1979 Basque foral elections

The 1979 Basque foral elections were held on Tuesday, 3 April 1979, to elect the 1st General Assemblies of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa. All 228 seats in the three General Assemblies were up for election. The elections were held simultaneously with local elections all throughout Spain.

Overall

Summary of the 3 April 1979 Basque General Assemblies election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)	351,349	37.18	n/a	99	n/a
	Popular Unity (HB)	169,653	17.96	n/a	38	n/a
	Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE)	144,880	15.33	n/a	32	n/a
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	112,449	11.90	n/a	32	n/a
	Basque Country Left (EE)	67,633	7.16	n/a	14	n/a
	Communist Party of the Basque Country (PCE/EPK)	42,192	4.47	n/a	3	n/a
	Communist Movement–Organization of Communist Left (EMK–OIC)	15,223	1.61	n/a	0	n/a
	Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT)	7,936	0.84	n/a	0	n/a
	Revolutionary Communist League (LKI/LCR)	6,325	0.67	n/a	0	n/a
	Carlist Party (EKA/PC)	2,413	0.26	n/a	0	n/a
	Llodian Independent Group (AILL)	628	0.07	n/a	0	n/a
	Party of Labour of the Basque Country (PTE)	566	0.06	n/a	0	n/a
	Foral Union of the Basque Country (UFPV)	505	0.05	n/a	0	n/a
	Independents (INDEP)	18,749	1.98	n/a	10	n/a
Blank ballots		4,374	0.46	n/a
Total		944,875			228	n/a
Valid votes		944,875	98.69	n/a
Invalid votes		12,579	1.31	n/a
Votes cast / turnout		957,454	61.87	n/a
Abstentions		590,018	38.13	n/a
Registered voters		1,547,472
Sources[1][2]

Popular vote EAJ/PNV   37.18% HB   17.96% PSE–PSOE   15.33% UCD   11.90% EE   7.16% PCE/EPK   4.47% EMK–OIC   1.61% Others   3.93% Blank ballots   0.46%

Foral deputation control

The following table lists party control in the foral deputations.^[2]

Deputation	New control
Álava		Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)
Biscay		Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)
Gipuzkoa		Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)

Historical territories

Álava

Summary of the 3 April 1979 Álava General Assembly election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)	36,866	32.70	n/a	26	n/a
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	28,215	25.03	n/a	14	n/a
	Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE)	17,860	15.84	n/a	7	n/a
	Basque Country Left (EE)	3,754	3.33	n/a	0	n/a
	Communist Party of the Basque Country (PCE/EPK)	3,512	3.12	n/a	0	n/a
	Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT)	1,167	1.04	n/a	0	n/a
	Communist Movement–Organization of Communist Left (EMK–OIC)	698	0.62	n/a	0	n/a
	Llodian Independent Group (AILL)	628	0.56	n/a	0	n/a
	Revolutionary Communist League (LKI/LCR)	429	0.38	n/a	0	n/a
	Foral Union of the Basque Country (UFPV)	365	0.32	n/a	0	n/a
	Independents (INDEP)	18,749	16.63	n/a	10	n/a
Blank ballots		491	0.44	n/a
Total		112,734			57	n/a
Valid votes		112,734	99.06	n/a
Invalid votes		1,069	0.94	n/a
Votes cast / turnout		113,803	65.35	n/a
Abstentions		60,342	34.65	n/a
Registered voters		174,145
Sources[1][2]

Biscay

Summary of the 3 April 1979 Biscay General Assembly election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)	206,212	39.42	n/a	40	n/a
	Popular Unity (HB)	103,507	19.79	n/a	19	n/a
	Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE)	80,200	15.33	n/a	13	n/a
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	58,217	11.13	n/a	11	n/a
	Communist Party of the Basque Country (PCE/EPK)	28,812	5.51	n/a	3	n/a
	Basque Country Left (EE)	28,665	5.48	n/a	4	n/a
	Communist Movement–Organization of Communist Left (EMK–OIC)	8,006	1.53	n/a	0	n/a
	Revolutionary Communist League (LKI/LCR)	3,373	0.64	n/a	0	n/a
	Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT)	2,948	0.56	n/a	0	n/a
	Party of Labour of the Basque Country (PTE)	566	0.11	n/a	0	n/a
	Foral Union of the Basque Country (UFPV)	2	0.00	n/a	0	n/a
Blank ballots		2,543	0.49	n/a
Total		523,051			90	n/a
Valid votes		523,051	98.51	n/a
Invalid votes		7,908	1.49	n/a
Votes cast / turnout		530,959	61.30	n/a
Abstentions		335,226	38.70	n/a
Registered voters		866,185
Sources[1][2]

Gipuzkoa

Summary of the 3 April 1979 Gipuzkoa General Assembly election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)	108,271	35.03	n/a	33	n/a
	Popular Unity (HB)	66,146	21.40	n/a	19	n/a
	Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE)	46,820	15.15	n/a	12	n/a
	Basque Country Left (EE)	35,214	11.39	n/a	10	n/a
	Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)	26,017	8.42	n/a	7	n/a
	Communist Party of the Basque Country (PCE/EPK)	9,868	3.19	n/a	0	n/a
	Communist Movement–Organization of Communist Left (EMK–OIC)	6,519	2.11	n/a	0	n/a
	Workers' Revolutionary Organization (ORT)	3,821	1.24	n/a	0	n/a
	Revolutionary Communist League (LKI/LCR)	2,523	0.82	n/a	0	n/a
	Carlist Party (EKA/PC)	2,413	0.78	n/a	0	n/a
	Foral Union of the Basque Country (UFPV)	138	0.04	n/a	0	n/a
Blank ballots		1,340	0.43	n/a
Total		309,090			81	n/a
Valid votes		309,090	98.85	n/a
Invalid votes		3,602	1.15	n/a
Votes cast / turnout		312,692	61.66	n/a
Abstentions		194,450	38.34	n/a
Registered voters		507,142
Sources[1][2]