A regional election was held in the Balearic Islands on 13 June 1999 to elect the 5th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 59 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, as well as the 1999 European Parliament election.

The government resulting from the previous election proved unstable after Gabriel Cañellas, the regional president since 1983, was forced to resign—over the Sóller case an alleged illegal financing scheme of the regional People's Party (PP)—one month into his fourth term in July 1995, being replaced in the post by party colleague Cristòfol Soler. However, growing tensions between Soler and Cañellas prompted the former's resignation in May 1996, resulting in the election of Jaume Matas as new president and in an internal crisis within the regional PP.

Overview Under the 1983 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of the Balearic 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. ( by ). The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions..

Date The term of the Parliament of the Balearic Islands 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, but a 1998 amendment allowed for regional elections held in May 1995 to be held concurrently with European Parliament elections, provided that they were scheduled for within a four month-timespan. The election decree was required to be issued no later than 54 days before the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands (BOIB).; ( by ). The previous election was held on 28 May 1995, setting the date for election day concurrently with that year's European Parliament election on 13 June 1999.

The Parliament of the Balearic 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 60-day period from the Parliament's reconvening. In such a case, the chamber was to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called, with elected lawmakers serving the remainder of its original four-year term. ( by ); .

The election to the Parliament of the Balearic Islands was officially called on 20 April 1999 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOIB, setting election day for 13 June..

Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Balearic Islands 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 the Balearic Islands had 59 seats. All were elected in four multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera, each of which was assigned a fixed number of seats—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a five 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 33 Mallorca 13 Menorca 12 Ibiza 1 Formentera

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 1999 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group PP 29 30 AIPF 1 Socialist Parliamentary Group PSIB–PSOE 16 16 PSM–EN Parliamentary Group PSM 5 6 PSMe 1 United Left–The Greens Parliamentary Group EUIB 3 3 Mixed Parliamentary Group UM 2 4 EV 1 INDEP 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 Jaume Matas ConservatismChristian democracy 44.8% PSIB–PSOE Francesc Antich Social democracy 21.3% PSM–EN Pere Sampol Left-wing nationalismDemocratic socialismEnvironmentalism 12.0% Pacte+COP Pilar Costa Progressivism 4.1% EU–EV Eberhard Grosske SocialismCommunism 8.6% UM Maria Antònia Munar RegionalismLiberalism 5.3% AIPF José Mayans Serra Conservatism 0.3%

Campaign Debates + 1999 Balearic regional election debates Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s) PP PSIB Audience 7 June Sa Nostra Gaspar Sabater —

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; 30 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of the Balearic Islands.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout PSM UM EVIB AIPF Pacte COP Lead 1999 regional election 13 Jun 1999 57.5 44.0 22.0 11.7 5.4 7.3 0.3 4.4 0.4 22.0 Eco Consulting/ABC 24 May–2 Jun 1999?? 40.8 16.8 15.1 7.7 7.5 0.3 5.0 – 24.0 Demoscopia/El País 26 May–1 Jun 1999? 60 46.8 23.6 9.5 6.5 5.8 4.7 – 23.2 CIS 3–21 May 1999 799 63.3 46.4 17.7 14.5 7.3 7.1 4.1 – 28.7 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 14–19 May 1999 1,200? 46.8 18.5 12.3 10.9 5.0 5.0 – 28.3 1996 general election 3 Mar 1996 71.6 45.1 36.0 5.7 7.7 1.6 2.2 – – – 9.1 1995 regional election 28 May 1995 63.6 44.8 24.0 12.2 6.6 5.3 3.1 0.3 – – 20.8

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 13 June 1999 Parliament of the Balearic Islands election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP) 160,545 44.01 −0.76 28 −2 Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands (PSIB–PSOE)1 80,327 22.02 +0.77 13 +1 PSM–Nationalist Agreement (PSM–EN) 42,748 11.72 −0.33 5 −1 Socialist Party of Mallorca–Nationalist Agreement (PSM–EN) 39,509 10.83 −0.15 4 −1 Socialist Party of Menorca–Nationalist Agreement (PSM–EN) 3,239 0.89 −0.18 1 ±0 Majorcan Union (UM) 26,682 7.31 +1.99 3 +1 United Left–The Greens (EU–EV) 19,793 5.43 −3.14 3 ±0 United Left of Mallorca–The Greens of Mallorca (EU–EV)2 17,403 4.77 −3.02 2 ±0 Left of Menorca–United Left (EM–EU)3 2,390 0.66 −0.12 1 ±0 Progressive Pact+Coalition of Progressive Organizations (Pacte+COP) 17,697 4.85 +0.77 7 +2 Progressive Pact (Pacte)4 16,161 4.43 +0.66 6 +1 Coalition of Progressive Organizations (COP)5 1,536 0.42 +0.11 1 +1 Independent Social Group (ASI) 2,368 0.65 +0.27 0 ±0 Balearic People's Coalition–Balearic People's Union (CPB–UPB) 2,219 0.61 New 0 ±0 Independent Popular Council of Formentera (AIPF) 1,183 0.32 ±0.00 0 −1 Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) 1,106 0.30 −0.18 0 ±0 Pityusic Civic Union (UCP) 954 0.26 New 0 ±0 Alternative Left of the Balearic Islands (EAIB) 675 0.19 New 0 ±0 The Greens–Green Group (LV–GV) 643 0.18 New 0 ±0 Social Democrats for Progress (SDP) 641 0.18 New 0 ±0 Workers for Democracy Coalition (TD)6 473 0.13 +0.04 0 ±0 Blank ballots 6,777 1.86 +0.50 Total 364,831 59 ±0 Valid votes 364,831 99.22 −0.15 Invalid votes 2,852 0.78 +0.15 Votes cast / turnout 367,683 57.50 −6.06 Abstentions 271,715 42.50 +6.06 Registered voters 639,398 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PP PSIB PSM–EN UM EU–EV Pacte COP % S % S % S % S % S % S % S Formentera 55.6 1 Ibiza 47.1 6 46.3 6 Mallorca 44.5 16 23.1 8 13.4 4 9.1 3 5.9 2 Menorca 40.3 6 37.9 5 9.8 1 7.3 1 Total 44.0 28 22.0 13 11.7 5 7.3 3 5.4 3 4.4 6 0.4 1 Sources

Aftermath Government formation

Investiture Ballot → 23 July 1999 Required majority → 30 out of 59 Abstentions Absentees Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography