A regional election was held in Castile and León on 26 May 2019 to elect the 10th of the autonomous community. All 81 seats in the were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in eleven other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain, as well as the 2019 European Parliament election.
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) saw its first plurality in a regional election in Castile and León since 1983, being only the second time in history that the party emerged as the most voted political force in a regional election. Conversely, support for the governing People's Party (PP) collapsed into its worst historical parliamentary showing, whereas the liberal Citizens (Cs) and the far-right Vox made substantial gains at its expense, though support for the latter, which rose from 0.7% to 5.5%, failed to materialize in more than one single seat due to the electoral system. Concurrently, the Podemos–Equo alliance suffered a sizeable setback after losing eight out of the ten seats Podemos had won on its own in 2015.
As a result of PP and Cs being able to muster a slim majority of 41 seats in the Cortes, the two centre-right parties were able to form a coalition government—the second in the community's history, after the coalition between the PP and the late Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) that was formed for the 1989–1991 period—under PP candidate Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, who became the region's new president.
Overview Under the 2007 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 election, unless it was dissolved earlier. 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), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication.; ( by ). The previous election was held on 24 May 2015, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 24 May 2019. The election decree was required to be published in the BOCYL no later than 30 April 2019, setting the latest possible date for election day on 23 June 2019.
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 and that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or before one year after a previous one.; . 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..
The of Castile and León was officially dissolved on 2 April 2019 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.; ( by ). Additionally, non-resident citizens were required to apply for voting, a system known as "begged" voting ()..
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 Valladolid 13 León 11 Burgos 10 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 dissolution.
+ Parliamentary composition in April 2019 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group PP 42 42 Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 25 25 We Can Castile and León Parliamentary Group Podemos 10 10 Citizens Parliamentary Group Cs 5 5 Mixed Parliamentary Group IUCyL 1 2 UPL 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 ). Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition..
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 Alfonso Fernández Mañueco ConservatismChristian democracy 37.7% PSOE Luis Tudanca Social democracy 25.9% Podemos–Equo Pablo Fernández Left-wing populismDirect democracyDemocratic socialism 12.1% Cs Francisco Igea Liberalism 10.3% IU–A–PCAS/TC–ALTER José Sarrión SocialismCommunism 4.5% UPL Luis Mariano Santos LeonesismRegionalismAutonomism 1.4% Vox Jesús García-Conde Right-wing populismUltranationalismNational conservatism 0.7% XAV Pedro Pascual Regionalism colspan="2"
Campaign Debates After amendments in 2017, the electoral law of Castile and León provided for the presidential candidates of the parties having a parliamentary group in the to participate in, at least, two leaders' debates to be held during the electoral campaign..
+ 2019 Castilian-Leonese regional election debates Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s) PP PSOE Podemos Cs Audience 14 May CyLTV Nati MelendreAlejandra Abad ? 21 May CyLTV Nati MelendreAlejandra Abad ?
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; 41 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Castile and León (43 in the 2015 election).
Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout UPL Lead 2019 regional election 26 May 2019 65.8 31.5 34.8 5.0 14.9 2.3 2.0 5.5 – 0.7 3.3 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 22–23 May 2019?? 30.5 31.7 8.1 17.8 1.4 1.5 6.7 – – 1.2 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 21–22 May 2019?? 30.9 31.8 7.9 17.7 1.5 1.5 6.4 – – 0.9 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 20–21 May 2019?? 31.0 31.7 7.9 18.0 1.5 1.5 6.7 – – 0.7 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 19–20 May 2019?? 30.8 31.5 7.7 18.3 1.4 1.5 6.5 – – 0.7 KeyData/Público 19 May 2019? 68.1 27.4 28.6 10.6 16.9 3.0? 9.7 – – 1.2 NC Report/La Razón 19 May 2019?? 31.4 31.9????? – – 0.5 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 19 May 2019?? 31.2 33.1 7.1 16.4 1.4 1.7 6.0 – – 1.9 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 16–19 May 2019?? 30.4 31.2 7.8 18.4 1.5 1.5 6.7 – – 0.8 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 13–16 May 2019?? 28.9 29.9 8.5 19.1 2.0 1.4 8.4 – – 1.0 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 10–13 May 2019?? 28.9 29.0 8.5 19.1 2.0 1.4 9.0 – – 0.1 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 7–10 May 2019?? 28.1 28.8 8.2 19.3 2.1 1.4 9.6 – – 0.7 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 4–7 May 2019?? 28.0 29.0 8.1 19.5 2.1 1.4 9.8 – – 1.0 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 29 Apr–4 May 2019?? 27.9 29.1 7.9 20.0 2.3 1.3 9.3 – – 1.2 April 2019 general election 28 Apr 2019 72.9 26.0 29.8 18.9 – 12.3 10.4 – 3.8 CIS 21 Mar–23 Apr 2019 1,597? 30.4 32.9 11.3 13.9 3.8? 3.8 – – 2.5 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 31 Mar–7 Apr 2019?? 28.8 29.0 7.1 12.8 2.2 1.2 14.1 – – 0.2 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 24–31 Mar 2019?? 28.0 29.1 7.0 12.9 2.1 1.1 14.5 – – 1.1 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 17–24 Mar 2019?? 28.0 30.8 6.4 11.6 2.2 1.3 14.8 – – 2.8 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 10–17 Mar 2019?? 28.0 29.4 6.2 11.2 2.1 1.2 16.8 – – 1.4 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 3–10 Mar 2019?? 27.3 29.1 12.4 1.2 16.6 8.4 – 1.8 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 22 Feb–3 Mar 2019?? 26.7 29.2 12.2 1.3 16.9 8.5 – 2.5 Sigma Dos/Ical 5–12 Feb 2019 2,700? 32.6 27.4 7.1 15.5 3.3 1.3 9.6 – – 5.2 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 7–18 Jan 2019 740? 26.8 25.8 14.2 1.3 14.9 8.9 – 1.0 PSOE 17 Jan 2019?? 26.0 29.0 12.5 – 16.0 7.0 – 3.0 Sigma Dos/Ical 25–29 Jun 2018 2,200? 33.0 29.3 22.0 0.9 – 10.6 – 3.7 ElectoPanel/Electomanía 3–7 Jun 2018?? 32.1 27.9 17.6 1.4 – 16.0 – 4.2 SyM Consulting 19–22 Mar 2018 5,500 65.5 35.6 25.5 6.2 18.1 6.0 1.1 – – – 10.1 2016 general election 26 Jun 2016 68.8 44.3 23.1 14.2 0.2 0.2 15.6 – 21.2 2015 general election 20 Dec 2015 72.2 39.1 22.5 15.1 15.4 4.6 – 0.3 – – 16.6 2015 regional election 24 May 2015 64.9 37.7 25.9 12.1 10.3 4.1 1.4 0.7 – – 11.8
Voting preferences The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.
Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size UPL Lead 2019 regional election 26 May 2019 22.1 24.4 3.5 10.5 1.6 1.4 3.8 – 0.5 29.2 2.3 April 2019 general election 28 Apr 2019 20.1 23.0 14.6 – 9.5 8.0 – 21.8 2.9 CIS 21 Mar–23 Apr 2019 1,597 18.1 19.9 3.8 5.6 1.4 – 2.1 – – 36.0 10.8 1.8 2016 general election 26 Jun 2016 32.1 16.8 10.3 0.1 0.1 11.2 – 26.7 15.3 2015 general election 20 Dec 2015 29.4 16.9 11.3 11.5 3.4 – 0.2 – – 24.1 12.5 2015 regional election 24 May 2015 25.5 17.5 8.2 6.9 2.8 1.0 0.5 – – 31.0 8.0
Results Overall