A regional election was held in the Valencian Community on 28 May 1995 to elect the 4th of the autonomous community. All 89 seats in the were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.

As a result of the election, the People's Party (PP) increased its vote share by 15 percentage points relative to the 1991 election. For the first time, the PP had won a regional election, becoming the first party to poll more than 1 million votes in the area and gaining eleven seats, 3 short of an absolute majority. Most of the gains came from Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which lost 13 seats in the election. The regionalist Valencian Union (UV) also lost 1 seat, while United Left (IU) gained 4 seats to overtake UV as the third largest party.

A coalition agreement between the PP and UV was able to force the PSOE out from the Valencian Government after 12 years of Socialist rule. Eduardo Zaplana, the PP candidate, became the second democratically elected president of the autonomous community.

Background After 12 years of consecutive Socialist governments both in the Spanish national government and in the Valencian Community, the People's Party (PP) had managed to greatly increase its support from 1992–93, mostly at the cost of what remained of the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS). In the 1993 general election, the PP had already increased its vote share from 27.0% in 1989 to 40.5% and had overtaken the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the region for the first time. The party had also seen a dramatical rise in the 1994 European Parliament election, rising to 44.2% from 22.8% in 1989.

United Left (IU) had gained ground at the expense of the PSOE and in both the 1993 general and 1994 EP elections had polled more than 10% for the first time since the 1970s. After peaking in the 1991 regional and local elections, the right-wing regional party Valencian Union (UV) had begun to lose ground in the 1993 and 1994 elections.

Population's weariness of PSOE's prolonged stay in power, economic crisis as well as the eruption of numerous corruption scandals at the national level had weakened the PSOE in the region to the point it was facing the possibility of a severe defeat for the first time in a decade. Joan Lerma's management of a wildfire crisis in the summer of 1994 came under heavy criticism, after the fire had resulted in the burning of 16% of the region's forest area.

Overview Under the 1982 Statute of Autonomy, the 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.. The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions..

Date The term of the expired four years after the date of their previous election, with election day being fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The election decree was required to be issued no later than 54 days before the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official Journal of the Valencian Government (DOGV).; ; ( by ). The previous election was held on 26 May 1991, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 28 May 1995.

The could not be dissolved before the expiration date of parliament.; .

The were officially dissolved on 4 April 1995 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the DOGV, setting election day for 28 May and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 20 June., amended by .

Electoral system Voting for the 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.; ( by ).

The 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.; .

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each constituency was entitled the following seats:, amended by .

Seats Constituencies 37 Valencia 30 Alicante 22 Castellón

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 April 1995 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 45 45 People's Parliamentary Group PP 31 31 United Left Parliamentary Group EU 6 6 Valencian Union Nationalist Parliamentary Group UV 4 4 Mixed Group INDEP 3 3

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 PSOE Joan Lerma Social democracy 42.8% PP Eduardo Zaplana ConservatismChristian democracy 27.8% UV–FICVA–CCV Vicente González Lizondo BlaverismConservatism 10.4% EU–EV Albert Taberner SocialismCommunism 9.3%

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 .

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 1995 regional election 28 May 1995 76.0 34.0 42.8 7.0 11.5 8.8 Eco Consulting/RTVE 28 May 1995?? 31.3 43.5 6.5 15.0 12.2 Emer–GfK/Levante-EMV 21 May 1995??????? Gesfono/Las Provincias 10–15 May 1995?? 30.1 46.0 6.0 13.2 15.9 Demoscopia/El País 10–15 May 1995 1,200? 29.1 44.0 6.6 13.3 14.9 CIS 24 Apr–10 May 1995 1,598 72.3 30.7 46.5 6.7 10.9 15.8 Perfiles 7 May 1995??????? Gesfono/Las Provincias 30 Apr 1995?? 30.1 45.2 6.2 13.5 15.1 1994 EP election 12 Jun 1994 65.0 30.5 44.2 5.3 13.9 13.7 1993 general election 6 Jun 1993 81.7 38.4 40.5 4.6 10.5 2.1 1991 regional election 26 May 1991 69.2 42.8 27.8 10.4 7.5 15.0

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Lead 1995 regional election 28 May 1995 25.8 32.7 5.3 8.8 0.2 2.1 23.4 6.9 CIS 24 Apr–10 May 1995 1,598 26.9 30.0 3.3 7.3 0.4 – 23.1 5.8 3.1 CIS 2–17 Mar 1995 1,600 24.9 24.2 5.1 9.5 0.7 – 24.0 7.5 0.7 1994 EP election 12 Jun 1994 19.8 28.8 3.4 9.1 0.6 1.2 34.7 9.0 CIS 26 Apr–8 Jun 1994 1,575 26.1 26.3 5.7 9.1 0.5 – 21.5 7.5 0.2 1993 general election 6 Jun 1993 31.3 33.1 3.8 8.6 1.3 1.4 17.9 1.8 CIS 7–19 Nov 1992 1,780 27.6 14.9 6.1 6.4 1.1 – 30.4 11.5 12.7 CIS 14–26 Jan 1992 1,599 39.2 13.4 4.9 4.9 1.3 2.1 25.6 7.6 25.8 1991 regional election 26 May 1991 29.4 19.1 7.1 5.2 2.6 2.5 30.7 10.3

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 24 Apr–10 May 1995 1,598 34.8 37.5 – 1.1 26.7 2.7 CIS 2–17 Mar 1995 1,600 40.4 38.1 – – 21.5 2.3 CIS 26 Apr–8 Jun 1994 1,575 31.7 33.8 12.6 – 21.9 2.1

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 24 Apr–10 May 1995 1,598 19.6 48.5 – 31.9 28.9 CIS 2–17 Mar 1995 1,600 29.3 43.7 – 27.0 14.4

Preferred President The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become president of the Valencian Government.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead CIS 24 Apr–10 May 1995 1,598 44.6 32.7 3.9 18.8 11.9 CIS 2–17 Mar 1995 1,600 42.2 27.0 5.1 25.8 15.2

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 28 May 1995 election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP) 1,013,859 42.83 +15.01 42 +11 Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 804,463 33.98 −8.87 32 −13 United Left–The Greens (EU–EV)1 273,030 11.53 +2.24 10 +4 Valencian Union–Independents–Centrists (UV–FICVA–CCV) 165,956 7.01 −3.35 5 −2 Valencian People's Union–Nationalist Bloc (UPV–BN) 64,253 2.71 −0.97 0 ±0 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 5,480 0.23 −3.58 0 ±0 Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) 3,772 0.16 +0.02 0 ±0 United Alicante (AU) 2,894 0.12 New 0 ±0 Autonomist Republican Party (PRA) 2,232 0.09 New 0 ±0 Valencian Nationalist Left (ENV)2 1,861 0.08 −0.03 0 ±0 Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) 1,762 0.07 New 0 ±0 Platform of Independents of Spain (PIE) 1,659 0.07 New 0 ±0 Humanist Platform (PH–LE) 773 0.03 New 0 ±0 Spanish Autonomous League (LAE) 542 0.02 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 24,864 1.05 +0.02 Total 2,367,400 89 ±0 Valid votes 2,367,400 99.44 ±0.00 Invalid votes 13,214 0.56 ±0.00 Votes cast / turnout 2,380,614 76.03 +6.79 Abstentions 750,577 23.97 −6.79 Registered voters 3,131,191 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PP PSOE EU–EV UV–FI–C % S % S % S % S Alicante 46.7 15 36.0 12 10.9 3 2.1 − Castellón 45.6 11 35.6 8 8.2 2 4.4 1 Valencia 40.1 16 32.5 12 12.6 5 10.3 4 Total 42.8 42 34.0 32 11.5 10 7.0 5 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Candidate Ballot → 30 June 1995 Required majority → 45 out of 89 Eduardo Zaplana (PP) Abstentions Absentees Joan Lerma (PSOE) Albert Taberner (EU–EV) Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography