A regional election was held in Galicia on 20 October 1981 to elect the 1st Parliament of the autonomous community. All 71 seats in the Parliament were up for election. It was held concurrently with a Statute of Autonomy referendum in Andalusia.
The governing Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), which had been expected to maintain its primacy in a region where it had obtained favourable results in the general elections of 1977 and 1979, won 27.8% and 24 seats to come in second place to Manuel Fraga's People's Alliance (AP), which won the election with 30.5% of the vote and 26 seats. The Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdG–PSOE), while faring better that in the general elections, did not secure the expected gains, obtaining 19.6% of the vote and 16 seats. The Communist Party of Galicia (PCE–PCG) secured 1 seat after the voiding of 1,100 PSOE votes in the La Coruña constituency deprived the Socialists from a 17th seat. Of the nationalist parties, only the Galician National-Popular Bloc–Galician Socialist Party (BNPG–PSG) and Galician Left (EG) secured parliamentary representation, with 3 and 1 seat respectively.
An agreement between AP and UCD allowed Gerardo Fernández Albor to be elected as regional president, at the head of a minority cabinet with UCD's external support. The 1981 Galician election marked the beginning of the end for the UCD as a relevant political force in Spanish politics, confirming its ever more dwindling support among voters and AP's growth at its expense. The 1982 Andalusian election held seven months later would signal a further blow to UCD, accelerating the internal decomposition of the party into the next general election.
Background
Negotiations for a new statute of autonomy for Galicia had its roots in the 1936 Statute, voted in referendum and submitted to the Spanish parliament for ratification, but never enforced due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Galicia was granted a pre-autonomic regime after Francisco Franco's death in 1975 and during the Spanish transition to democracy, together with the Valencian Country, Aragon and the Canary Islands and based on the examples of Catalonia and the Basque Country. The establishment of the Regional Government of Galicia () was formalized with its official approval on 18 March 1978 and the appointment of the first provisional government under UCD's Antonio Rosón in June that year. The subsequent Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the celebration in Spain of the first ordinary general election paved the way for the re-establishment of the "historical communities" of the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, under the "fast-track" procedure of Article 151 of the Constitution, setting the first steps for the institutionalization of the so-called "State of the Autonomies".
Negotiations between the various parties led to the signing of the "Hostel Pacts" () on 26 September 1980, and the subsequent approval of a draft Statute of Autonomy for Galicia that was to be ratified in referendum. Above 70% of those voting in the referendum held on 21 December 1980 supported the Statute, albeit under a very low turnout of 28%. The result prompted the UCD to remain alone in government, after the resignation of its only AP member and the PSOE's refusal to rejoin it—having left in November 1979 over disagreements on the Statute issue—without a profound renovation, which the UCD rejected.
Plans to hold the first regional election by the end of April or the beginning of May 1981 were cast off as a result of a delay in the approval of the regional Statute, amid accusations that UCD was holding off the text from final ratification in the Cortes Generales over the party's deteriorating situation in Galicia as a result of the referendum's outcome. The Statute was finally brought to the Congress where it passed on 17 February 1981 with 301 ayes, 3 abstentions and no negative votes, being finally ratified by the Senate on 17 March. As a result, executive procedures were initiated so as to establish the new autonomous community and hold the first Parliament election, which was finally set for 20 October 1981.
Overview Under the 1981 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of Galicia 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 Government of Galicia, in agreement with the Government of Spain, was required to call an election to the Parliament of Galicia within 120 days after the date of enactment of the Statute, with election day taking place within 60 days after the call.. The Statute was published in the Official State Gazette on 28 April 1981, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on 25 October 1981.
Initially, 15 or 18 October 1981 were considered as the most likely dates for the election, but members of the governing Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) did not rule out it taking place up to one week later, with 25 October also being considered to have election day on a Sunday. On 21 August, and after deliberation by the Provisional Government and in agreement with the State Government, President José Quiroga called the election for 20 October..
Electoral system Voting for the Parliament is based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Galicia and with full political rights, provided that they have not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence, nor were legally incapacitated. ( by ).
The Parliament of Galicia had 71 seats in its first election. All were elected in four multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra, 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. ( by ). 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 22 La Coruña 19 Pontevedra 15 Lugo, Orense
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 UCD José Quiroga Christian democracySocial democracyLiberalism PSdG–PSOE Francisco Vázquez Social democracy AP Gerardo Fernández Albor ConservatismNational conservatism BNPG–PSG Bautista Álvarez Galician nationalismLeft-wing nationalism EG Camilo Nogueira Galician nationalismLeft-wing nationalism PG Alfonso Alvarez Gándara Galician nationalismSocial liberalism PCE–PCG Joaquín Alvarez Corbacho Eurocommunism
José María David Suárez Núñez, rector of the University of Santiago de Compostela, had been initially proposed by UCD as their leading candidate replacing José Quiroga, but in an unexpected move Quiroga's supporters outnumbered Suárez Núñez's candidacy by two votes, provoking a crisis within the Galician branch of the UCD over the disputed Quiroga's candidacy. The various UCD factions reached a compromise to put off internal quarrelling to prevent giving voters an image of disunity, by maintaining Quiroga as candidate over the difficulties in finding a replacement before the deadline for presenting lists of candidates expired.
The Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdG–PSOE) included many Galician intellectuals within their lists, while the People's Alliance (AP) chose Gerardo Fernández Albor as their leading candidate. While an electoral coalition between UCD and AP was considered, both parties discarded such a possibility. In July 1980, the Galician Socialist Party (PSG) and the constituent parties of the Galician National-Popular Bloc (BNPG), the Galician People's Union (UPG) and the Galician National-Popular Assembly (ANPG), agreed to form an alliance. The Galicianist Party (PG) had sufferent an important internal crisis in June 1981.
A total of 986 candidates from 18 political parties stood for election, with eleven candidacies running in all four provinces: the main parties UCD, PSOE, AP, BNPG–PSG, EG, PG and PCE, as well as the Galician Socialist Unity–PSOE (historical) (USG–PSOE), the Revolutionary Communist League–Communist Movement (LCR–MCG) alliance, the Spanish Ruralist Party (PRE) and the Workers' Socialist Party (PST).
Campaign The campaign was dominated by the perception that the ruling Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) would achieve a precarious victory, as well as on the question of turnout, as it was feared that the high abstention rates that had dominated elections and referendums in Galicia up until that time would be repeated: 39.3% in the 1977 general election, 49.8% in the 1978 constitutional referendum, 50.8% in the 1979 general election and 71.7% in the 1980 Statute referendum.
+ Party slogans Candidacies Original slogan English translation UCD « Defiende lo tuyo » "Defend what is yours" PSdG–PSOE « Galicia quiere vivir »« Haz Galicia viva » "Galicia wants to live""Make Galicia alive" AP « Galegos coma ti » "Galician like yourself" PG « Somos gallegos » "We are Galician"
The UCD emphasized the defense of values such as personal freedom and regional culture, the modernization of key economic sectors such as fishing and agriculture, the identity of the Spanish nation and an efficient autonomy for Galicia. The party's aim was to maintain the regional hegemony that it obtained in the 1977 and 1979 by preserving the vote from conservative, small landowners. The UCD campaign was notable for keeping with a policy of inauguration of public works and the involvement of several high-ranking ministers and members, such as Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, or his predecessor Adolfo Suárez. Politically, the party failed at targeting a single rival: some members sought to minimize losses to AP whereas others advocated for discrediting the PSOE as a viable government alternative to UCD, while concurrently discarding any-post election alliance with either party.
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the main opposition party of Spain at the time, advocated for an improvement of the Statute and in presenting a renewed image of moderation ahead of incoming elections throughout the rest of the country. Party leader Felipe González campaigned throughout Galicia with the aim of consolidating the party's gains in opinion polls, while the party considered the eventuality of a UCD–PSOE post-election arrangement as "unlikely", convinced that the UCD would choose to pact with AP instead.