1999 Castilian-Leonese regional election

A regional election was held in Castile and León on Sunday, 13 June 1999, to elect the 5th Cortes of the autonomous community. All 83 seats in the Cortes were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain, as well as the 1999 European Parliament election.

1999 Castilian-Leonese regional election

← 1995 13 June 1999 2003 →
All 83 seats in the Cortes of Castile and León 42 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	2,185,507 3.1%
Turnout	1,476,858 (67.6%) 5.9 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Juan José Lucas Jaime González Antonio Herreros Party PP PSOE IUCyL Leader since 12 December 1990 14 June 1998 1991 Leader's seat Valladolid León Valladolid Last election 50 seats, 52.2% 27 seats, 29.7% 5 seats, 9.6% Seats won 48 30 1 Seat change 2 3 4 Popular vote 737,982 483,675 79,390 Percentage 50.4% 33.1% 5.4% Swing 1.8 pp 3.4 pp 4.2 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Joaquín Otero Carlos Rad Party UPL TC–PNC Leader since 13 September 1997 1999 Leader's seat León Burgos Last election 2 seats, 2.6% 0 seats, 0.6% Seats won 3 1 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 54,158 20,274 Percentage 3.7% 1.4% Swing 1.1 pp 0.8 pp
Constituency results map for the Cortes of Castile and León
President before election Juan José Lucas PP Elected President Juan José Lucas PP

Overview

Electoral system

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

All members of the Cortes of Castile and León were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Ávila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora, with each being allocated an initial minimum of three seats, as well as one additional member per each 45,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 22,500.^[1][2]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Cortes constituency was entitled the following seats:

Seats	Constituencies
14	León(–1), Valladolid
11	Burgos, Salamanca
8	Zamora
7	Ávila, Palencia
6	Segovia
5	Soria

In smaller constituencies, the use of the electoral method resulted in an effective threshold based on the district magnitude and the distribution of votes among candidacies.^[3]

Election date

The term of the Cortes of Castile and León expired four years after the date of their previous election. Elections to the Cortes were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. Legal amendments introduced in 1998 allowed for these to be held together with European Parliament elections, provided that they were scheduled for within a four month-timespan. The previous election was held on 28 May 1995, setting the election date for the Cortes concurrently with a European Parliament election on Sunday, 13 June 1999.^[1][2][4]

After legal amendments earlier in 1999, the president was granted the prerogative to dissolve the Cortes of Castile and León and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no nationwide election was due and some time requirements were met: namely, that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or within the legislature's last year ahead of its scheduled expiry, nor before one year had elapsed since a previous dissolution. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Cortes were 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 procurators merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.^[1][5]

Parliamentary composition

The Cortes of Castile and León were officially dissolved on 20 April 1999, after the publication of the dissolution decree in the Official Gazette of Castile and León.^[6] The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the Cortes at the time of dissolution.^[7]

Parliamentary composition in April 1999

Groups		Parties		Legislators
				Seats	Total
	People's Parliamentary Group		PP	50	50
	Socialist Parliamentary Group		PSOE	27	27
	United Left–Left of Castile and León's Parliamentary Group		IUCyL	4	4
	Mixed Parliamentary Group		UPL	1	3
			INDEP	2[a]

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.
						Vote %	Seats
	PP	List People's Party (PP)		Juan José Lucas	Conservatism Christian democracy	52.2%	50
	PSOE	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)		Jaime González	Social democracy	29.7%	27
	IUCyL	List United Left of Castile and León (IUCyL)		Antonio Herreros	Socialism Communism	9.6%	5
	UPL	List Leonese People's Union (UPL)		Joaquín Otero	Leonesism Regionalism Autonomism	2.6%	2
	TC–PNC	List Commoners' Land–Castilian Nationalist Party (TC–PNC)		Carlos Rad	Castilian nationalism Progressivism	0.6%	0

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; 42 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Castile and León (43 until 1 January 1999).

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout				UPL		Lead
1999 regional election	13 Jun 1999	—	67.6	50.4 48	33.1 30	5.4 1	3.7 3	1.4 1	17.3
Eco Consulting/ABC[p 1]	24 May–2 Jun 1999	?	?	51.6 49/51	28.6 24/26	10.1 6	3.2 2	–	23.0
Demoscopia/El País[p 2]	26 May–1 Jun 1999	?	71	56.3 52/53	32.4 26/28	6.1 3	1.6 1/2	–	23.9
Sigma Dos/El Mundo[p 3][p 4]	24–31 May 1999	1,750	?	53.1 47/51	32.7 27/31	7.7 2/4	2.9 2	–	20.4
CIS[p 5][p 6][p 7]	3–21 May 1999	2,990	73.3	52.9 51	30.6 27/28	8.3 3	2.5 1/2	–	22.3
1996 general election	3 Mar 1996	—	79.0	52.2 (49)	35.0 (30)	9.1 (5)	0.7 (0)	0.3 (0)	17.2
1995 regional election	28 May 1995	—	73.5	52.2 50	29.7 27	9.6 5	2.6 2	0.6 0	22.5

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 13 June 1999 Cortes of Castile and León election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	People's Party (PP)	737,982	50.45	−1.75	48	−2
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	483,675	33.06	+3.35	30	+3
	United Left of Castile and León (IUCyL)	79,390	5.43	−4.15	1	−4
	Leonese People's Union (UPL)	54,158	3.70	+1.15	3	+1
	Commoners' Land–Castilian Nationalist Party (TC–PNC)	20,274	1.39	+0.77	1	+1
	Regionalist Unity of Castile and León (URCL)	11,195	0.77	+0.36	0	±0
	Centrist Union–Democratic and Social Centre (UC–CDS)	10,422	0.71	New	0	±0
	Independent Candidacy of Valladolid (CIV)	6,784	0.46	+0.32	0	±0
	Party of El Bierzo (PB)	3,851	0.26	−0.17	0	±0
	Spanish Democratic Party (PADE)	3,237	0.22	New	0	±0
	Salamanca–Zamora–León–PREPAL (PREPAL)	3,043	0.21	−0.03	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	2,333	0.16	New	0	±0
	Independent Salamancan Union (USI)	1,851	0.13	New	0	±0
	Zamoran People's Union (UPZ)	1,556	0.11	New	0	±0
	The Greens–Green Group (LV–GV)	1,383	0.09	±0.00	0	±0
	Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS)	1,012	0.07	±0.00	0	±0
	Confederation of the Greens (LV)	791	0.05	New	0	±0
	Party of Self-employed of Spain and Spanish Independent Groups (PAE–I)	565	0.04	New	0	±0
	Nationalist Party of Castile and León (PANCAL)	276	0.02	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		39,036	2.67	+0.84
Total		1,462,814			83	−1
Valid votes		1,462,814	99.05	−0.06
Invalid votes		14,044	0.95	+0.06
Votes cast / turnout		1,476,858	67.58	−6.01
Abstentions		711,396	32.42	+6.01
Registered voters		2,185,507
Sources[10][11][12]

Popular vote PP   50.45% PSOE   33.06% IUCyL   5.43% UPL   3.70% TC–PNC   1.39% Others   3.30% Blank ballots   2.67%

Seats PP   57.83% PSOE   36.14% UPL   3.61% IUCyL   1.20% TC–PNC   1.20%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PP		PSOE		IUCyL		UPL		TC–PNC
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
Ávila	62.4	5	26.9	2	6.4	−			0.4	−
Burgos	48.7	6	31.6	4	6.8	−			7.4	1
León	42.5	6	31.0	5	4.0	−	18.4	3	0.1	−
Palencia	51.0	4	37.7	3	5.8	−			0.9	−
Salamanca	54.9	7	34.1	4	3.9	−			0.3	−
Segovia	53.7	4	32.1	2	5.8	−			0.6	−
Soria	56.7	3	32.1	2	5.8	−			0.8	−
Valladolid	48.7	8	36.1	5	7.5	1			0.8	−
Zamora	53.0	5	33.9	3	2.9	−			0.2	−
Total	50.4	48	33.1	30	5.4	1	3.7	3	1.4	1
Sources[10][11][12]

Aftermath

Government formation

Investiture Juan José Lucas (PP)
Ballot →		13 July 1999
Required majority →		42 out of 83 Y
	Yes • PP (48)	48 / 83
	No • PSOE (30) • UPL (3) • IUCyL (1) • TC–PNC (1)	35 / 83
	Abstentions	0 / 83
	Absentees	0 / 83
Sources[12]

2001 investiture

Investiture Juan Vicente Herrera (PP)
Ballot →		15 March 2001
Required majority →		42 out of 83 Y
	Yes • PP (48)	48 / 83
	No • PSOE (30) • UPL (3) • IUCyL (1)	34 / 83
	Abstentions • TC–PNC (1)	1 / 83
	Absentees	0 / 83
Sources[12]

Notes

1. Conchi Farto, former UPL legislator;^[8] and Elena Pérez, former IUCyL legislator.^[9]