times that of any other)—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency.; . 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 18 Seville 16 Málaga 15 Cádiz 13 Granada 12 Almería, Córdoba, Jaén 11 Huelva

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. ( by ).

Outgoing parliament The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.

+ Parliamentary composition in January 2008 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE–A 61 61 Andalusian People's Parliamentary Group PP 37 37 United Left/The Greens Parliamentary Group IULV–CA 6 6 Andalusian Parliamentary Group PA 5 5

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. ( by ). Amendments in 2005 required a balanced composition of men and women in the electoral lists through the use of a zipper system..

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

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PSOE–A Manuel Chaves Social democracy 50.4% PP Javier Arenas ConservatismChristian democracy 31.8% IULV–CA Diego Valderas SocialismCommunism 7.5% CA Julián Álvarez Andalusian nationalismSocial democracy 8.3%

Campaign Debates + 2008 Andalusian regional election debates Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s) PSOE–A PP IULV–CA CA Audience 26 February RTVA Carlos María Ruiz 15.7% 2 March RTVA Esther Martín NI NI 21.5%

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.

Graphical summary

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; 55 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Andalusia.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout IULV Lead 2008 regional election 9 Mar 2008 74.7 48.4 38.5 7.1 2.8 9.9 TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3 9 Mar 2008?? 47.0 33.3 8.6 7.1 13.7 Demométrica/Tele 5 9 Mar 2008??????? Ipsos/RTVA 9 Mar 2008?? 52.0 37.6?? 14.4 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 2 Mar 2008?? 48.3 36.0?? 12.3 Metroscopia/El País 1 Mar 2008?? 48.6 37.2 8.4? 11.4 IMC/ABC 28 Jan–1 Mar 2008 3,000? 48.9 39.0 6.8 4.0 9.9 Sigma Dos/Vocento 21–26 Feb 2008 3,000? 47.6 38.5 7.0 3.7 9.1 IMC/ABC 28 Jan–24 Feb 2008 2,400? 49.6 38.7 6.7 3.5 10.9 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 18–21 Feb 2008 2,000? 46.8 38.4 6.5 4.6 8.4 IMC/ABC 28 Jan–17 Feb 2008 1,800? 49.4 38.9 6.5 3.0 10.5 IMC/ABC 28 Jan–10 Feb 2008 1,200? 49.7 38.6 6.1 3.2 11.1 Nexo/CEPES–A 31 Jan–7 Feb 2008 1,008 79 46.9 37.3 7.3 4.5 9.6 Opina/Cadena SER 6 Feb 2008 1,600? 49.0 35.0 7.0 4.0 14.0 TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3 6 Feb 2008?? 48.5 36.1 5.4 6.3 12.4 CIS 21 Jan–4 Feb 2008 3,277? 49.2 36.8 6.6 4.1 12.4 Nexo/CEPES–A 17–24 Jan 2008 1,008 71.7 45.2 37.3 7.3 4.2 7.9 CA 8–18 Jan 2008 8,500 65 47.8???? Idea Asesores/PP 15 Jan 2008 4,000? 45.6 39.3 7.2 4.5 6.3 CADPEA/UGR 10 Dec–12 Jan 2008 3,200 74.6 48.8 34.2 6.8 4.8 14.6 TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3 8–10 Jan 2008 750? 46.3 37.7 6.0 5.1 8.6 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 9 Jan 2008?? 49.1 37.7 5.4? 11.4 IESA/CSIC 10 Oct–9 Nov 2007 3,700 69.8 49.1 36.7 7.3 4.9 12.4 PA 5–7 Sep 2007 1,600 63–65 48.3 36.1 7.6 6.4 12.2 CADPEA/UGR 11 Jun–9 Jul 2007 3,200 73.0 48.9 33.6 7.7 5.5 15.3 Nexo/CEPES–A 31 Jan–28 Feb 2007 1,015 70.8 45.9 34.1 7.2 6.9 11.8 Opina/El País 21–22 Feb 2007 1,500? 48.0 33.0 7.5 5.5 15.0 Sigma Dos/Vocento 19–22 Feb 2007 1,000? 47.8 36.3 7.2 5.0 11.5 Idea Asesores/PP 19–22 Feb 2007 850? 45.3 37.2 – – 8.1 Opina/Cadena SER 6 Feb 2007?? 50.0 33.0 8.0 6.0 17.0 Grupo ESTIO/El Correo 17 Dec 2006?? 45.1 34.5 7.3 5.8 10.6 IESA/CSIC 15 Dec 2006 3,706 75.3 50.6 32.8 7.9 5.3 17.8 CADPEA/UGR 10 Nov–12 Dec 2006 3,200 76.5 49.4 31.3 8.1 4.7 18.1 Metroscopia/ABC 17–19 Oct 2006 1,002 65 47.5 36.5 7.0 5.9 11.0 CADPEA/UGR 20 Jun–16 Jul 2006 3,200 78 49.5 34.7 7.8 4.8 14.8 Grupo ESTIO/El Correo 18–25 May 2006 1,009? 47.5 34.5 7.5 4.2 13.0 Metroscopia/ABC 8–11 May 2006 1,001 74–75 46.8 38.6 7.0 4.1 8.2 Sigma Dos/Vocento 28 Feb 2006?? 46.0 39.2 6.6 4.5 6.8 Ipsos–Eco/Grupo Joly 26 Feb 2006?? 48.8 32.6 6.8 7.2 16.2 Grupo ESTIO/El Correo 26 Feb 2006?? 48.5 34.6 6.9 5.9 13.9 Opina/El País 13–15 Feb 2006 1,500? 47.0 33.5 7.5 6.5 13.5 Idea Asesores/PP 23 Jan–10 Feb 2006 1,000? 46.0 38.5 – – 7.5 Nexo/CEPES–A 6–8 Feb 2006 1,043? 45.6 34.6 6.5 6.6 11.0 Metroscopia/ABC 10–17 Jan 2006 802 72 52.1 32.4 7.2 5.6 19.7 CADPEA/UGR 15 Nov–4 Dec 2005 3,200 75.8 47.5 34.5 7.5 5.4 13.0 IESA/CSIC 14 Nov–3 Dec 2005 3,710 71 47.8 33.3 7.0 6.4 14.5 Grupo ESTIO/El Correo 23–30 Nov 2005 1,000? 48.3 33.3 7.9 5.2 15.0 Sigma Dos/PP 14–15 Nov 2005 1,000? 47.8 37.3 6.3 5.1 10.5 Metroscopia/ABC 22–29 Sep 2005 802 67.8 50.6 29.8 8.7 5.0 20.8 CADPEA/UGR 1–22 Jul 2005 1,200 75 48.1 35.3 7.8 5.1 12.8 Metroscopia/ABC 1–6 Jul 2005 798 71.9 49.5 32.8 5.0 6.8 16.7 Metroscopia/ABC 27 Apr–4 May 2005 800 71.4 52.5 31.2 7.8 4.9 21.3 Ipsos–Eco/Grupo Joly 28 Feb 2005?? 50.0 29.8 7.2 7.7 20.2 Opina/El País 28 Feb 2005 1,500? 51.0 32.5 7.5 6.5 18.5 Insight/PP 26 Feb 2005 1,200? 49.5 34.8 6.4 5.0 14.7 Nexo/CEPES–A 22 Feb 2005?? 51.6 30.8 6.9 5.8 20.8 Sigma Dos/Vocento 15–18 Feb 2005 1,000? 50.0 34.2 6.8 5.3 15.8 IESA/CSIC 15 Jan 2005 3,700 72 50.5 32.5 8.1 6.6 18.0 CADPEA/UGR 24 Nov–20 Dec 2004?? 50.9 31.4 7.8 5.5 19.5 IESA/CSIC 15 Nov–3 Dec 2004 3,700 72 49.2 33.9 8.4 6.3 15.3 Insight/PP 20 Nov 2004?? 49.6 33.7 7.2 5.4 15.9 Synovate/PSOE 13–18 Oct 2004 1,200? 54.9 32.4 6.5 5.2 22.5 2004 EP election 13 Jun 2004 40.9 54.4 36.1 5.0 2.6 18.3 2004 regional election 14 Mar 2004 74.7 50.4 31.8 7.5 6.2 18.6

Voting preferences The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.