A regional election was held in the Basque Country on 13 May 2001 to elect the 7th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

The PNV–EA alliance, established by the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Basque Solidarity (EA) parties which had formed the Basque government since 1998, won a landslide victory with 33 seats and 42.4% of the share, which represented their best combined result in history as well as the best performance for the top voted list in a Basque regional election, outperforming the PNV's own record in 1984. The People's Party (PP), which for this election ran in coalition with Alavese Unity (UA), came second with 22.9% of the share and 19 seats, whereas the Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE) came in third with 13 seats and 17.8% of the vote. Together, they fell well short of their intended aim of commanding an overall majority in parliament that was able to oust the ruling PNV from power, but also one seat behind the PNV–EA result. The abertzale left Basque Citizens (EH) coalition obtained 7 seats and 10.0% of the vote, in what was seen as a mix of both tactical voting in favour of the PNV–EA list as well as a punishment to the political force because of its leadership's alleged collaboration with the banned separatist group ETA.

Overview Under the 1979 Statute of Autonomy, the Basque Parliament was the unicameral legislature of the Basque Autonomous Community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a lehendakari.. The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions..

Date The term of the Basque Parliament 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 Basque Country (BOPV), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication.; . The previous election was held on 25 October 1998, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 25 October 2002. The election decree was required to be published in the BOPV no later than 1 October 2002, setting the latest possible date for election day on 24 November 2002.

The lehendakari had the prerogative to dissolve the Basque Parliament at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process.. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a lehendakari within a 60-day period from the Parliament's reconvening, the chamber was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called..

The final months of 2000 had seen the government of the incumbent lehendakari, Juan José Ibarretxe, struggle to maintain a working parliamentary majority, with him barely surviving two motions of no confidence tabled by both the People's Party and the Socialist Party of the Basque Country in October 2000. After several weeks of speculation and of Ibarretxe rejecting a snap election, he finally acknowledged such possibility on 11 January 2001, tentatively setting election day for either "before or after the summer". The Basque Parliament was officially dissolved on 20 March 2001 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOPV, setting election day for 13 May..

Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Basque Country 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 Basque Parliament had 75 seats. All were elected in three multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Álava, Biscay and Guipúzcoa, each of which was assigned a fixed number of 25 seats to provide for an equal parliamentary representation of the three provinces—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent of valid votes (which included blank ballots) being applied in each constituency.; ; . The use of this electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution.

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 March 2001 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total Basque Nationalists Parliamentary Group EAJ/PNV 21 21 Basque People's Parliamentary Group PP 16 16 Basque Citizens' Parliamentary Group EH 14 14 Basque Socialists Parliamentary Group PSE–EE (PSOE) 14 14 Basque Solidarity Parliamentary Group EA 6 6 Mixed Group IU/EB 2 4 UA 2

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 ).

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

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PNV–EA Juan José Ibarretxe Basque nationalismChristian democracyConservative liberalism 36.2% PP Jaime Mayor Oreja ConservatismChristian democracy 21.1% EH Arnaldo Otegi Basque independenceAbertzale leftRevolutionary socialism 17.7% PSE–EE(PSOE) Nicolás Redondo Social democracy 17.4% IU/EB Javier Madrazo SocialismCommunism 5.6%

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 Basque Parliament.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 2001 regional election 13 May 2001 79.0 42.4 22.9 10.0 17.8 5.5 19.5 Eco Consulting/EITB 13 May 2001?????? ? ? Opitel/Tele 5 13 May 2001?????? ? ? COPE 13 May 2001?????? ? ? Sigma Dos/Antena 3 13 May 2001?????? ? ? Gallup/RTVE 13 May 2001?????? ? ? Ibecom/La Razón 6 May 2001?????? ? ? Ipsos–Eco/ABC 2–3 May 2001 900 73–74 34.5 24.3 14.9 19.1 4.9 10.2 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 27 Apr–3 May 2001 1,400? 38.2 24.7 11.5 19.0 4.4 13.5 Demoscopia/El País 25 Apr–3 May 2001 1,814 75 39.6 23.9 10.0 20.0 4.2 15.7 Sondaxe/Diario 16 25 Apr–3 May 2001 1,800????? ? ? Bergareche/El Correo 26–29 Apr 2001 3,600????? ? ? Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia 25–28 Apr 2001 900? 41.0 22.9? 17.7 4.4 18.1 CIS 17–25 Apr 2001 2,487 73.5 38.7 24.7 11.6 18.6 4.2 14.0 Opina/La Vanguardia 19–20 Apr 2001 1,500? 37.0 22.5 15.5 18.5 4.0 14.5 Ikertalde/GPS 14–28 Mar 2001 2,996 72.5 37.5 23.3 13.2 19.5 4.4 14.2 Opina/Cadena SER 19–20 Mar 2001 1,500? 38.6 23.4 13.5 18.0 4.5 15.2 PSOE 9–12 Mar 2001 1,800????? ? ? Opitel/Tele 5 4 Mar 2001?????????? Ipsos–Eco/ABC 21–22 Feb 2001 900? 31.7 21.4 15.7 18.9 6.5 4.3 0.8 10.3 CIS 31 Jan–18 Feb 2001 2,482 72.0 31.3 21.6 14.4 18.4 7.0 4.5 0.7 9.7 PP 17 Feb 2001 2,300??????? –? Ikertalde/GPS 27 Nov–15 Dec 2000 2,016 70.0 29.4 21.7 14.6 19.2 7.6 4.9 0.3 7.7 CPS/EHU 2–17 Nov 2000 1,800? 28.3 23.4 14.5 17.8 8.1 5.0 4.9? 28.3 22.8 14.5 17.8 8.1 5.0 0.6 5.5 Bergareche/El Correo 26–29 Oct 2000 750 75.2 32.4 20.8 14.8 16.4 7.1 5.1 1.0 11.6 CPS/EHU 5–16 Jun 2000 1,800? 27.2 22.5 15.0 17.0 7.5 5.1 0.7 4.7 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 63.8 30.4 28.3 – 23.3 7.6 5.4 – 2.1 1999 EP election 13 Jun 1999 64.5 33.9 19.8 19.5 19.5 3.9 – 14.1 1999 foral elections 13 Jun 1999 64.8 34.7 19.1 19.7 18.3 4.6 0.8 15.0 1998 regional election 25 Oct 1998 70.0 27.6 19.9 17.7 17.4 8.6 5.6 1.2 7.7

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Lead 2001 regional election 13 May 2001 33.1 17.9 7.9 13.8 4.3 20.1 15.2 CIS 17–25 Apr 2001 2,487 28.4 6.2 5.2 7.4 2.4 39.4 8.9 21.0 CIS 31 Jan–18 Feb 2001 2,482 24.1 5.2 6.4 8.6 2.9 1.8 0.1 34.2 13.7 15.5 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 19.4 18.0 – 14.9 4.8 3.5 – 35.5 1.4 1999 EP election 13 Jun 1999 22.0 12.8 12.6 12.6 2.6 – 34.7 9.2 1999 foral elections 13 Jun 1999 22.3 12.2 12.7 11.8 3.0 0.5 35.2 9.6 1998 regional election 25 Oct 1998 19.1 13.8 12.3 12.0 5.9 3.9 0.9 29.4 5.3

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 Other/None Lead CIS 17–25 Apr 2001 2,487 34.6 6.7 5.4 8.4 2.6 9.1 33.3 26.2 Opina/La Vanguardia 19–20 Apr 2001 1,500 37.2 11.6 6.9 9.1 2.7 – 32.5 25.6 CIS 31 Jan–18 Feb 2001 2,482 29.8 6.0 6.8 10.0 3.4 2.2 0.1 1.4 40.3 19.8

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 Opina/La Vanguardia 19–20 Apr 2001 1,500 64.2 6.3 0.2 1.2 0.0 – 28.1 57.9

Preferred Lehendakari The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become lehendakari.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead CIS 17–25 Apr 2001 2,487 40.5 7.9 – 7.3 – – 17.3 27.0 32.6 Opina/La Vanguardia 19–20 Apr 2001 1,500 39.8 12.1 4.6 7.1 1.4 – – 35.0 27.7 CIS 31 Jan–18 Feb 2001 2,482 34.3 5.9 3.6 8.1 0.8 1.0 15.3 31.3 26.2

Predicted Lehendakari The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood for each leader to become lehendakari.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead Opina/La Vanguardia 19–20 Apr 2001 1,500 55.5 8.1 0.2 1.6 0.1 – 34.5 47.4

Results Overall