A regional election was held in Navarre on 28 May 2023 to elect the 11th Parliament of the chartered community. All 50 seats in the Parliament were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in eleven other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.
The 2019–2023 term had been dominated by the impact and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had focused most of the efforts of the new government of María Chivite. This period also saw a normalization of the relations between the Socialist Party of Navarre (PSN–PSOE) and the abertzale left, dominated by EH Bildu, with whom the Socialists agreed to pass laws and budgets. On the right, the Navarra Suma alliance between the Navarrese People's Union (UPN), the People's Party of Navarre (PP) and Citizens (Cs) broke up, with the former two engaging in a bitter fight for dominance of their political space as support for the latter collapsed throughout Spain.
The election saw UPN holding out in better shape than anticipated by opinion polls—some of which had predicted a close race with the PSN—but with right-from-centre parties being unable to increase their support from the 2019 election, stagnating at 20 seats. Further, the election saw the entry into parliament for the first time of far-right Vox, with 4.3% and 2 seats. EH Bildu emerged as the third largest political party ahead of Geroa Bai (GBai), whose support collapsed to 13.2% and 7 seats following four years in which it had been a junior coalition partner in government, whereas the alliance of Podemos and the Left (I–E) held out to its 3 seats with 6.1% of the vote.
As a result of the election, President Chivite was able to get re-elected to a second consecutive term in office, the first time a PSN regional president has been able to do so since 1987.
Overview Under the 1982 Reintegration and Improvement of the Chartered Regime, the Parliament of Navarre was the unicameral legislature of the homonymous chartered 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 Parliament of Navarre expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. If no snap election was called before the last year of the legislative term, 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 Navarre (BON), with election day taking place on the fourth Sunday of May four years after the previous election.; ( by ). The previous election was held on 26 May 2019, setting the latest possible date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 28 May 2023.
The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Navarre at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no nationwide election was due and some time requirements are met: namely, 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 under this procedure.; . In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a three-month period from election day, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called..
The election to the Parliament of Navarre was officially called on 4 April 2023 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BON, setting election day for 28 May and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 16 June..
Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Navarre and with full political rights, provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence.; ( by ). Amendments in 2022 abolished the "begged" voting system (), under which non-resident citizens were required to apply for voting. The begged vote system was attributed responsibility for a major decrease in the turnout of Spaniards abroad during the years it was in force.
The Parliament of Navarre had a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 60 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 50. All were elected in a single multi-member constituency—corresponding to the chartered community's territory—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) regionally.; .
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 2023 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total Sum Navarre Parliamentary Group UPN 15 20 CS 3 PP 2 Socialist Party of Navarre Parliamentary Group PSN–PSOE 11 11 Yes to the Future Parliamentary Group GSB/GSV 6 9 EAJ/PNV 3 EH Bildu Navarre Parliamentary Group Sortu 4 7 EA 3 Mixed Group Podemos 2 3 I–E (n) 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 a coalition ahead of an election 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 Navarre, 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 UPN Javier Esparza ConservatismChristian democracyRegionalism 36.6% CS Carlos Pérez-Nievas Liberalism PP Javier García ConservatismChristian democracy PSN–PSOE María Chivite Social democracy 20.6% GBai Uxue Barkos Basque nationalismSocial democracy 17.3% EH Bildu Laura Aznal Basque independenceAbertzale leftSocialism 14.5% Contigo/Zurekin Begoña Alfaro Left-wing populismDirect democracyDemocratic socialism 8.2% Vox Maite Nosti Right-wing populismUltranationalismNational conservatism 1.3% There was debate on whether the Navarra Suma (NA+) alliance between the Navarrese People's Union (UPN), Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (Cs) and the People's Party (PP) would be renewed ahead of the 2023 election, with some members within UPN advocating for their party to run under their own label instead while at most allowing some members from PP and Cs to be incorporated as independents within their lists.
UPN suffered a split following a troubling vote in the Congress of Deputies on the issue of labour reform on 3 February 2022, when deputies Sergio Sayas and Carlos García Adanero broke party discipline and voted against the reform proposed by Pedro Sánchez's government, almost succeeding in bringing it down despite the UPN leadership having pledged its support to the law. As a result, both Sayas and Adanero had their party membership suspended, who then pledged to run on their own under a brand new platform. This was materialized during an event held on 14 June 2022, when the platform—provisionally dubbed as "Navarre Platform" ()—was publicly announced, with the support of former high-ranking UPN officers such as former regional Development minister Luis Zarraluqui or former mayor of Estella Begoña Ganuza, among others. By the end of 2022, this platform had entered talks with the PP to evaluate the prospects of fielding a joint list to the regional election.
Campaign Debates + 2023 Navarrese regional election debates Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s) UPN CS PP PSN GBai EH Bildu C/Z Audience 12 May Cadena SER Javier Lorente — 16 May Diario de Navarra Yulen Garmendia — 18 May Navarra TV Roberto CámaraBlanca Basiano —
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.
Graphical summary
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; 26 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Navarre.