A regional election was held in Andalusia on 12 March 2000 to elect the 6th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 109 seats in the Parliament were up for election. It was held concurrently with the 2000 Spanish general election.

The ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A) of Manuel Chaves won with a relative majority of 52 and was re-elected for a fourth term as president of the Regional Government of Andalusia with the support of the Andalusian Party (PA). The opposition People's Party (PP) secured its best result in a regional election up to that point, whereas United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA) saw a major decrease in both votes and seats.

Overview Under the 1981 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 3 March 1996, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 3 March 2000. The election decree was required to be published in the BOJA no later than 8 February 2000, setting the latest possible date for election day on 2 April 2000.

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. ( by ).

The Parliament of Andalusia was officially dissolved on 18 January 2000 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOJA, setting election day for 12 March and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 6 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 90 and a maximum of 110 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 109. 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 Córdoba, Granada 12 Jaén 11 Almería, 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 2000 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE–A 52 52 Andalusian People's Parliamentary Group PP 40 40 United Left/The Greens Parliamentary Group IULV–CA 13 13 Andalusian Parliamentary Group PA 4 4

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–A Manuel Chaves Social democracy 44.1% PP Teófila Martínez ConservatismChristian democracy 34.0% IULV–CA Antonio Romero SocialismCommunism 14.0% PA Pedro Pacheco Andalusian nationalismSocial democracy 6.7%

Campaign Debates + 2000 Andalusian regional election debates Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s) PSOE–A PP IULV–CA PA Audience 1 March RTVA Tom Martín Benítez 20.2%

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 2000 regional election 12 Mar 2000 68.7 44.3 38.0 8.1 7.4 6.3 Eco Consulting/RTVE 12 Mar 2000?? 44.3 36.0 9.0 7.6 8.3 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 4 Mar 2000??????? Ipsos–Eco/ABC 25–29 Feb 2000 2,500? 42.8 35.3 10.7 8.1 7.5 CIS 11–28 Feb 2000 4,212? 42.5 36.6 10.8 7.6 5.9 Demoscopia/El País 18–23 Feb 2000 2,521 74 44.6 35.5 10.8 8.1 9.1 Ipsos–Eco/ABC 11–15 Feb 2000 1,000? 42.3 36.0 10.7 9.2 6.3 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 5 Jan 2000?? 44.0–45.0 37.0–38.0 8.0–9.0 7.0–8.0 7.0 PP 12 Dec 1999??????? Metra Seis/PA 6–25 Oct 1999 2,400? 43.4 32.1 11.6 11.6 11.3 Opina/CEA 22–24 Oct 1999 2,400? 46.0 35.5?? 10.5 1999 EP election 10 Jun 1999 63.6 43.3 36.0 10.7 6.6 7.3 Opina/CEA 3–15 May 1999 3,200? 42.5 36.0 12.0 7.5 6.5 Demoscopia/El País 18–22 Feb 1999 1,200 65.3 42.3 33.5 12.3 9.6 8.8 Eco Consulting/ABC 18–20 Feb 1999 508? 41.4 37.0 12.9 8.3 4.4 PSOE 15–19 Feb 1999 1,200? 47.8 30.9 11.6 8.9 16.9 Metra Seis/PA 10–15 Sep 1998 1,200? 40.3 31.8 12.5 14.5 8.5 PSOE 5 Jul 1998?? 46.6 31.5 11.8 9.2 15.1 Demoscopia/El País 17–23 Feb 1998 1,200 68.9 47.2 34.1 9.9 7.5 13.1 PSOE 7 Feb 1998?? 44.8 34.7 12.3 6.6 10.1 Inner Line/PSOE 12 Dec 1997 1,200? 45.1 32.7 10.8 10.2 12.4 Metra Seis/PA 25 Sep 1997 3,200? 41.7 32.4 10.6 13.8 9.3 PP 12–18 May 1997 2,400? 41.6 37.0 14.8 5.5 4.6 PSOE 29 Jan–1 Feb 1997?? 45.0 32.5 12.0 9.0 12.5 1996 regional election 3 Mar 1996 78.1 44.1 34.0 14.0 6.7 10.1

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size IULV Lead 2000 regional election 12 Mar 2000 30.6 26.4 5.6 5.2 30.2 4.2 CIS 11–28 Feb 2000 4,212 30.1 22.9 5.4 5.6 28.3 6.0 7.2 1999 EP election 10 Jun 1999 27.7 23.1 6.9 4.3 35.4 4.6 1996 regional election 3 Mar 1996 33.8 26.2 10.8 5.1 21.7 7.6

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 IULV Other/None Lead CIS 11–28 Feb 2000 4,212 35.0 24.7 6.5 6.5 1.3 26.1 10.3

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 IULV Other/None Lead CIS 11–28 Feb 2000 4,212 60.4 9.6 0.4 0.8 0.3 28.7 50.8

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead CIS 11–28 Feb 2000 4,212 38.3 22.3 5.8 6.9 3.8 22.8 16.0

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 12 March 2000 Parliament of Andalusia election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A) 1,790,653 44.32 +0.27 52 ±0 People's Party (PP) 1,535,987 38.02 +4.06 46 +6 United Left/The Greens–Assembly for Andalusia (IULV–CA) 327,435 8.11 −5.86 6 −7 Andalusian Party (PA) 300,356 7.43 +0.77 5 +1 Andalusian Left (IA) 10,232 0.25 New 0 ±0 Andalusian Nation (NA) 5,034 0.12 −0.02 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 4,389 0.11 +0.01 0 ±0 Andalusia Assembly (A) 4,380 0.11 New 0 ±0 The Phalanx (FE) 2,754 0.07 New 0 ±0 Almerian Regionalist Union (URAL) 1,550 0.04 New 0 ±0 Green Ecologist Alternative of Marbella and San Pedro de Alcántara (AEV) 1,304 0.03 New 0 ±0 Party of the Separated and Divorced (PSD) 1,180 0.03 New 0 ±0 Independent Spanish Phalanx (FEI) 1,018 0.03 New 0 ±0 Voice of the Andalusian People (VDPA) 732 0.02 ±0.00 0 ±0 Centrist Union–Democratic and Social Centre (UC–CDS) 492 0.01 −0.03 0 ±0 National Union (UN) 415 0.01 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 51,921 1.29 +0.52 Total 4,039,832 109 ±0 Valid votes 4,039,832 99.34 −0.03 Invalid votes 26,998 0.66 +0.03 Votes cast / turnout 4,066,830 68.71 −9.23 Abstentions 1,851,892 31.29 +9.23 Registered voters 5,918,722 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PSOE–A PP IULV–CA PA % S % S % S % S Almería 43.0 5 46.4 6 4.5 − 3.7 − Cádiz 39.5 6 37.4 6 6.3 1 14.5 2 Córdoba 40.7 6 38.3 5 12.3 1 6.9 1 Granada 44.7 6 40.9 6 7.4 1 5.2 − Huelva 47.1 6 37.8 5 7.0 − 6.5 − Jaén 48.2 6 38.2 5 7.3 1 4.9 − Málaga 40.1 7 41.1 7 8.9 1 7.3 1 Seville 49.5 10 32.3 6 8.6 1 7.2 1 Total 44.3 52 38.0 46 8.1 6 7.4 5 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 25 April 2000 Required majority → 55 out of 109 Abstentions Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography