A regional election was held in Castile and León on 26 May 1991 to elect the 3rd of the autonomous community. All 84 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.

The preceding legislature had seen José María Aznar forming a minority government of People's Alliance (AP) in 1987 through the abstention of the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) and the support of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent Solution (SI) of Burgos mayor José María Peña San Martín. In May 1989, following AP's re-foundation into the People's Party (PP) earlier that year, the CDS joined the cabinet as a coalition partner, granting the regional government an overall majority in the . In September 1989, Aznar resigned in order to become the PP's leading candidate for the 29 October general election—and eventually, PP national president in April 1990—, with the regional presidency being granted to Jesús Posada. However, Posada renounced contesting the party's candidacy for re-election in January 1991, following Aznar's decision to pick Juan José Lucas as regional candidate instead.

The election saw the PP secure its first absolute majority in the region, virtually ensuring the election of Lucas to the regional presidency. The CDS, on the other hand, saw its support collapse from 18 to 5 seats, with the PP's majority leaving the party out of government. The opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) slightly increased its vote share and seat count compared to its 1987 result, whereas United Left (IU) entered the for the first time with one seat.

Overview Under the 1983 Statute of Autonomy, the Cortes of Castile and León 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 of Castile and León expired four years after the date of its previous ordinary election, with amendments earlier in 1991 fixing election day for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The election decree was required to be issued between 54 and 60 days before the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of Castile and León (BOCYL).; ( by ). The previous election was held on 10 June 1987, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 26 May 1991.

The of Castile and León 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—provided this did not happen during the last year of parliament before its planned expiration—the were to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called, with elected lawmakers serving the remainder of its original four-year term..

The election to the of Castile and León was officially called on 2 April 1991 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOCYL, setting election day for 26 May and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 21 June..

Electoral system Voting for the was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Castile and León 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 of Castile and León had three seats per each multi-member constituency—corresponding to the provinces of Ávila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora—plus one additional seat per 45,000 inhabitants or fraction above 22,500. All were elected 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 constituency was entitled the following seats:.

Seats Constituencies 15 León 14 Valladolid 11 Burgos, Salamanca 8 Zamora 7 Ávila, Palencia 6 Segovia 5 Soria

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 the election call.

+ Parliamentary composition in April 1991 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group PP 33 33 Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 31 31 Democratic and Social Centre's Parliamentary Group CDS 18 18 Mixed Parliamentary Group INDEP 2 2

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 Juan José Lucas ConservatismChristian democracy 38.3% PSOE Jesús Quijano Social democracy 34.0% CDS José Luis Sagredo CentrismLiberalism 19.4% IU Antonio Herreros SocialismCommunism 3.8%

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; 43 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Castile and León.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout Lead 1991 regional election 26 May 1991 67.6 36.4 8.1 5.4 43.5 7.1 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 18 May 1991?? 35.2 9.3 6.8 42.8 7.6 Metra Seis/El Independiente 12 May 1991?? 34.2 11.6 5.7 39.4 5.2 Demoscopia/El País 4–7 May 1991 1,450? 32.2 7.2 7.7 46.6 14.4 1989 general election 29 Oct 1989 73.3 35.6 12.8 6.7 40.2 4.6 1989 EP election 15 Jun 1989 57.5 36.4 13.2 4.0 32.3 4.1 1987 regional election 10 Jun 1987 73.2 34.4 34.0 19.4 3.8 2.4 1.3 – 0.4

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Lead 1991 regional election 26 May 1991 24.3 5.5 3.6 29.1 31.9 4.8 ICP–Research/Diario 16 19 May 1991? 33.3 9.0 4.5 28.6 – – 4.7 CIS 13–25 Mar 1991 4,529 23.0 4.0 4.0 23.0 40.0 5.0 Tie CIS 2–19 Feb 1991 5,979 25.5 4.3 3.5 22.2 33.5 9.8 3.3 1989 general election 29 Oct 1989 25.8 9.3 4.8 29.3 26.4 3.5 1989 EP election 15 Jun 1989 20.7 7.5 2.3 18.4 42.3 2.3 CIS 15–26 Oct 1988 4,794 23.1 20.3 10.0 2.2 0.2 – – 35.0 8.8 2.8 1987 regional election 10 Jun 1987 24.7 24.5 13.9 2.7 1.8 1.0 – 26.8 0.2

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 13–25 Mar 1991 4,529 30.0 4.0 5.0 28.0 9.0 25.0 2.0 CIS 2–19 Feb 1991 5,979 29.6 5.0 4.0 25.4 9.6 26.4 4.2

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 26 May 1991 Cortes of Castile and León election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP)1 602,773 43.52 +5.23 43 +9 Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 504,709 36.44 +2.43 35 +3 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 112,821 8.14 −11.23 5 −13 United Left (IU) 74,197 5.36 +1.55 1 +1 The Greens (LV) 20,193 1.46 New 0 ±0 Leonese People's Union (UPL) 11,432 0.83 +0.21 0 ±0 Burgalese Popular Action (APB) 6,493 0.47 New 0 ±0 Regionalist Democracy of Castile and León (DRCL) 4,587 0.33 New 0 ±0 Party of El Bierzo (PB) 4,465 0.32 −0.06 0 ±0 Bercian Left (IB) 3,407 0.25 New 0 ±0 Castilian Regionalist Party (PREC) 3,042 0.22 New 0 ±0 Castilianist Union (UC) 2,229 0.16 New 0 ±0 Independent Progressive Union (UPI) 2,127 0.15 New 0 ±0 Regionalist Party of the Leonese Country (PREPAL) 2,123 0.15 −0.13 0 ±0 Commoners' Land (TC) 1,900 0.14 New 0 ±0 The Greens Ecologist–Humanist List (LVLE–H)2 1,622 0.12 −0.15 0 ±0 Palentine Unity (UP) 1,558 0.11 New 0 ±0 Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) 895 0.06 −0.07 0 ±0 Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) 873 0.06 New 0 ±0 Left Unitary Platform (PCE (m–l)–CRPE) 435 0.03 New 0 ±0 Nationalist Party of Castile and León (PANCAL) 298 0.02 −0.34 0 ±0 Blank ballots 23,028 1.66 +0.08 Total 1,385,207 84 ±0 Valid votes 1,385,207 99.07 +0.79 Invalid votes 13,031 0.93 −0.79 Votes cast / turnout 1,398,238 67.57 −5.58 Abstentions 671,231 32.43 +5.58 Registered voters 2,069,469 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PP PSOE CDS IU % S % S % S % S Ávila 42.3 3 26.3 2 24.8 2 3.6 − Burgos 44.0 6 34.0 5 5.8 − 6.6 − León 39.8 7 38.9 7 5.5 1 4.9 − Palencia 45.3 4 37.2 3 6.7 − 5.3 − Salamanca 44.5 5 39.5 5 7.8 1 4.0 − Segovia 46.1 4 32.4 2 11.0 − 5.8 − Soria 52.3 3 33.9 2 6.4 − 2.7 − Valladolid 42.6 7 38.4 6 5.2 − 8.2 1 Zamora 45.4 4 37.6 3 9.9 1 3.4 − Total 43.5 43 36.4 35 8.1 5 5.4 1 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 4 July 1991 Required majority → 43 out of 84 Abstentions Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

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