A regional election was held in the Balearic Islands on 25 May 2003 to elect the 6th 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.

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. 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 13 June 1999, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 25 May 2003.

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 1 April 2003 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOIB, setting election day for 25 May..

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 2003 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group PP 28 28 Socialist Parliamentary Group PSIB–PSOE 17 17 PSM–EN Parliamentary Group PSM 4 5 PSMe 1 United and Ecologist Left Parliamentary Group EUIB 4 4 Mixed Parliamentary Group UM 3 5 EV 1 COP 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 44.0% PSIB–PSOE Francesc Antich Social democracy 22.0% Pacte+COP Pilar Costa Progressivism 4.9% PSM–EN Pere Sampol Left-wing nationalismDemocratic socialismEnvironmentalism 11.7% UM Maria Antònia Munar RegionalismLiberalism 7.3% EU–EV Margalida Rosselló SocialismCommunism 5.4% AIPF José Mayans Serra Conservatism 0.3%

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 Pacte COP AIPF EVIB Lead 2003 regional election 25 May 2003 62.8 44.7 24.5 8.0 7.5 4.9 3.6 0.3 0.4 0.6 20.2 Sigma Dos/Antena 3 25 May 2003????????? – –? Vox Pública/El Periódico 29 Apr 2003 808? 40.0–41.0 25.5–26.5 8.5–9.5 9.5–10.5 5.0–6.5 3.5–4.5 0.3–0.6 –? 14.5 CIS 22 Mar–28 Apr 2003 911 70.2 37.1 28.1 11.0 7.8 12.0 – 9.0 CIS 9 Sep–9 Oct 2002 447 73.1 41.8 22.7 11.6 7.2 6.2 1.3 8.4 19.1 2000 general election 12 Mar 2000 61.4 53.9 29.3 5.9 2.1 4.0 – – – 2.4 24.6 1999 regional election 13 Jun 1999 57.5 44.0 22.0 11.7 7.3 5.4 4.4 0.4 0.3 22.0

Results Overall + ← Summary of the 25 May 2003 Parliament of the Balearic Islands election results → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− People's Party (PP) 190,562 44.70 +0.69 29 +1 Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands (PSIB–PSOE) 104,614 24.54 +2.52 15 +2 PSM–Nationalist Agreement (PSM–EN) 33,920 7.95 −3.77 4 −1 Socialist Party of Mallorca–Nationalist Agreement (PSM–EN) 30,964 7.26 −3.57 3 −1 Socialist Party of Menorca–Nationalist Agreement (PSM–EN) 2,956 0.69 −0.20 1 ±0 Majorcan Union (UM) 31,781 7.45 +0.14 3 ±0 United Left–The Greens (EU–EV) 20,797 4.88 −0.55 2 −1 United Left of Mallorca–The Greens of Mallorca (EU–EV) 19,050 4.47 −0.30 2 ±0 Left of Menorca–United Left (EM–EU) 1,747 0.41 −0.25 0 −1 Progressive Pact+Coalition of Progressive Organizations (Pacte+COP) 16,811 3.94 −0.91 5 −2 Progressive Pact (Pacte) 15,513 3.64 −0.79 5 −1 Coalition of Progressive Organizations (COP) 1,298 0.30 −0.12 0 −1 Independent Social Group (ASI) 6,707 1.57 +0.92 0 ±0 Key of Mallorca (Clau) 3,030 0.71 New 0 ±0 The Greens (EV) 2,411 0.57 New 0 ±0 Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) 1,667 0.39 +0.09 0 ±0 Independent Popular Council of Formentera (AIPF) 1,647 0.39 +0.07 1 +1 Balearic Islands Renewal Party (PRIB) 1,162 0.27 New 0 ±0 Union of Centrists of Menorca (UCM) 1,129 0.26 New 0 ±0 Civic Union (UC) 751 0.18 −0.08 0 ±0 Menorcan Party (PMQ) 566 0.13 New 0 ±0 Workers for Democracy Coalition (TD) 438 0.10 −0.03 0 ±0 Citizens for Blank Votes (CenB) 416 0.10 New 0 ±0 European Green Group (GVE) 373 0.09 New 0 ±0 Renewal Party of Ibiza and Formentera (PREF) 335 0.08 New 0 ±0 Balearic People's Union (UPB) 130 0.03 −0.58 0 ±0 Blank ballots 7,093 1.66 −0.20 Total 426,340 59 ±0 Valid votes 426,340 99.35 +0.13 Invalid votes 2,795 0.65 −0.13 Votes cast / turnout 429,135 62.84 +5.34 Abstentions 253,722 37.16 −5.34 Registered voters 682,857 Sources

Distribution by constituency Constituency PP PSIB PSM–EN UM EU–EV Pacte AIPF % S % S % S % S % S % S % S Formentera 53.4 1 Ibiza 50.4 7 37.8 5 Mallorca 45.0 16 26.3 9 9.0 3 9.2 3 5.5 2 Menorca 39.1 6 37.3 6 8.1 1 4.8 − Total 44.7 29 24.5 15 8.0 4 7.5 3 4.9 2 3.6 5 0.4 1 Sources

Aftermath Government formation

Investiture Ballot → 26 June 2003 Required majority → 30 out of 59 Abstentions Sources

Notes

References Opinion poll sources

Other

Bibliography