A regional election was held in Castile and León on 25 May 2003 to elect the 6th of the autonomous community. All 82 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.

Overview Under the 1999 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. ( by ). 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 election day being fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. 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 Castile and León (BOCYL). ( by ); ( by ). The previous election was held on 13 June 1999, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 25 May 2003.

The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the of Castile and León at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no nationwide election had been called and that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or during the last year of parliament before its planned expiration, nor before one year after a previous one. ( by ); . In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the were to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called, except if it happened in the final year before the expiry of the legislative term. ( by ). Any snap election held as a result of these circumstances would not alter the period to the next ordinary election, with elected lawmakers serving the remainder of its original four-year term. ( by ).

The election to the of Castile and León was officially called on 1 April 2003 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOCYL, setting election day for 25 May and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 17 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 ); ( 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. ( 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 constituency was entitled the following seats:.

Seats Constituencies 14 León, Valladolid 11 Burgos, Salamanca 7 Ávila, Palencia, Zamora 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 2003 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group PP 48 48 Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 30 30 Mixed Parliamentary Group UPL 3 5 IUCyL 1 TC 1

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 Vicente Herrera ConservatismChristian democracy 50.4% PSOE Ángel Villalba Social democracy 33.1% UPL Joaquín Otero LeonesismRegionalismAutonomism 3.7% IUCyL José Luis Conde SocialismCommunism 5.4% TC–PNC Carlos Rad Castilian nationalismProgressivism 1.4%

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout UPL TC Lead 2003 regional election 25 May 2003 72.7 48.5 36.8 3.4 3.8 1.2 11.7 Sigma Dos/Antena 3 25 May 2003?????? –? Ipsos–Eco/RTVE 25 May 2003?????? –? CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 2,999 74.2 45.4 37.6 6.0 3.7 1.9 7.8 CIS 9 Sep–9 Oct 2002 608 75.0 49.7 35.6 5.2 4.1 1.6 14.1 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 72.6 55.7 32.2 4.4 2.6 1.0 23.5 1999 regional election 13 Jun 1999 67.6 50.4 33.1 5.4 3.7 1.4 17.3

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size UPL TC Lead 2003 regional election 25 May 2003 36.0 27.2 2.5 2.9 0.9 25.3 8.8 CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 2,999 29.5 22.8 2.9 1.4 0.7 32.1 7.3 6.7 CIS 9 Sep–9 Oct 2002 608 34.2 23.5 1.6 1.3 0.8 25.2 9.9 10.7 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 41.2 23.6 3.3 2.0 0.7 25.6 17.6 1999 regional election 13 Jun 1999 34.7 22.6 3.7 2.5 1.0 30.7 12.1

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 UPL TC Other/None Lead CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 2,999 35.7 29.4 3.0 1.7 0.8 1.8 27.7 6.3

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 UPL TC Other/None Lead CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 2,999 52.4 14.2 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 33.1 38.2

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None/Notcare Lead CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 2,999 32.3 15.2 2.0 2.9 47.6 17.1

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 25 May 2003 Cortes of Castile and León election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP) 760,510 48.49 −1.96 48 ±0 Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 576,769 36.77 +3.71 32 +2 Leonese People's Union (UPL) 60,331 3.85 +0.15 2 −1 United Left of Castile and León (IUCyL) 54,085 3.45 −1.98 0 −1 Commoners' Land–Castilian Nationalist Party (TC–PNC) 18,595 1.19 −0.20 0 −1 Independent Candidacy–The Party of Castile and León (CI–PCL) 11,180 0.71 +0.25 0 ±0 The Greens (LV) 7,424 0.47 +0.42 0 ±0 The Greens–Left Forum (LV–FI) 4,130 0.26 New 0 ±0 The Greens (LV) 1,835 0.12 +0.07 0 ±0 The Greens–Cives (LV–Cives) 1,459 0.09 New 0 ±0 Union of the Salamancan People (UPSa) 6,630 0.42 New 0 ±0 Regionalist Unity of Castile and León (URCL) 5,323 0.34 −0.43 0 ±0 Castilian Left (IzCa) 3,972 0.25 New 0 ±0 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 3,016 0.19 −0.52 0 ±0 United Zamora (ZU) 2,579 0.16 New 0 ±0 Republican Left (IR) 2,420 0.15 New 0 ±0 Party of El Bierzo (PB) 2,286 0.15 −0.11 0 ±0 The Greens–Green Group (LV–GV) 2,196 0.14 +0.05 0 ±0 Leonese United Independent Citizens (CiuLe) 2,051 0.15 New 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 2,038 0.13 −0.03 0 ±0 Zamoran People's Union (UPZ) 1,998 0.13 +0.02 0 ±0 Initiative for the Development of Soria (IDES) 1,908 0.12 New 0 ±0 Salamanca–Zamora–León–PREPAL (PREPAL) 1,620 0.10 −0.11 0 ±0 Independent Segovian Alternative (ASí) 1,314 0.08 New 0 ±0 The Phalanx (FE) 1,197 0.08 New 0 ±0 Regionalist Party of El Bierzo (PRB) 1,041 0.07 New 0 ±0 Liberal Centrist Union (UCL) 652 0.04 New 0 ±0 Independent Spanish Phalanx–Phalanx 2000 (FEI–FE 2000) 556 0.04 New 0 ±0 Spanish Democratic Party (PADE) 465 0.03 −0.19 0 ±0 Authentic Phalanx (FA) 243 0.02 New 0 ±0 Blank ballots 36,027 2.30 −0.37 Total 1,568,426 82 −1 Valid votes 1,568,426 99.14 +0.09 Invalid votes 13,557 0.86 −0.09 Votes cast / turnout 1,581,983 72.66 +5.08 Abstentions 595,239 27.34 −5.08 Registered voters 2,177,222 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PP PSOE UPL % S % S % S Ávila 59.4 5 32.1 2 Burgos 53.2 7 33.6 4 León 38.9 6 36.0 6 17.8 2 Palencia 48.6 4 41.6 3 Salamanca 51.7 7 36.8 4 Segovia 50.8 4 36.4 2 Soria 53.4 3 36.6 2 Valladolid 46.3 8 39.9 6 Zamora 50.8 4 36.5 3 3.0 − Total 48.5 48 36.8 32 3.8 2 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 2 July 2003 Required majority → 42 out of 82 Abstentions Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

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