1994 Basque regional election

The 1994 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 23 October 1994, to elect the 5th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

1994 Basque regional election

← 1990 23 October 1994 1998 →
All 75 seats in the Basque Parliament 38 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	1,749,250 3.6%
Turnout	1,044,085 (59.7%) 1.3 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader José Antonio Ardanza Ramón Jáuregui Karmelo Landa Party EAJ/PNV PSE–EE (PSOE) HB Leader since 2 March 1985 16 June 1988 1994 Leader's seat Guipúzcoa Guipúzcoa Biscay Last election 22 seats, 28.3% 22 seats, 27.5%[a] 13 seats, 18.2% Seats won 22 12 11 Seat change 0 10 2 Popular vote 304,346 174,682 166,147 Percentage 29.3% 16.8% 16.0% Swing 1.0 pp 10.7 pp 2.2 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jaime Mayor Oreja Carlos Garaikoetxea Javier Madrazo Party PP EA IU/EB Leader since 20 January 1989 4 September 1986 14 May 1994 Leader's seat Álava Guipúzcoa Biscay Last election 6 seats, 8.2% 9 seats, 11.3% 0 seats, 1.4% Seats won 11 8 6 Seat change 5 1 6 Popular vote 146,960 105,136 93,291 Percentage 14.2% 10.1% 9.0% Swing 6.0 pp 1.2 pp 7.6 pp
Vote winner strength by constituency Election result by constituency
Lehendakari before election José Antonio Ardanza EAJ/PNV Elected Lehendakari José Antonio Ardanza EAJ/PNV

The Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) won 22 seats, the Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE) came second with 12 seats, People's Unity (HB) and the People's Party (PP) both won 11 seats each. Basque Solidarity (EA) won 8 seats.

This was also the first election to the Basque parliament that the Socialist Party and the Basque Country Left (EE) party contested together as a unified party.

Overview

Electoral system

The Basque Parliament was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of the Basque Country, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Basque Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a lehendakari.^[1] Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Basque Country and in full enjoyment of their political rights.

The 75 members of the Basque Parliament 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 in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Álava, Biscay and Guipúzcoa, with each being allocated a fixed number of 25 seats in order to provide for an equal parliamentary representation of the three provinces, as required under the regional statute of autonomy.^[1][2]

Election date

The term of the Basque Parliament 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 the twenty-fifth day prior to the date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of the Basque Country (BOPV), with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication. The previous election was held on 28 October 1990, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 28 October 1994. The election decree was required to be published in the BOPV no later than 4 October 1994, with the election taking place up to the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Saturday, 3 December 1994.^[1][2]

The lehendakari had the prerogative to dissolve the Basque Parliament at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a lehendakari within a sixty-day period from the Parliament re-assembly, the Parliament was to be dissolved and a fresh election called.^[3]

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 one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.^[2][4]

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
	EAJ/PNV	List Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)		José Antonio Ardanza	Basque nationalism Christian democracy Conservative liberalism	28.28%	22	Y
	PSE–EE (PSOE)	List Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE (PSOE))		Ramón Jáuregui	Social democracy	27.51%[a]	22	Y
	HB	List Popular Unity (HB) – Basque Nationalist Action (EAE/ANV)		Karmelo Landa	Basque independence Abertzale left Revolutionary socialism	18.20%	13	N
	EA	List Eusko Alkartasuna (EA)		Carlos Garaikoetxea	Basque nationalism Social democracy	11.30%	9	N
	PP	List People's Party (PP)		Jaime Mayor Oreja	Conservatism Christian democracy	8.17%	6	N
	UA	List Alavese Unity (UA)		Enriqueta Benito	Alavese regionalism Christian democracy	1.40%	3	N
	IU/EB	List United Left (IU/EB)		Javier Madrazo	Socialism Communism	1.41%	0	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; 38 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Basque Parliament.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout	PNV					EE			Lead
1994 regional election	23 Oct 1994	—	59.7	29.3 22	16.8 12	16.0 11	10.1 8	14.2 11	[b]	9.0 6	2.7 5	12.5
Demoscopia/El País[p 1][p 2]	16 Oct 1994	?	60	33.3 24/25	16.9 12/14	15.7 12	9.9 6	13.3 10/11	[b]	7.6 5	2.1 4	16.4
Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 3][p 2]	16 Oct 1994	?	?	30.0 22/23	17.7 13/15	14.8 11	9.5 7	14.7 12	[b]	8.2 6/7	1.3 2/3	12.3
Bergareche/El Correo[p 2]	16 Oct 1994	?	?	? 22	? 13	? 11	? 6	? 11	[b]	? 8	? 4	?
ICP Research/Diario 16[p 2]	16 Oct 1994	?	?	33.0 23/24	18.0 14/16	16.0 10/11	9.0 7/8	14.0 10/12	[b]	8.0 5	2.0 3	15.0
Ikerfel/PSE–EE[p 4]	10–13 Oct 1994	1,700	?	? 22	? 16/17	? 10/11	? 7	? 9	[b]	? 6	? 4	?
CIS[p 5][p 6]	7–13 Oct 1994	1,495	60.5	36.1	16.1	15.4	10.3	12.1	[b]	6.9	1.3	20.0
Deia[p 7]	12 Oct 1994	?	?	? 23	? 15	–	–	? 11	[b]	–	–	?
Basque Government	1–10 Oct 1994	?	?	? 23/24	? 12/14	? 11/13	? 6/8	? 9/10	[b]	? 5/7	? 4	?
Opina/La Vanguardia[p 8]	29 Sep–1 Oct 1994	2,000	?	32.5 24/25	16.5 14/15	12.5 11/12	8.0 5/6	12.0 11	[b]	7.0 5/6	2.5 2/3	16.0
Basque Government[p 9]	27 Sep 1994	?	?	? 24	? 15	? 11	? 7	? 10	[b]	? 5	? 3	?
CIS[p 10][p 11]	13–20 Sep 1994	1,490	64.7	37.4	17.4	16.3	9.9	9.7	[b]	7.0	1.4	20.0
Demoscopia/PP[p 12][p 13]	6–12 Jul 1994	2,400	63	32.8 24/25	16.3 13	15.0 11/12	8.4 5/6	12.4 9/11	[b]	9.4 6	1.6 3	16.5
1994 EP election	12 Jun 1994	—	52.3	25.9 (19)	18.3 (16)	15.6 (11)	8.7 (6)	17.5 (16)	[b]	9.6 (7)	–	7.6
Bergareche/El Correo[p 14]	16 Apr 1994	?	?	26.9	20.1	15.9	–	15.8	[b]	–	–	6.5
CIS[p 15]	28 Mar 1994	?	?	? 17/18	? 20/22	? 10	? 8	? 12/14	[b]	? 1/2	? 4/5	?
Basque Government[p 16]	10–15 Jan 1994	?	?	28.7 22	19.2 16	17.0 12	11.5 9	9.5 9	[b]	1.6 2	1.5 4	9.5
PNV[p 17]	9 Jan 1994	?	?	? 17	? 21	? 13	? 7	? 12	[b]	? 2	? 3	?
1993 general election	6 Jun 1993	—	69.7	24.1 (18)	24.5 (20)	14.6 (11)	9.8 (7)	14.7 (12)	[b]	6.3 (4)	1.4 (3)	0.4
1991 foral elections	26 May 1991	—	59.0	29.6 (23)	19.7 (16)	17.4 (13)	12.4 (10)	8.0 (5)	6.9 (3)	1.8 (0)	2.2 (5)	9.9
1991 local elections	26 May 1991	—	59.3	29.8	19.4	17.3	11.9	7.6	6.8	1.7	2.1	10.4
1990 regional election	28 Oct 1990	—	61.0	28.3 22	19.8 16	18.2 13	11.3 9	8.2 6	7.7 6	1.4 0	1.4 3	8.5

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 23 October 1994 Basque Parliament election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)	304,346	29.32	+1.04	22	±0
	Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE (PSOE))1	174,682	16.83	–10.68	12	–10
	Popular Unity (HB)	166,147	16.01	–2.19	11	–2
	People's Party (PP)	146,960	14.16	+5.99	11	+5
	Basque Solidarity (EA)	105,136	10.13	–1.17	8	–1
	United Left (IU/EB)	93,291	8.99	+7.58	6	+6
	Alavese Unity (UA)	27,797	2.68	+1.28	5	+2
	Coalition for a New Socialist Party (NPS)2	1,462	0.14	+0.07	0	±0
Blank ballots		18,080	1.74	+1.00
Total		1,037,901			75	±0
Valid votes		1,037,901	99.41	–0.09
Invalid votes		6,184	0.59	+0.09
Votes cast / turnout		1,044,085	59.69	–1.30
Abstentions		705,165	40.31	+1.30
Registered voters		1,749,250
Sources[5][6]
Footnotes: 1 Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left results are compared to the combined totals of the Socialist Party of the Basque Country and Basque Country Left in the 1990 election. 2 Coalition for a New Socialist Party results are compared to Alliance for the Republic totals in the 1990 election.

Popular vote EAJ/PNV   29.32% PSE–EE (PSOE)   16.83% HB   16.01% PP   14.16% EA   10.13% IU/EB   8.99% UA   2.68% CNPS   0.14% Blank ballots   1.74%

Seats EAJ/PNV   29.33% PSE–EE (PSOE)   16.00% HB   14.67% PP   14.67% EA   10.66% IU/EB   8.00% UA   6.67%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PNV		PSE–EE		HB		PP		EA		IU/EB		UA
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
Álava	21.8	6	15.6	4	10.1	2	15.9	4	7.2	2	9.1	2	18.5	5
Biscay	35.1	10	17.4	4	13.4	3	15.0	4	7.1	2	10.0	2	0.3	–
Guipúzcoa	22.3	6	16.4	4	23.1	6	11.9	3	16.7	4	7.1	2	0.3	–
Total	29.3	22	16.8	12	16.0	11	14.2	11	10.1	8	9.0	6	2.7	5
Sources[5][6]

Aftermath

Investiture
Ballot →		29 December 1994
Required majority →		38 out of 75
	José Antonio Ardanza (PNV) • PNV (22) • PSE–EE (12) • EA (8)	42 / 75	Y
	Blank ballots • PP (11) • IU/EB (6) • UA (5)	22 / 75
	Absentees • HB (11)	11 / 75
Sources[5]

Notes

1. Results for PSE–PSOE (19.79%, 16 seats) and EE (7.72%, 6 seats) in the 1990 election.
2. Within PSE–EE (PSOE).