2019 Extremaduran regional election

The 2019 Extremaduran regional election was held on Sunday, 26 May 2019, to elect the 10th Assembly of the autonomous community of Extremadura. All 65 seats in the Assembly 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 Extremaduran regional election

← 2015 26 May 2019 2023 →
All 65 seats in the Assembly of Extremadura 33 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	899,930 1.3%
Turnout	623,288 (69.3%) 2.1 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Guillermo Fernández Vara José Antonio Monago Cayetano Polo Party PSOE PP Cs Leader since 20 September 2006 8 November 2008 9 March 2019 Leader's seat Badajoz Badajoz Cáceres Last election 30 seats, 41.5% 28 seats, 37.0% 1 seat, 4.4% Seats won 34 20 7 Seat change 4 8 6 Popular vote 287,619 168,982 68,343 Percentage 46.8% 27.5% 11.1% Swing 5.3 pp 9.5 pp 6.7 pp   Fourth party   Leader Irene de Miguel Party Podemos–IU–eX–Equo Leader since 27 November 2018 Leader's seat Cáceres Last election 6 seats, 14.0%[a] Seats won 4 Seat change 2 Popular vote 44,309 Percentage 7.2% Swing 6.8 pp
Constituency results map for the Assembly of Extremadura
President before election Guillermo Fernández Vara PSOE Elected President Guillermo Fernández Vara PSOE

Overview

Electoral system

The Assembly of Extremadura was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Extremadura, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Extremaduran 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 Extremadura and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Additionally, Extremadurans 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 65 members of the Assembly of Extremadura 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. Alternatively, parties failing to reach the threshold in one of the constituencies were also entitled to enter the seat distribution as long as they ran candidates in both districts and reached five percent regionally. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Badajoz and Cáceres, with each being allocated an initial minimum of 20 seats and the remaining 25 being distributed in proportion to their populations.^[1][3]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Assembly constituency was entitled the following seats:^[4]

Seats	Constituencies
36	Badajoz
29	Cáceres

Election date

The term of the Assembly of Extremadura 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 Journal of Extremadura (DOE), with election day taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication. The previous election was held on 24 May 2015, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 24 May 2019. The election decree was required to be published in the DOE no later than 30 April 2019, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Assembly on Sunday, 23 June 2019.^[1][3][5]

The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Assembly of Extremadura 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 Assembly was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called.^[1]

The election to the Assembly of Extremadura was officially triggered on 2 April 2019 after the publication of the election decree in the Official Journal of Extremadura (DOE), setting the election date for 26 May.^[4]

Parliamentary composition

The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the Assembly at the time of dissolution.^[6]

Parliamentary composition in April 2019

Groups		Parties		Legislators
				Seats	Total
	Socialist Parliamentary Group		PSOE	30	30
	People's Parliamentary Group		PP	27	27
	We Can Extremadura Parliamentary Group		Podemos	6	6
	Mixed Parliamentary Group		Cs	1	1
	Non-Inscrits		Vox	1[b]	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 two percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.^[3][5]

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.
						Votes (%)	Seats
	PSOE	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)		Guillermo Fernández Vara	Social democracy	41.50%	30	Y	[8]
	PP	List People's Party (PP)		José Antonio Monago	Conservatism Christian democracy	37.00%	28	N	[9]
	Podemos– IU–eX–Equo	List We Can (Podemos) United Left (IU) – Communist Party of Extremadura (PCEx) – The Dawn. Marxist Organization OM (La Aurora (om)) – Republican Left (IR) – Feminist Party of Spain (PFE) Extremadurans (eX) – Extremaduran Regionalist Party (PREx) – Regionalist Convergence of Extremadura (CREx) Equo (Equo)		Irene de Miguel	Left-wing populism Direct democracy Democratic socialism	13.96%[a]	6	N	[10] [11]
	Cs	List Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (Cs)		Cayetano Polo	Liberalism	4.39%	1	N	[12]
	Vox	List Vox (Vox)		Juan Antonio Morales	Right-wing populism Ultranationalism National conservatism	0.28%	0	N	[13]

Campaign

Election debates

2019 Extremaduran regional election debates

Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P  Present[c]
			PSOE	PP	UpE	Cs	Vox	UE	PACT	Audience	Ref.
21 May	Canal Extremadura	Manu Pérez	P F. Vara	P Monago	P de Miguel	P Polo	P Morales	P Lanzas	P Marquéz	9.3% (33.000)	[14][15]

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; 33 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Assembly of Extremadura.

Color key:

  Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout						eX			Lead
2019 regional election	26 May 2019	—	69.3	46.8 34	27.5 20	[d]	11.1 7	[d]	[d]	4.7 0	7.2 4	19.3
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 1]	22–23 May 2019	?	?	40.6 28	25.8 18	[d]	15.8 10	[d]	[d]	6.5 4	8.6 5	14.8
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 2]	21–22 May 2019	?	?	40.7 28	26.2 18	[d]	15.6 10	[d]	[d]	6.2 4	8.4 5	14.5
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 3]	20–21 May 2019	?	?	40.5 28	26.1 18	[d]	15.6 10	[d]	[d]	6.4 4	8.5 5	14.4
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 4]	19–20 May 2019	?	?	40.4 28	25.9 18	[d]	15.8 11	[d]	[d]	6.0 3	8.4 5	14.5
NC Report/La Razón[p 5][p 6][p 7]	19 May 2019	?	?	42.9 28	23.2 16	[d]	? 10	[d]	[d]	? 5	? 6	19.3
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 8]	16–19 May 2019	?	?	40.4 28	24.9 17	[d]	16.0 11	[d]	[d]	6.5 4	8.1 5	15.5
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 9]	13–16 May 2019	?	?	39.0 27	23.3 15	[d]	17.5 12	[d]	[d]	8.1 5	9.3 6	15.7
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 10]	10–13 May 2019	?	?	37.1 25	23.0 15	[d]	18.8 13	[d]	[d]	9.2 5	10.2 7	14.1
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 11]	7–10 May 2019	?	?	36.2 25	22.2 15	[d]	19.8 13	[d]	[d]	8.6 5	10.9 7	14.0
Sigma Dos/Hoy[p 12]	6–8 May 2019	1,100	?	40.2 27/29	30.1 20/22	[d]	13.8 9	[d]	[d]	4.5 2	8.3 5	10.1
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 13]	4–7 May 2019	?	?	37.0 25	21.6 15	[d]	19.8 13	[d]	[d]	8.7 5	10.8 7	15.4
Ágora Integral/El Periódico[p 14]	29 Apr–6 May 2019	1,200	?	44.1 28/30	21.1 14/16	[d]	13.1 8/10	[d]	[d]	10.1 5/7	10.1 5/6	23.0
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 15]	29 Apr–4 May 2019	?	?	37.0 25	21.5 15	[d]	19.7 13	[d]	[d]	8.6 5	10.9 7	15.5
April 2019 general election	28 Apr 2019	—	74.2	38.1 26	21.4 14	[d]	18.0 12	[d]	0.3 0	10.8 7	9.5 6	16.7
CIS[p 16]	21 Mar–23 Apr 2019	531	?	45.6 30/32	28.6 19/21	[d]	9.3 5/6	[d]	[d]	2.6 0	12.3 7/8	17.0
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 17]	31 Mar–7 Apr 2019	?	?	37.4 24	23.3 15	[d]	11.9 7	[d]	[d]	13.9 11	10.0 8	14.1
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 18]	24–31 Mar 2019	?	?	37.4 25	22.6 15	[d]	12.3 8	[d]	[d]	14.0 11	9.8 6	14.8
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 19]	17–24 Mar 2019	?	?	38.6 25	22.8 15	[d]	11.9 8	[d]	[d]	13.8 11	9.4 6	15.8
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 20]	10–17 Mar 2019	?	?	37.0 25	22.6 15	[d]	11.2 6	[d]	[d]	16.4 13	9.3 6	14.4
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 21]	3–10 Mar 2019	?	?	36.4 24	22.4 14	[d]	11.8 8	[d]	[d]	16.3 13	9.5 6	14.0
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 22]	22 Feb–3 Mar 2019	?	?	36.2 23	22.6 15	[d]	11.9 8	[d]	[d]	16.2 13	9.5 6	13.6
ElectoPanel/Electomanía[p 23]	20–26 Jan 2019	578	?	34.2 24	23.1 16	[d]	17.2 12	[d]	1.6 0	9.4 6	10.9 7	11.1
Celeste-Tel/PSOE[p 24]	14–25 Jan 2019	1,500	72.3	40.8 30	28.9 21	6.0 4	13.8 10	4.3 0	–	4.8 0	–	11.9
Sigma Dos/Hoy[p 25][p 26]	14–18 May 2018	1,100	?	40.2 28/30	32.8 22/23	7.1 4	14.7 9/10	–	–	–	–	7.6
SyM Consulting[p 27][p 28]	13–14 Mar 2018	1,430	73.2	42.3 29/31	32.5 23/24	6.0 4	8.5 5/6	4.7 2	1.6 0	–	–	9.8
Sigma Dos/Hoy[p 29][p 30]	6–13 Mar 2017	1,200	?	40.1 27/29	37.0 26/27	8.8 6	7.5 4/5	1.6 0	–	–	–	3.1
2016 general election	26 Jun 2016	—	68.6	34.5 23	39.9 27	[d]	10.5 7	[d]	–	0.2 0	13.1 8	5.4
2015 general election	20 Dec 2015	—	72.2	36.0 26	34.8 24	12.7 8	11.4 7	3.0 0	0.3 0	0.1 0	–	1.2
2015 regional election	24 May 2015	—	71.4	41.5 30	37.0 28	8.0 6	4.4 1	4.2 0	1.5 0	0.3 0	–	4.5

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 26 May 2019 Assembly of Extremadura election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	287,619	46.77	+5.27	34	+4
	People's Party (PP)	168,982	27.48	–9.52	20	–8
	Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (Cs)	68,343	11.11	+6.72	7	+6
	United for Extremadura (Podemos–IU–eXtremeños–Equo)1	44,309	7.20	–6.76	4	–2
	Vox (Vox)	28,992	4.71	+4.43	0	±0
	United Extremadura (EU)	3,970	0.65	+0.16	0	±0
	Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA)	3,460	0.56	+0.32	0	±0
	Public Defense Organization (ODP)	1,422	0.23	New	0	±0
	Act (PACT)	1,311	0.21	New	0	±0
	For a Fairer World (PUM+J)	555	0.09	New	0	±0
	With You, We Are Democracy (Contigo)	441	0.07	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		5,611	0.91	–0.43
Total		615,015			65	±0
Valid votes		615,015	98.67	+0.53
Invalid votes		8,273	1.33	–0.53
Votes cast / turnout		623,288	69.26	–2.14
Abstentions		276,642	30.74	+2.14
Registered voters		899,930
Sources[6][16]
Footnotes: 1 United for Extremadura results are compared to the combined totals of We Can, Let's Win Extremadura–United Left–The Greens, Extremadurans and Forward Extremadura in the 2015 election.

Popular vote PSOE   46.77% PP   27.48% Cs   11.11% UpE   7.20% Vox   4.71% Others   1.87% Blank ballots   0.91%

Seats PSOE   52.31% PP   30.77% Cs   10.77% UpE   6.15%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PSOE		PP		Cs		UpE
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
Badajoz	48.5	20	26.2	10	11.1	4	6.8	2
Cáceres	44.0	14	29.4	10	11.1	3	7.8	2
Total	46.8	34	27.5	20	11.1	7	7.2	4
Sources[6][16]

Aftermath

Further information: Third government of Guillermo Fernández Vara

Investiture Guillermo Fernández Vara (PSOE)
Ballot →		25 June 2019
Required majority →		33 out of 65 Y
	Yes • PSOE (34)	34 / 65
	No • PP (20)	20 / 65
	Abstentions • Cs (7) • UpE (4)	11 / 65
	Absentees	0 / 65
Sources[6][17]

Notes

1. Results for Podemos (8.02%, 6 seats), Ganemos–IU–LV (4.25%, 0 seats), eX (1.46%, 0 seats) and AEx (0.24%, 0 seats) in the 2015 election.
2. Juan Antonio Morales, former PP legislator.^[7]
3. Denotes a main invitee attending the event.
4. Within Unidas Podemos.