A regional election was held in the Canary Islands on 8 May 1983 to elect the 1st Parliament of the autonomous community. All 60 seats in the Parliament were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) emerged as the largest party in the archipelago with 27 seats—4 short of an overall majority—following the disintegration and dissolution of the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), the former ruling party of Spain in the 1977–1982 period which had achieved virtually unopposed victories in the islands in the 1977 and 1979 general elections. The People's Coalition, an electoral alliance comprising the People's Alliance (AP), the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL) became the second largest party and the main opposition force in the Parliament with 17 seats, while the also-nationwide Communist Party of Spain (PCE) obtained 1 seat. The centre and centre-right vote became further split between several small parties and splits from the UCD, such as the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) of former Spanish prime minister Adolfo Suárez, which entered Parliament with 6 seats; the Gomera Group of Independents (AGI), with 2 seats; or the Canarian Nationalist Convergence (CNC) and the Independent Herrenian Group (AHI) with 1 seat each.

The election resulted in the most fragmented regional assembly of those elected on 8 May, with nine parties represented in the Parliament. The PSOE candidate Jerónimo Saavedra, who had been elected as provisional president in December 1982, was able to get re-elected with the support of AM, AGI and AHI, though the party did not commit itself to a global agreement with any other political force.

Overview Under the 1982 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of the Canary Islands 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 Government of Spain, in coordination with the Regional Government of the Canary Islands, was required to call an election to the Parliament of the Canary Islands within from 1 February to 31 May 1983..

The Parliament of the Canary Islands 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, with elected lawmakers serving the remainder of its original four-year term..

On 7 March 1983, it was confirmed that the first Parliament election would be held on 8 May, together with regional elections for twelve other autonomous communities as well as the regularly scheduled nationwide local elections. The election to the Parliament of the Canary Islands was officially called on 10 March 1983 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the Official Journal of Extremadura, setting election day for 8 May..

Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Canary Islands and with full political rights. ( by ).

The Parliament of the Canary Islands had 60 seats in its first election. All were elected in seven multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the islands of El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, La Palma, Lanzarote and Tenerife, each of which was assigned a fixed number of seats—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a 20 percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency or three percent regionally.. As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats:; .

Seats Constituencies 15 Gran Canaria, Tenerife 8 La Palma, Lanzarote 7 Fuerteventura 4 La Gomera 3 El Hierro

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..

Provisional parliament The regional Statute established a provisional assembly—to remain in place until an election to the actual Cortes of Aragon could be held—which was to be made up of 60 members designated by political parties in proportion to the result of the preceding Spanish general election (distributed by applying regional election rules to island results).. As a result, the composition of the Provisional Parliament of the Canary Islands, upon its constitution in December 1982, was as indicated below:

Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 24 24 People's Parliamentary Group AP–PDP 16 16 Centrist Parliamentary Group INDEP 14 14 Mixed Group CDS 3 6 UPC 2 CC 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; 31 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of the Canary Islands.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout UPC CNC AC AM AGI Lead 1983 regional election 8 May 1983 62.4 – 41.5 8.3 29.0 4.4 7.2 4.3 1.0 0.6 0.2 12.5 Sofemasa/El País 23–26 Apr 1983?? –? –? – – – –? – –? 1982 general election 28 Oct 1982 76.0 16.4 36.7 5.4 26.9 4.9 3.9 2.9 – – – 9.8 1979 general election 1 Mar 1979 61.1 58.4 17.8 11.0 3.7 3.7 – – – – – – 40.6

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

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size UPC CNC AC AM AGI Lead 1983 regional election 8 May 1983 – 25.3 5.1 17.7 2.7 4.4 2.6 0.6 0.4 0.1 37.6 7.6 CISE–Metra Seis–ECO/CIS 4–9 Apr 1983 500 – 26.3 7.3 8.3 1.7 1.2 – – – – – 39.8 11.8 18.0 1982 general election 28 Oct 1982 12.1 27.0 4.0 19.9 3.6 2.9 2.1 – – – 24.0 7.1 1979 general election 1 Mar 1979 34.8 10.6 6.6 2.2 2.2 – – – – – – 38.9 24.2

Results Overall + Summary of the 8 May 1983 Parliament of the Canary Islands election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 233,991 41.50 n/a 27 n/a People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL) 163,419 28.98 n/a 17 n/a Canarian People's Union–Canarian Assembly (UPC–AC) 46,784 8.30 n/a 2 n/a Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 40,789 7.23 n/a 6 n/a Communist Party of the Canaries (PCC–PCE) 24,868 4.41 n/a 1 n/a Canarian Nationalist Convergence (CNC) 24,376 4.32 n/a 1 n/a Party of the Canarian Country (PPC) 7,676 1.36 n/a 0 n/a Majorera Assembly (AM) 5,551 0.98 n/a 3 n/a Workers' Socialist Party (PST) 3,909 0.69 n/a 0 n/a Gomera Group of Independents (AGI) 3,294 0.58 n/a 2 n/a Lanzarote Independents Group (AIL) 2,718 0.48 n/a 0 n/a Seven Green Stars (SEV) 2,709 0.48 n/a 0 n/a Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) 1,784 0.32 n/a 0 n/a Popular Struggle Coalition (CLP) 1,010 0.18 n/a 0 n/a Independent Herrenian Group (AHI) 944 0.17 n/a 1 n/a Blank ballots 0 0.00 n/a Total 563,822 60 n/a Valid votes 563,822 97.60 n/a Invalid votes 13,848 2.40 n/a Votes cast / turnout 577,670 62.41 n/a Abstentions 347,902 37.59 n/a Registered voters 925,572 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PSOE CP UPC–AC CDS PCC–PCE CNC AM AGI AHI % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S El Hierro 28.5 1 29.9 1 14.0 − 27.6 1 Fuerteventura 13.8 1 18.4 1 22.8 2 45.0 3 Gran Canaria 39.0 7 28.3 5 9.5 1 5.3 1 4.5 − 9.1 1 La Gomera 39.2 2 15.2 − 7.3 − 38.3 2 La Palma 32.0 3 37.4 3 15.8 1 14.8 1 Lanzarote 47.4 5 18.2 2 12.0 1 4.7 − 4.3 − Tenerife 47.1 8 30.5 5 9.9 1 7.3 1 2.7 − Total 41.5 27 29.0 17 8.3 2 7.2 6 4.4 1 4.3 1 1.0 3 0.6 2 0.2 1 Sources

Aftermath Government formation Investiture Ballot → 7 June 1983 Required majority → 31 out of 60 Sources

1985 investiture Investiture Ballot → 16 July 1985 Required majority → 31 out of 60 Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

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Bibliography Legislation

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