A regional election was held in Andalusia on 23 May 1982 to elect the 1st Parliament of the autonomous community. All 109 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A) under incumbent regional president Rafael Escuredo won a landslide victory with 66 seats and 52.6% of the share, the best result obtained by any party in an Andalusian regional election to date. The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), then in the Government of Spain, suffered from the effects of an ongoing economic crisis, internal party infighting and a massive unpopularity in the region over the party's handling of the 1980 autonomy initiative referendum and obtained just 15 seats and 13.0% of the vote, performing third behind the People's Alliance (AP) with 17.0% of the share and 17 seats. Both the Communist Party of Andalusia (PCA–PCE) and the Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA) performed poorly with 8 (8.5% of the vote) and 3 seats (5.4%), respectively.

After the election, Escuredo was re-elected as Andalusian president. This would be the last regional election to be contested by the UCD before its electoral meltdown in the 1982 Spanish general election and its subsequent dissolution in February 1983, as well as the only time—together with 2004—that a party would secure an absolute majority of the vote. The PSOE would go on to form the regional government uninterruptedly until 2018.

Background

The Andalusian autonomic process started in 1977 with the constitution of an Assembly of Parliamentarians and the establishment of a pre-autonomic regional government in April 1978. On 4 December 1978, all political parties signed the "Pact of Antequera" (), a commitment to achieving the greatest possible level of devolution for Andalusia in the shortest possible timeframe within the scope of the newly-approved Spanish Constitution, and shortly thereafter, Rafael Escuredo from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) was elected as the new pre-autonomic regional president, initiating procedures for the region to apply to autonomy through the "fast-track route" set down in Article 151.

Opposition from the governing Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) to the application of Article 151 for Andalusia led to an intensely fought campaign in the 1980 autonomy initiative referendum, which ultimately resulted in a major setback for the UCD. An inter-party agreement in October 1980 resulted in legal amendments allowing Andalusia to access autonomy through the "fast-track route", and in the drafting of a statute of autonomy which was ratified in a referendum on 20 October 1981, then by the Cortes Generales in December. Attempts to avoid similar political clashes in the future over the devolution issue had led to the so-called "rationalization" of the autonomic process, through the signing of the first autonomic pacts between UCD and PSOE on 31 July 1981, agreeing for a joint calendar of devolution for the remaining regions. This would be embodied through the approval, in 1982, of the Organic Law of Harmonization of the Autonomic Process (LOAPA).

Concurrently with the 1981 referendum, a regional election was held in Galicia which saw the success of the People's Alliance (AP) and the political thesis of its leader, Manuel Fraga, on the right's "natural majority": the prospects of an UCD–AP alliance which would eventually see the right-of-centre electorate converging around a single political pole. Ever since the resignation of Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez and his replacement by Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, UCD had been slowly drifting rightwards amid an intensification of the political tensions between the various political families within the party—social-democrats, christian-democrats, moderates, liberals and conservatives—bringing the UCD ever close to the brink of internal rupture and leaving the political centre up for grabs by the PSOE. Shortly after the UCD's defeat in the Galician election, Calvo-Sotelo forced Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún's resignation as UCD leader to take himself the reins of the party, just as the UCD parliamentary groups in the Cortes Generales started to split up as a result of a number of defections.

The election was held on the backdrop of the 23-F trial, the attempted military coup d'etat staged on 23 February 1981 by a group of Civil Guard officers led by Antonio Tejero during Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo's investiture as Prime Minister after Suárez's resignation and whose failure incidentally led to the decisive consolidation of democratic rule in Spain. The four main political parties in Spain—UCD, PSOE, PCE and AP—had agreed for a joint strategy on the issue so as to avoid any interference both in the trial's procedure and from its effects on Spanish political life.

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 (which were those used in the 1977 general election).; .

Date The Provisional Regional Government of Andalusia, in agreement with the Government of Spain, was required to call an election to the Parliament of Andalusia within three months from the enactment of the Statute, with election day taking place within 60 days from the call.. The Statute was published in the Official State Gazette on 11 January 1982, setting the latest possible date for election day on 10 June 1982.

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

After the Statute's approval, negotiations ensued between the central and regional governments to determine the date of the election, resulting in the election being scheduled for late May 1982, with either 23 or 30 May as the most likely dates over a wish from political parties to prevent a high abstention rate. The vote was finally determined for 23 May. The election to the Parliament of Andalusia was officially called on 26 March 1982 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the Official Gazette of the Regional Government of Andalusia, setting election day for 23 May..

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.; ( by ).

The Parliament of Andalusia had 109 seats in its first election. 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 a fixed number of seats—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 15 Cádiz, Málaga 13 Córdoba, Granada, 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..

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 15 days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one permille—and, in any case, 500 signatures—of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list..

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

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology PSOE–A Rafael Escuredo Social democracy UCD Luis Merino Centrism PCA–PCE Felipe Alcaraz Eurocommunism PSA–PA Luis Uruñuela Andalusian nationalismSocialismMarxism AP Antonio Hernández Mancha ConservatismNational conservatism The PSOE kept incumbent president Rafael Escuredo as its leading candidate, after an agreement with PSOE–A secretary general and Escuredo's long-time rival José Rodríguez de la Borbolla. The UCD sought to present a renovated image after its fiasco in the 1980 referendum, its defeat in the Galician election and the party crisis in November 1981. Soledad Becerril, newly appointed culture minister in the Spanish government, was elected as the regional UCD's new leader, whereas former mayor of Málaga Luis Merino was chosen to lead the party into the election. The conservative AP, reinvigorated after its recent victory in the 1981 Galician election, did not field a candidate for the regional presidency as the regional party leader, Antonio Hernández Mancha, was a still relatively unknown political figure in Andalusia.

The Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA) had appointed incumbent mayor of Seville Luis Uruñuela as its leading candidate during the 1981 referendum campaign, with the party having joined forces with the Unified Andalusian Party–Party of Labour of Andalusia (PAU–PTA), aiming at securing the popular support from Andalusian nationalism and dispute President Escuredo's appeal within this electoral segment. Simultaneously, two UCD's splinter groups were the subject of speculation on whether they would contest the election and challenge their former party: Andalusian Unity (UA), the party of former UCD regional leader and several-times minister Manuel Clavero formed in the wake of the 1980 referendum, had turned down offers from AP to form an electoral alliance, but finally chose to withdraw from the electoral race over a lack of funding for the campaign. The Democratic Action Party (PAD), founded in November 1981 by former justice minister Francisco Fernández Ordóñez, had chosen not to field candidates for the regional election after having initially considered it. However, in early May, the PAD would announce an alliance with the PSOE for the next general election.

A total of 1,188 candidates from 17 political parties stood for election, with six candidacies running in all eight provinces: the main parties PSOE, UCD, PCE, PSA–PA and AP, as well as New Force (FN). No electoral alliances were formed ahead of the election.

Campaign Positions Opinion polls heading into the campaign predicted a wide lead from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of Andalusia (PSOE–A) over all other parties, with UCD, PCE, PSA and AP fighting for securing second place regionally. The election was perceived as a major electoral test on Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo's party and government ahead of the next general election. Among the main issues affecting Andalusia at the time of the election were the traditionally high unemployment in the region and the agrarian issue, with most farmlands being the property of a small number of landowners.

+ Party slogans Candidacies Original slogan English translation PSOE–A « A la hora de la verdad » "Towards the moment of truth" UCD « Anda Andalucía, anda »« El partido más ancho » "Go Andalusia, go""The broadest party" PCA–PCE « Juntos podemos » "Together we can" PSA–PA « El partido andaluz al Parlamento andaluz » "The Andalusian party to the Andalusian parliament" AP « El trabajo es lo que cuenta » "Work is what counts"