1995 Madrilenian regional election

1995 Madrilenian regional election

← 1991 28 May 1995 1999 →
All 103 seats in the Assembly of Madrid 52 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	4,129,852 7.6%
Turnout	2,907,141 (70.4%) 11.7 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Joaquín Leguina Ángel Pérez Party PP PSOE IU Leader since 8 February 1987 14 December 1979 24 February 1993 Last election 47 seats, 42.7% 41 seats, 36.6% 13 seats, 12.1% Seats won 54 32 17 Seat change 7 9 4 Popular vote 1,476,442 860,726 464,167 Percentage 51.0% 29.7% 16.0% Swing 8.3 pp 6.9 pp 3.9 pp
President before election Joaquín Leguina PSOE Elected President Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón PP

The 1995 Madrilenian regional election was held on Sunday, 28 May 1995, to elect the 4th Assembly of the Autonomous Community of Madrid. All 103 seats in the Assembly were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

The election resulted in the People's Party (PP) winning an absolute majority of votes and seats for the first time, which allowed Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón to become President and end 12 years of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) rule in the community. Joaquín Leguina's PSOE suffered from PM Felipe González' unpopularity at national level and fell below 30% for the first time in a regional election. The third party, United Left (IU), benefitted from the PSOE's decline and polled just over 16%, their highest vote share at a Madrid Assembly election to date.

Overview

Electoral system

The Assembly of Madrid was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Madrid, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Madrilenian Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president.^[1]

Voting for the Assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Community of Madrid and in full enjoyment of their political rights. All members of the Assembly of Madrid were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied regionally. The Assembly was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 25,000.^[1][2]

Election date

The term of the Assembly of Madrid expired four years after the date of its previous election. Elections to the Assembly were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The previous election was held on 26 May 1991, setting the election date for the Assembly on Sunday, 28 May 1995.^[1][2][3]

The president of the Community had the prerogative to dissolve the Assembly of Madrid and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since the previous one.^[4] In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Assembly was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called. Any snap election held as a result of these circumstances would not alter the period to the next ordinary election, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.^[1]

Parties and candidates

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions 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 ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least 0.5 percent of the electorate in the Community of Madrid, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.^[2][3]

Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:

Candidacy		Parties and alliances	Leading candidate		Ideology	Previous result		Gov.	Ref.
						Votes (%)	Seats
	PP	List People's Party (PP)		Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón	Conservatism Christian democracy	42.67%	47	N
	PSOE	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)		Joaquín Leguina	Social democracy	36.59%	41	Y
	IU	List United Left (IU)		Ángel Pérez	Socialism Communism	12.07%	13	N

Opinion polls

The table below lists voting intention estimates 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. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 52 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Assembly of Madrid.

Color key:

  Exit poll

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout				LV	Lead
1995 regional election	28 May 1995	—	70.4	51.0 54	29.7 32	16.0 17	–	21.3
Eco Consulting/RTVE[p 1]	28 May 1995	?	?	50.6 54/55	26.4 28/29	18.6 19/21	–	24.2
Demoscopia/El País[p 2][p 3][p 4][p 5]	10–15 May 1995	1,000	?	51.1 53/54	25.5 27/28	20.3 22/23	–	25.6
CIS[p 6][p 7]	24 Apr–10 May 1995	1,395	72.6	51.5	27.6	15.9	–	23.9
Tábula V/ABC[p 8]	19–25 Apr 1995	1,000	?	50.0 55	24.0 26	20.0 22	–	26.0
Tábula V/ABC[p 9]	28 Nov–2 Dec 1994	?	?	47.0	19.0	23.0	–	24.0
1994 EP election	12 Jun 1994	—	49.9	50.3 (56)	24.0 (26)	19.6 (21)	–	26.3
Tábula V/ABC[p 8]	10–11 May 1994	?	?	48.0	24.0	23.0	–	24.0
Demoscopia/El País[p 10]	10 Apr 1994	?	?	49.4 50	23.6 23	21.6 21	5.4 5	25.8
1993 general election	6 Jun 1993	—	78.9	43.9 (48)	35.0 (38)	14.6 (15)	1.1 (0)	8.9
PP[p 11]	21 Feb 1993	?	?	51.0	30.0	–	–	21.0
1991 regional election	26 May 1991	—	58.8	42.7 47	36.6 41	12.1 13	1.6 0	6.1

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 28 May 1995 Assembly of Madrid election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	1,476,442	50.98	+8.31	54	+7
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	860,726	29.72	–6.87	32	–9
	United Left (IU)	464,167	16.03	+3.96	17	+4
	The Greens–Green Group (LV–GV)	21,239	0.73	New	0	±0
	The Alternative Greens (LVA)1	10,638	0.37	–0.03	0	±0
	Platform of Independents of Spain (PIE)	5,368	0.19	New	0	±0
	Madrilenian Independent Regional Party (PRIM)	3,136	0.11	–0.24	0	±0
	United Extremadura (EU)	2,379	0.08	New	0	±0
	Citizen Unity (UC)	2,086	0.07	New	0	±0
	Revolutionary Workers' Party (POR)	2,066	0.07	–0.03	0	±0
	Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)	2,053	0.07	New	0	±0
	Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)	1,853	0.06	New	0	±0
	Humanist Platform (PH)	1,834	0.06	New	0	±0
	Independent Regional Unity (URI)	1,636	0.06	New	0	±0
	Independent Spanish Phalanx (FEI)	1,060	0.04	New	0	±0
	Coalition for a New Socialist Party (NPS)2	731	0.03	–0.05	0	±0
Blank ballots		38,763	1.34	+0.05
Total		2,896,177			103	+2
Valid votes		2,896,177	99.62	+0.03
Invalid votes		10,964	0.38	–0.03
Votes cast / turnout		2,907,141	70.39	+11.72
Abstentions		1,222,711	29.61	–11.72
Registered voters		4,129,852
Sources[5][6]
Footnotes: 1 The Alternative Greens results are compared to Green Union totals in the 1991 election. 2 Coalition for a New Socialist Party results are compared to Alliance for the Republic totals in the 1991 election.

Elected legislators

The following table lists the elected legislators sorted by order of election.^[7]

Aftermath

Investiture processes to elect the President of the Community of Madrid required for an absolute majority—more than half the votes cast—to be obtained in the first ballot. If unsuccessful, a new ballot would be held 48 hours later requiring of a simple majority—more affirmative than negative votes—to succeed. If none of such majorities were achieved, successive candidate proposals could be processed under the same procedure. In the event of the investiture process failing to elect a regional President within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Assembly would be automatically dissolved and a snap election called.^[1]

Investiture Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (PP)
Ballot →		28 June 1995
Required majority →		52 out of 103 Y
	Yes • PP (54)	54 / 103
	No • PSOE (32) • IU (17)	49 / 103
	Abstentions	0 / 103
	Absentees	0 / 103
Sources[5]

References

Opinion poll sources

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