A regional election was held in Galicia on 1 March 2009 to elect the 8th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election. It was held concurrently with a regional election in the Basque Country.

The election saw the People's Party (PP) retake control of the parliament from the coalition of the Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdeG–PSOE) and the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), with a majority of 1 seat. As a result, Alberto Núñez Feijoo became the new President of Galicia.

Overview Under the 1981 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of Galicia 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 Galicia 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 Journal of Galicia (DOG), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication.; ( by ). The previous election was held on 19 June 2005, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 19 June 2009. The election decree was required to be published in the DOG no later than 26 May 2009, setting the latest possible date for election day on 19 July 2009.

The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Galicia at any given time and call a snap election, provided that it did not occur before one year after a previous one under this procedure. 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 Galicia was officially dissolved on 6 January 2009 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the DOG, setting election day for 1 March and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 1 April..

Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Galicia 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 Galicia had a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 80 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 75. All were elected in four multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra, each of which was assigned an initial minimum of 10 seats and the remaining 35 distributed in proportion to population—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a five 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 24 A Coruña 22 Pontevedra 15 Lugo 14 Ourense

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 2009 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group of Galicia PP 37 37 Socialists of Galicia's Parliamentary Group PSdeG–PSOE 25 25 Galician Nationalist Bloc's Parliamentary Group BNG 13 13

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 2007 required a balanced composition of men and women in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition..

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

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PP Alberto Núñez Feijóo ConservatismChristian democracy 45.2% PSdeG–PSOE Emilio Pérez Touriño Social democracy 33.2% BNG Anxo Quintana Galician nationalismLeft-wing nationalismSocialism 18.7%

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; 38 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Galicia.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout BNG Lead 2009 regional election 1 Mar 2009 64.4 46.7 31.0 16.0 1.0 1.4 15.7 Ipsos/Popular TV 1 Mar 2009????? – –? Ipsos/CRTVG 1 Mar 2009 21,719 69.2 44.6 31.7 17.2 1.2 1.2 12.9 TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3 1 Mar 2009????? – –? Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 25–28 Feb 2009 2,000 68.2 44.4 29.7 17.8 – – 14.7 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 24–27 Feb 2009 2,000 64.9 44.1 29.7 17.9 – – 14.4 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 23–26 Feb 2009 2,000 64.9 44.1 29.2 18.0 – – 14.9 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 22–25 Feb 2009 2,000 63.8 43.8 29.1 19.2 – – 14.7 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 21–24 Feb 2009 2,000 64.8 43.3 30.0 19.5 – – 13.3 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 20–23 Feb 2009 2,000 65.2 42.8 29.5 18.5 – – 13.3 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/El Progreso 22 Feb 2009????? – –? Quadernas Consultoría/Xornal 22 Feb 2009?? 43.8 30.3 19.8 – – 13.5 Ipsos/Faro de Vigo 22 Feb 2009? 61 43.6 33.0 17.5 1.0 1.6 10.6 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 18–21 Feb 2009 2,000 65.1 42.4 29.6 18.9 – – 12.8 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 17–20 Feb 2009 2,000 64.9 42.3 29.2 18.8 – – 13.1 NC Report/La Razón 16–20 Feb 2009 1,000 62.3 44.4 32.2 19.7 1.1 1.6 12.2 Infortécnica/La Región 16–19 Feb 2009 2,006? 48.0–50.7 30.7–34.6 16.0–18.7 – – 16.1–17.3 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 16–19 Feb 2009 2,000 65.0 42.5 28.8 18.7 – – 13.7 DYM/ABC 16–19 Feb 2009 816? 45.7 28.5 21.6 – 1.3 17.2 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 13–19 Feb 2009 1,300? 44.5 33.1 18.1 – – 11.4 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 12–19 Feb 2009 2,411? 45.3 30.2 19.4 – – 15.1 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 15–18 Feb 2009 2,000 64.8 43.0 30.2 19.2 – – 12.8 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 14–17 Feb 2009 2,000 64.9 43.1 30.3 18.7 – – 12.8 TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3 13–16 Feb 2009? 64.8 43.5 32.8 19.5 – – 10.7 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 13–16 Feb 2009 2,000 64.8 42.6 31.8 18.9 – – 10.8 Anova Multiconsulting/El Correo 12–16 Feb 2009 2,000 66.4 43.1 32.4 20.9 – – 10.7 Metroscopia/El País 12–16 Feb 2009 1,600 60.5 44.1 33.8 18.0 – – 10.3 Noxa/La Vanguardia 10–16 Feb 2009 1,000? 43.8 31.7 19.9 0.7 1.7 12.1 ASCA/Galicia Diario 15 Feb 2009????? – –? Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 12–15 Feb 2009 2,000 65.0 41.9 31.9 19.2 – – 10.0 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 11–14 Feb 2009 2,000 65.4 42.1 31.6 19.1 – – 10.5 Infortécnica/La Región 13 Feb 2009 1,953? 48.0–50.6 33.3–34.6 14.6–17.3 – – 14.7–16.0 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 10–13 Feb 2009 2,000? 42.4 32.1 18.4 – – 10.3 NC Report/La Razón 9–13 Feb 2009 1,000 61.2 44.1 32.6 19.8 0.9 1.6 11.5 Opina/Cadena SER 9 Feb 2009?? 44.2 34.0 17.9 – – 10.2 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/El Progreso 8 Feb 2009?? 43.2 32.5 19.0 – – 10.7 Quadernas Consultoría/Xornal 30 Jan–5 Feb 2009?? 43.2 31.7 21.6 – – 11.5 Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público 2 Feb 2009?? 43.6 32.6 19.5 – – 11.0 CIS 15 Jan–2 Feb 2009 2,999? 43.1 33.2 18.3 1.5 1.5 9.9 Infortécnica/La Región 1 Feb 2009????? – –? Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 12–19 Jan 2009 1,700 66.1 42.8 31.7 18.5 – – 10.1 TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3 15–18 Jan 2009? 63.1 41.2 34.9 19.4 – – 6.3 NC Report/La Razón 12–16 Jan 2009 1,000 60.9 44.4 32.0 20.1 0.9 1.5 12.4 Quadernas Consultoría/Xornal 29 Dec–7 Jan 2009 1,600? 40.8 34.3 21.7 – – 6.5 PSdeG 15 Sep 2008 3,400???? – –? Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 2–10 Sep 2008 1,700 68.0 43.0 30.8 18.3 – – 12.2 2008 general election 9 Mar 2008 70.5 43.9 40.6 11.5 1.4 0.5 3.3 USC 23 Nov–7 Dec 2006 2,000? 37.0 39.0 20.8 – – 2.0 Opina/Cadena SER 21–22 Jun 2006 1,000? 40.0 38.0 20.0 1.0 – 2.0 2005 regional election 19 Jun 2005 64.2 45.2 33.2 18.7 0.7 – 12.0

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size BNG Lead 2009 regional election 1 Mar 2009 32.9 20.9 11.6 0.7 1.0 29.5 12.0 Infortécnica/La Región 16–19 Feb 2009 2,006 22.6 20.3 13.9 – – 27.4 13.4 2.3 Metroscopia/El País 12–16 Feb 2009 1,600 26.6 24.3 12.9 – – 27.9 2.3 Infortécnica/La Región 13 Feb 2009 1,953 21.2 20.0 13.7 – – 30.9 11.8 1.2 Quadernas Consultoría/Xornal 30 Jan–5 Feb 2009? 24.3 29.5 18.5 – – – – 5.2 CIS 15 Jan–2 Feb 2009 2,999 23.3 24.0 12.2 1.0 1.0 29.4 5.3 0.7 Quadernas Consultoría/Xornal 29 Dec–7 Jan 2009 1,600 24.8 29.7 17.7 – – – – 4.9 Obradoiro de Socioloxía 12 Dec 2008 2,000 20.9 24.4 12.3 – – – – 3.5 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 2–10 Sep 2008 1,700 28.5 17.8 11.0 – – – – 10.7 Obradoiro de Socioloxía 29 Jul 2008? 21.4 23.4 13.6 – – – – 2.0 2008 general election 9 Mar 2008 33.4 29.6 9.1 1.1 0.4 24.5 3.8 Obradoiro de Socioloxía 17 Oct 2007? 16.9 23.7 13.7 – – 25.2 – 6.8 Obradoiro de Socioloxía 28 Jul 2007 2,000 18.2 27.0 15.8 – – 28.1 8.6 8.8 Obradoiro de Socioloxía 4 Apr 2007 2,000 17.0 23.7 12.4 – – – – 6.7 Obradoiro de Socioloxía 18 Jul 2006 2,001 18.1 25.3 13.0 – – – – 7.2 Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 24 Jan–2 Feb 2006 1,200 20.3 24.7 11.0 – – 33.8 – 4.4 USC 7–16 Dec 2005 2,000 23.9 28.2 17.0 – – – – 4.3 2005 regional election 19 Jun 2005 30.5 22.0 13.3 0.5 – 31.9 8.5

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 BNG Other/None Lead Metroscopia/El País 12–16 Feb 2009 1,600 35.0 30.0 14.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 18.0 5.0 Noxa/La Vanguardia 10–16 Feb 2009 1,000 34.0 30.0 19.0 1.0 1.0 15.0 4.0 Opina/Cadena SER 9 Feb 2009? 33.7 32.5 12.2 1.1 – 6.0 14.6 1.2 CIS 15 Jan–2 Feb 2009 2,999 27.7 29.5 13.6 0.9 0.9 1.7 25.7 1.8

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.