A regional election was held in Galicia on 24 November 1985 to elect the 2nd Parliament of the autonomous community. All 71 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

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..

Date The term of the Parliament of Galicia expired four years after the date of its previous election. 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 Journal of Galicia (DOG), with election day taking place between 54 and 60 days after the decree's publication.; ( by ). The previous election was held on 20 October 1981, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 20 October 1985. The election decree was required to be published in the DOG no later than 26 September 1985, setting the latest possible date for election day on 25 November 1985.

The Parliament of Galicia could not be dissolved before the expiration date of parliament, except in the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot. In such a case, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called..

The election to the Parliament of Galicia was officially called on 26 September 1985 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the DOG, setting election day for 24 November and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 17 December..

Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Galicia 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 Galicia had a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 80 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 71. 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.; . 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. ( by ).

Outgoing parliament The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.

+ Parliamentary composition in September 1985 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Alliance of Galicia Parliamentary Group AP 26 26 Socialists of Galicia's Parliamentary Group PSdG–PSOE 16 16 Galician Coalition Parliamentary Group CG 10 10 Independents' Parliamentary Group PDP 1 8 INDEP 7 Centrist of Galicia Parliamentary Group CdG 5 5 Mixed Parliamentary Group UPG 2 5 PSG–EG 2 PCE–PCG 1

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; 36 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Galicia.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout BNG CG Lead 1985 regional election 24 Nov 1985 57.4 – 28.7 4.2 5.7 0.8 3.3 40.9 12.9 12.2 Alef/El País 13–14 Nov 1985 1,200? – 30.6 6.1 4.9 1.0 7.5 40.0 8.1 9.4 Aresco/ABC 4–8 Nov 1985 1,050? – 28.8 4.2 4.9 2.0 6.6 41.3 7.1 12.5 Alef/El País 23–25 Oct 1985 1,000 64.7 – 31.9 6.0 – 2.0 7.3 40.0 7.3 8.1 Sofemasa/CEOE 24 Jun–7 Jul 1985 1,865? – 31.9 2.9 3.5 1.0 3.5 45.1 5.9 13.2 Typol/AP 18 Sep–9 Oct 1984 2,003 65.5 – 33.5 6.2 3.5 2.7 3.7 38.9 9.2 5.4 1982 general election 28 Oct 1982 63.7 37.6 17.7 32.8 3.0 1.7 1.5 2.6 – – 4.8 1981 regional election 20 Oct 1981 46.3 30.5 27.8 19.6 6.3 3.4 2.9 – – – 2.7

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 24 November 1985 Parliament of Galicia election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Coalition (AP–PDP–PL–CdG)1 516,218 40.89 +10.37 34 +8 Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdG–PSOE) 361,946 28.67 +9.05 22 +6 Galician Coalition (CG) 163,425 12.94 New 11 +11 Galician Socialist Party–Galician Left (PSG–EG)2 71,599 5.67 +2.27 3 +2 Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG)3 53,072 4.20 −2.07 1 −2 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 41,411 3.28 New 0 ±0 Communist Party of Galicia (PCE–PCG) 10,625 0.84 −2.09 0 −1 Workers' Socialist Party (PST) 9,689 0.77 −1.08 0 ±0 Communist Party of Galicia (Revolutionary Marxist) (PCG (m–r)) 8,318 0.66 New 0 ±0 Humanist Platform (PH) 7,280 0.58 New 0 ±0 Galician Party of the Country (PGC) 3,172 0.25 New 0 ±0 Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) 2,922 0.23 +0.08 0 ±0 Communist Party of Spain (Marxist–Leninist) (PCE (m–l)) 1,554 0.12 ±0.00 0 ±0 Galician Socialist Unity (USG) 1,379 0.11 −1.18 0 ±0 Communist Movement of Galicia (MCG) 1,327 0.11 −0.38 0 ±0 Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) n/a n/a −27.80 0 −24 Blank ballots 8,627 0.68 +0.68 Total 1,262,564 71 ±0 Valid votes 1,262,564 98.80 +0.79 Invalid votes 15,333 1.20 −0.79 Votes cast / turnout 1,277,897 57.40 +11.12 Abstentions 948,552 42.60 −11.12 Registered voters 2,226,449 Sources

Distribution by constituency

Constituency CP PSdG CG PSG–EG BNG % S % S % S % S % S La Coruña 38.0 10 32.3 8 9.9 2 5.7 1 5.2 1 Lugo 44.9 8 24.4 4 20.4 3 2.0 – 3.3 – Orense 40.1 7 25.7 4 22.8 4 3.0 – 3.0 – Pontevedra 43.0 9 27.4 6 8.9 2 8.6 2 3.9 – Total 40.9 34 28.7 22 12.9 11 5.7 3 4.2 1 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 16 January 1986 17 January 1986 Required majority → 36 out of 71 Simple Abstentions Absentees Sources

Investiture Ballot → 20 February 1986 21 February 1986 Required majority → 36 out of 71 Simple Sources

1987 motion of no confidence Motion of no confidence Ballot → 23 September 1987 Required majority → 36 out of 71 Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography