2019 Canarian regional election

The 2019 Canarian regional election was held on Sunday, 26 May 2019, to elect the 10th Parliament of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. All 70 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in eleven other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain, as well as the 2019 European Parliament election.

2019 Canarian regional election

← 2015 26 May 2019 2023 →
All 70 seats in the Parliament of the Canary Islands 36 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	Island: 1,719,596 3.5% Regional: 1,720,724
Turnout	Island: 904,369 (52.6%) 3.5 pp Regional: 904,093 (52.5%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ángel Víctor Torres Fernando Clavijo Asier Antona Party PSOE CCa–PNC PP Leader since 23 July 2017 12 September 2014 22 April 2016 Leader's seat Regional Regional La Palma Last election 15 seats, 19.9% 18 seats, 21.8%[a] 12 seats, 18.6% Seats won 25 20 11 Seat change 10 2 1 Island vote 258,255 196,080 135,722 Island % 28.9% 21.9% 15.2% Island swing 9.0 pp 0.1 pp 3.4 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Román Rodríguez Noemí Santana Casimiro Curbelo Party NCa Podemos–SSP–Equo ASG Leader since 26 February 2005 1 April 2015 6 March 2015 Leader's seat Regional Gran Canaria La Gomera Last election 5 seats, 10.4%[b] 7 seats, 14.5% 3 seats, 0.6% Seats won 5 4 3 Seat change 0 3 0 Island vote 80,891 78,532 6,222 Island % 9.0% 8.8% 0.7% Island swing 1.4 pp 5.7 pp 0.1 pp   Seventh party   Leader Vidina Espino Party Cs Leader since 2 March 2019 Leader's seat Gran Canaria Last election 0 seats, 5.9% Seats won 2 Seat change 2 Island vote 65,854 Island % 7.4% Island swing 1.5 pp
Constituency results map for the Parliament of the Canary Islands
President before election Fernando Clavijo CCa Elected President Ángel Víctor Torres PSOE

The election saw the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) under Ángel Víctor Torres becoming the largest force in the islands. Together with New Canaries (NCa), the Yes We Can Canaries alliance led by Podemos and the Gomera Socialist Group (ASG), Torres was able to become regional president, sending Canarian Coalition (CCa) into opposition for the first time since 1993. Support for the People's Party (PP) shrunk, with the party obtaining its worst result since 1991.

Overview

Electoral system

The Parliament of the Canary Islands was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Canarian Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president.^[1] Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Canary Islands and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Additionally, Canarians abroad were required to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote (Spanish: Voto rogado).^[2]

The 70 members of the Parliament of the Canary Islands were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of 15 percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Alternatively, parties could also enter the seat distribution as long as they reached four percent regionally. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the islands of El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, La Palma, Lanzarote and Tenerife, as well as an additional constituency comprising the whole archipelago, with each being allocated a fixed number of seats:^[1]

Seats	Constituencies
15	Gran Canaria, Tenerife
9	Regional
8	Fuerteventura(+1), La Palma, Lanzarote
4	La Gomera
3	El Hierro

Election date

The term of the Parliament of the Canary Islands expired four years after the date of its previous election, with elections to the Parliament being fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The previous election was held on 24 May 2015, setting the election date for the Parliament on Sunday, 26 May 2019.^[1][3][4]

After legal amendments in 2018, the president was granted the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of the Canary Islands 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. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Parliament 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]

The election to the Parliament of the Canary Islands was officially triggered on 2 April 2019 after the publication of the election decree in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC).^[5]

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.^[4]

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

Candidacy		Parties and alliances	Candidate		Ideology	Previous result		Gov.	Ref.
						Vote %	Seats
	CCa–PNC	List Canarian Coalition (CCa) Canarian Nationalist Party (PNC) Independent Herrenian Group (AHI) United for Gran Canaria (UxGC)		Fernando Clavijo	Regionalism Canarian nationalism Centrism	21.8% [a]	18		[6] [7]
	PSOE	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)		Ángel Víctor Torres	Social democracy	19.9%	15		[8] [9]
	PP	List People's Party (PP)		Asier Antona	Conservatism Christian democracy	18.6%	12		[10] [11]
	Podemos– SSP–Equo	List We Can (Podemos) Yes We Can (SSP) Equo (Equo)		Noemí Santana	Left-wing populism Direct democracy Democratic socialism	14.5%	7		[12] [13]
	NCa	List New Canaries (NCa) Municipal Assemblies of Fuerteventura (AMF)		Román Rodríguez	Canarian nationalism Social democracy	10.4% [b]	5		[14]
	Cs	List Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (Cs)		Vidina Espino	Liberalism	5.9%	0		[15]
	ASG	List Gomera Socialist Group (ASG)		Casimiro Curbelo	Insularism Social democracy	0.6%	3
	Vox	List Vox (Vox)		Carmelo González	Right-wing populism Ultranationalism National conservatism	0.2%	0		[16]

Campaign

Election debates

2019 Canarian regional election debates

Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P  Present[c]    NI  Not invited
			CCa–PNC	PSOE	PP	USP	NCa	Cs	Audience	Ref.
10 May	Cadena SER	Miguel Ángel Rodríguez	P Clavijo	P Torres	P Antona	P Santana	P Rodríguez	P Espino	—	[17]
15 May	RTVC	Roberto González Pilar Rumeu	P Clavijo	P Torres	P Antona	P Santana	P Rodríguez	NI	6.1% (46,000)	[18] [19]
23 May	RTVE	Nayra Santana	P Clavijo	P Torres	P Antona	P Santana	P Rodríguez	P Espino	N/A	[20]
24 May	COPE	Mayer Trujillo	P Clavijo	P Torres	P Antona	P Santana	P Rodríguez	P Espino	—	[21]

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; 36 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of the Canary Islands (31 until 6 November 2018).

Color key:

  Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls   Exit poll

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout												Lead
2019 regional election	26 May 2019	—	52.6	28.9 25	15.2 11	21.9 20	8.8 4	9.0 5	7.4 2	[d]	1.0 0	0.7 3	2.5 0	–	7.0
GfK/FORTA[p 1][p 2][p 3][p 4]	26 May 2019	?	?	29.5 23/26	13.8 10/12	19.7 16/18	12.4 6/7	7.8 4/5	7.9 3/4	[d]	–	0.7 2/3	? 0	–	9.8
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 5]	22–23 May 2019	?	?	24.6 22	13.5 9	17.5 15	12.6 7	11.3 6	12.9 8	[d]	–	0.4 3	3.6 0	–	7.1
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 6]	21–22 May 2019	?	?	24.8 23	13.6 9	17.7 15	12.4 7	11.2 6	12.6 8	[d]	–	0.4 2	3.5 0	–	7.1
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 7]	20–21 May 2019	?	?	24.9 23	13.5 9	17.6 15	12.5 7	11.0 6	12.5 8	[d]	–	0.4 2	3.6 0	–	7.3
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 8]	19–20 May 2019	?	?	24.9 24	13.8 10	17.7 15	12.3 7	10.9 4	12.6 8	[d]	–	0.4 2	3.5 0	–	7.2
NC Report/La Razón[p 9][p 10][p 11]	19 May 2019	?	?	26.2 20/24	13.1 9/12	? 12/16	? 6/9	? 4/7	? 6/9	[d]	–	? 2/3	? 0	–	?
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 12]	16–19 May 2019	?	?	24.7 23	14.0 10	17.9 15	12.1 7	10.5 4	12.9 8	[d]	–	0.4 3	3.5 0	–	6.8
Hamalgama Métrica/La Provincia[22]	5–17 May 2019	2,400	?	25.3 19/25	13.9 8/9	18.3 14/19	13.5 6/8	9.9 4/7	10.6 4/8	[d]	–	0.3 2/3	4.7 0/4	–	7.0
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 13]	13–16 May 2019	?	?	24.8 24	15.1 11	18.6 16	11.1 6	9.7 4	13.5 7	[d]	–	0.4 2	3.9 0	–	6.2
TSA/Canarias7[p 14]	29 Apr–14 May 2019	2,659	?	25.7 21/27	11.8 7/11	16.7 13/18	13.8 7/9	11.1 6/9	10.6 7	[d]	–	0.4 2/3	3.2 0	–	9.0
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 15]	10–13 May 2019	?	?	23.7 23	15.2 11	18.3 16	11.2 6	9.0 3	14.4 8	[d]	–	0.3 3	4.0 0	–	5.4
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 16]	7–10 May 2019	?	?	23.6 22	14.9 11	18.7 16	11.2 6	8.6 3	14.7 9	[d]	–	0.4 3	4.1 0	–	4.9
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 17]	4–7 May 2019	?	?	24.1 22	14.7 10	18.9 16	10.9 6	8.5 3	15.0 8	[d]	–	0.4 3	4.5 2	–	5.2
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 18]	29 Apr–4 May 2019	?	?	24.3 22	14.3 9	18.3 16	11.0 6	8.8 3	15.3 9	[d]	–	0.4 3	4.4 2	–	6.0
April 2019 general election	28 Apr 2019	—	62.5	27.8 (23)	15.5 (13)	13.0 (9)	[e]	3.4 (0)	14.7 (9)	–	[e]	–	6.6 (3)	15.7 (13)	12.1
CIS[p 19][p 20]	21 Mar–23 Apr 2019	924	?	27.8 20/23	15.9 9/11	16.5 12/15	11.6 6/8	8.2 4/7	11.9 6/8	[d]	–	? 2/3	3.6 0/1	–	11.3
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 21]	31 Mar–7 Apr 2019	?	?	22.8 19	16.3 13	17.4 16	[e]	13.3 7	10.0 5	[d]	[e]	0.4 3	6.6 2	8.9 5	5.4
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 22]	24–31 Mar 2019	?	?	23.0 19	15.9 12	17.3 16	[e]	13.5 7	10.3 6	[d]	[e]	0.4 3	6.7 2	8.8 5	5.7
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 23]	17–24 Mar 2019	?	?	23.2 20	16.3 12	17.5 16	[e]	13.4 7	9.9 5	[d]	[e]	0.4 3	6.6 2	8.7 5	5.7
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 24]	10–17 Mar 2019	?	?	22.4 19	16.7 13	18.0 16	[e]	13.1 7	9.0 4	[d]	[e]	0.5 3	7.6 2	9.0 6	4.4
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 25]	3–10 Mar 2019	?	?	22.1 20	16.4 12	18.0 16	[e]	13.1 7	9.3 4	[d]	[e]	0.5 3	7.4 2	9.1 6	4.1
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 26]	22 Feb–3 Mar 2019	?	?	21.9 20	16.5 12	17.9 16	[e]	13.1 7	9.5 4	[d]	[e]	0.5 3	7.1 2	9.2 6	4.0
SyM Consulting[p 27][p 28]	3–6 May 2018	4,400	55.9	22.3 14/17	7.1 6/9	14.8 10/13	12.7 6/7	11.4 4/5	18.5 11/13	3.1 0	1.6 0	0.6 2/3	–	–	3.8
PSOE[p 29]	29 Apr 2018	?	?	? 10	? 10	? 13	? 8	? 6	? 10	–	–	? 3	–	–	?
TSA/Canarias7[p 30][p 31]	28 Feb–31 Mar 2018	2,995	?	22.6 16/17	15.3 7/10	15.8 12/14	11.9 6	13.2 6/7	12.6 6/7	–	–	0.5 3	–	–	6.8
Hamalgama Métrica/La Provincia[p 32]	10–25 Aug 2017	1,980	?	23.8 18/19	20.2 11	17.3 15/16	14.2 6	9.8 4	7.0 2	–	–	? 3	–	–	3.6
2016 general election	26 Jun 2016	—	59.1	22.5 (15)	34.1 (23)	8.0 (5)	[e]	[f]	12.0 (6)	–	[e]	–	0.1 (0)	20.3 (11)	11.6
2015 general election	20 Dec 2015	—	60.3	22.0 (16)	28.5 (19)	8.2 (6)	23.3 (12)	[f]	11.4 (7)	–	3.1 (0)	–	0.2 (0)	–	6.5
2015 regional election	24 May 2015	—	56.1	19.9 15	18.6 12	18.2 18	14.5 7	10.2 5	5.9 0	3.6 0	2.2 0	0.6 3	0.2 0	–	1.3

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 26 May 2019 Parliament of the Canary Islands election results →

Parties and alliances		Island constituencies			Regional constituency			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	258,255	28.88	+8.99	264,221	29.53	n/a	25	+10
	Canarian Coalition–Canarian Nationalist Party–United (CCa–PNC)1	196,080	21.93	+0.09	209,150	23.37	n/a	20	+2
	People's Party (PP)	135,722	15.18	–3.41	130,617	14.60	n/a	11	–1
	New Canaries (NCa)2	80,891	9.05	–1.34	82,980	9.27	n/a	5	±0
	Yes We Can Canaries (Podemos–SSP–Equo)3	78,532	8.78	–5.76	76,433	8.54	n/a	4	–3
	Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (Cs)	65,854	7.36	+1.42	62,115	6.94	n/a	2	+2
	Vox (Vox)	22,078	2.47	+2.27	22,178	2.48	n/a	0	±0
	Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA)	10,029	1.12	–0.11	12,166	1.36	n/a	0	±0
	Canarian United Left (IUC)4	9,115	1.02	–1.18	8,598	0.96	n/a	0	±0
	Gomera Socialist Group (ASG)	6,222	0.70	+0.14	—	—	n/a	3	±0
	The Greens–Green Group (LV–GV)	5,058	0.57	New	6,263	0.70	n/a	0	±0
	Canaries Now (ANC–UP)5	2,515	0.28	–0.34	3,163	0.35	n/a	0	±0
	More for Telde (+xT)	1,985	0.22	–0.15	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	Tenerife Socialist Group (ASTf)	1,512	0.17	New	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	Santa Cruz Common Sense (SCSC)	1,379	0.15	New	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	Nivaria (Nivaria)	1,153	0.13	New	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	Communist Party of the Canarian People (PCPC)	989	0.11	–0.09	1,200	0.13	n/a	0	±0
	With You, We Are Democracy (Contigo)	970	0.11	New	794	0.09	n/a	0	±0
	Fuerteventura Party (PF)	954	0.11	New	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	Seniors in Action (3e en acción)	911	0.10	New	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	United for Lanzarote (UPLanzarote)	657	0.07	New	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	For a Fairer World (PUM+J)	575	0.06	–0.14	979	0.11	n/a	0	±0
	Democratic Union of the Canary Islands (UDC)	522	0.06	New	1,248	0.14	n/a	0	±0
	Let's Vote Fuerteventura (Votemos)	387	0.04	New	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	337	0.04	New	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	Canaries for Progress (Ci–Progreso)	263	0.03	New	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	Federation Free Socialist Party (PSLF)	224	0.03	New	—	—	n/a	0	±0
	Movement for the Unity of the Canarian People (MUPC)	—	—	–0.19	782	0.09	n/a	0	±0
	Union of Independent Citizens (UCIN)	—	—	New	450	0.05	n/a	0	±0
	Libertarian Party (P–LIB)	—	—	New	436	0.05	n/a	0	±0
Blank ballots		11,111	1.24	–0.59	11,089	1.24	n/a
Total		894,280			894,862			70	+10
Valid votes		894,280	98.88	+0.68	894,862	98.98	n/a
Invalid votes		10,089	1.12	–0.68	9,231	1.02	n/a
Votes cast / turnout		904,369	52.59	–3.50	904,093	52.54	n/a
Abstentions		815,227	47.41	+3.50	816,631	47.46	n/a
Registered voters		1,719,596			1,720,724
Sources[23][24]
Footnotes: 1 Canarian Coalition–Canarian Nationalist Party–United results are compared to the combined totals of Canarian Coalition–Canarian Nationalist Party and United in the 2015 election. 2 New Canaries results are compared to the combined totals of New Canaries and Municipal Assemblies of Fuerteventura in the 2015 election. 3 Yes We Can Canaries results are compared to We Can totals in the 2015 election. 4 Canarian United Left results are compared to Canaries Decides totals in the 2015 election. 5 Canaries Now results are compared to Canarian Nationalist Alternative totals in the 2015 election.

Popular vote (island constituencies) PSOE   28.88% CCa–PNC   21.93% PP   15.18% NCa   9.05% SPC   8.78% Cs   7.36% Vox   2.47% PACMA   1.12% IUC   1.02% ASG   0.70% Others   2.28% Blank ballots   1.24%

Popular vote (regional constituency) PSOE   29.53% CCa–PNC   23.37% PP   14.60% NCa   9.27% SPC   8.54% Cs   6.94% Vox   2.48% PACMA   1.36% Others   2.67% Blank ballots   1.24%

Seats PSOE   35.71% CCa–PNC   28.57% PP   15.71% NCa   7.04% SPC   5.71% ASG   4.29% Cs   2.86%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PSOE		CC–PNC		PP		NCa		SPC		Cs		ASG
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
El Hierro	31.5	1	35.4	1	18.2	1	5.0	−			3.7	−
Fuerteventura	26.0	3	25.1	3	13.8	1	11.2	1	7.0	−	5.7	−
Gran Canaria	28.3	5	11.7	2	16.5	3	17.7	3	8.9	1	8.9	1
La Gomera	20.7	1	9.1	−	4.4	−	4.0	−	6.6	−	1.7	−	52.1	3
La Palma	27.2	3	30.9	3	25.0	2	3.7	−	4.2	−	3.2	−
Lanzarote	28.4	3	32.0	3	12.7	1	5.3	−	8.1	1	5.6	−
Tenerife	30.2	6	29.2	5	13.5	2	2.0	−	9.6	1	7.0	1
Regional	29.5	3	23.4	3	14.6	1	9.3	1	8.5	1	6.9	−
Total	28.9	25	21.9	20	15.2	11	9.0	5	8.8	4	7.4	2	0.7	3

Aftermath

Further information: Government of Ángel Víctor Torres

Investiture Ángel Víctor Torres (PSOE)
Ballot →		12 July 2019
Required majority →		36 out of 70 Y
	Yes • PSOE (25) • NCa (5) • Podemos–SSP–Equo (4) • ASG (3)	37 / 70
	No • CCa–PNC (20) • PP (11) • Cs (2)	33 / 70
	Abstentions	0 / 70
	Absentees	0 / 70
Sources[25]

Notes

1. Results for CCa–PNC (18.2%, 18 seats) and Unidos (3.6%, 0 seats) in the 2015 election.
2. Results for NCa (10.2%, 5 seats) and AMF (0.2%, 0 seats) in the 2015 election.
3. Denotes a main invitee attending the event.
4. Within CCa.
5. Within Unidas Podemos.
6. Within PSOE.