A regional election was held in the Valencian Community on 25 May 2003 to elect the 6th 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.

Despite growing discontent with the nationwide José María Aznar's government, the People's Party (PP) was able to comfortably retain its absolute majority in the , losing only one seat compared to 1999, which was gained by the Agreement (L'Entesa) alliance led by United Left of the Valencian Country (EUPV). The Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV–PSOE), while increasing its vote share in two percentage points compared to its 1999 result, failed to translate it into any new seats. Valencian Union (UV), the former PP coalition partner during the first Zaplana government (1995–1999), continued its decline into irrelevance and fell below 3%, depriving it of any possibility of overcoming the five percent threshold to enter the .

Francisco Camps became the new president of the Valencian Government succeeding José Luis Olivas, who had replaced Eduardo Zaplana in 2002 after the latter was named Labour and Social Affairs minister in Aznar's second cabinet.

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 13 June 1999, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 25 May 2003.

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

The were officially dissolved on 1 April 2003 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the DOGV, setting election day for 25 May and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 12 June..

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:.

Seats Constituencies 36 Valencia 30 Alicante 23 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 2003 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group PP 49 49 Socialist–Progressives Parliamentary Group PSPV–PSOE 34 34 United Left Parliamentary Group EUPV 5 5 Mixed Group EV–IPV 1 1

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 PP Francisco Camps ConservatismChristian democracy 47.9% PSPV–PSOE Joan Ignasi Pla Social democracy 33.9% L'Entesa Joan Ribó Valencian nationalismSocialismGreen politics 6.1% Bloc–EV Pere Mayor Valencian nationalismEco-socialismGreen politics 4.5%

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.

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 2003 regional election 25 May 2003 71.5 47.2 36.0 6.4 3.0 4.7 11.2 Sigma Dos/Antena 3 25 May 2003????? – –? Ipsos–Eco/RTVE 25 May 2003????? – –? Insight/La Razón 19 May 2003?? 47.6?? – –? Opina/El País 18 May 2003?? 46.0 38.0 6.0 3.0 3.0 8.0 GES/PSPV 9–15 May 2003 2,000 72.6 44.0 39.9 6.7 3.9 4.6 4.1 Investratègia/Bloc–EV 9–11 May 2003 1,500 68.8 45.5 37.5 6.5 3.2 5.6 8.0 CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 2,096 80.0 41.9 37.9 7.4 3.9 4.1 4.0 Vox Pública/El Periódico 25–27 Apr 2003 800? 45.0–46.0 36.5–37.5 5.0–6.0 – 4.5–5.5 8.5 Insight/PP 9–18 Dec 2002 1,200? 51.1 34.3 6.1 3.9 3.9 16.8 GES/PSPV 15–23 Oct 2002 3,000? 44.9 40.2 5.7 3.8 3.9 4.7 CIS 9 Sep–9 Oct 2002 730 76.6 47.7 34.1 6.7 – – 13.6 GES/PSPV 10 Dec–25 Apr 2002 27,000? 46.1 37.8 5.9 – 3.3 8.3 GES/PSPV 10 Jan–10 Feb 2002 10,500? 47.5 38.4 5.2 3.4 3.5 9.1 Insight/PP 26 Dec–10 Jan 2002 900? 52.1 33.1 5.4 1.7 3.6 19.0 Insight/PP 1–8 Jul 2000 1,200? 51.8 31.0 5.8 3.9 5.0 20.8 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 72.7 52.1 34.0 5.8 2.4 2.4 18.1 Insight/PP 3 Jan 2000?? 52.8 30.3 – – – 22.5 1999 regional election 13 Jun 1999 67.8 47.9 33.9 6.1 4.7 4.5 14.0

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Lead 2003 regional election 25 May 2003 33.9 25.8 4.6 2.1 3.4 27.7 8.1 CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 2,096 27.3 25.8 4.7 1.6 2.3 29.6 4.4 1.5 Vox Pública/El Periódico 25–27 Apr 2003 800 33.8 26.5 3.4 0.9 2.8 24.7 3.5 7.3 CIS 9 Sep–9 Oct 2002 730 31.6 22.6 4.0 – – 25.4 9.9 9.0 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 38.0 24.8 4.2 1.7 1.8 26.6 13.2 1999 regional election 13 Jun 1999 32.1 22.7 4.1 3.1 3.0 32.0 9.4

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 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 2,096 34.5 36.1 4.0 2.0 2.3 1.6 19.4 1.6

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 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 2,096 48.4 26.8 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 24.4 21.6

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 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 2,096 21.2 18.6 2.9 1.0 – 1.7 4.6 50.0 2.6 Vox Pública/El Periódico 25–27 Apr 2003 800 20.9 18.1 4.0 – 0.9 4.0 16.1 36.1 2.8

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 25 May 2003 election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP) 1,146,780 47.17 −0.71 48 −1 Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (PSPV–PSOE) 874,288 35.96 +2.05 35 ±0 United Left–The Greens–Valencian Left: The Agreement (L'Entesa) 154,494 6.35 +0.30 6 +1 Valencian Nationalist Bloc–Green Left (Bloc–EV) 114,011 4.69 +0.16 0 ±0 Union–Valencian Union (UV) 72,557 2.98 −1.70 0 ±0 Republican Left of the Valencian Country (ERPV) 7,609 0.31 New 0 ±0 Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) 3,884 0.16 New 0 ±0 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 3,189 0.13 ±0.00 0 ±0 Regional Party of the Valencian Community (PRCV) 2,868 0.12 New 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 2,747 0.11 +0.01 0 ±0 Spain 2000 (E–2000) 2,650 0.11 New 0 ±0 Federal Republican Party (PRF) 2,545 0.10 +0.03 0 ±0 Authentic Phalanx (FA) 2,332 0.10 New 0 ±0 Family and Life Party (PFyV) 1,690 0.07 New 0 ±0 Another Democracy is Possible (ODeP) 1,156 0.05 New 0 ±0 National Democracy (DN) 798 0.03 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 37,805 1.55 ±0.00 Total 2,431,403 89 ±0 Valid votes 2,431,403 99.35 −0.06 Invalid votes 15,821 0.65 +0.06 Votes cast / turnout 2,447,224 71.49 +3.68 Abstentions 975,874 28.51 −3.68 Registered voters 3,423,098 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PP PSPV L'Entesa % S % S % S Alicante 48.3 16 37.2 12 5.9 2 Castellón 48.1 13 36.5 9 4.4 1 Valencia 46.3 19 35.1 14 7.0 3 Total 47.2 48 36.0 35 6.4 6 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Candidate Ballot → 18 June 2003 Required majority → 45 out of 89 Francisco Camps (PP) Absentees Joan Ignasi Pla (PSPV) Joan Ribó (L'Entesa) Sources

2006 motion of no confidence Motion of no confidence Ballot → 4 October 2006 Required majority → 45 out of 89 Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography