Canarian parliamentary election, 1983

Canarian parliamentary election, 1983

8 May 1983

All 60 seats in the Parliament of Canarias 31 seats needed for a majority Registered 936,245 Turnout 566,326 (60.5%)   First party Second party Third party   Leader Jerónimo Saavedra Francisco Marcos Hernández Gonzalo Angulo Party PSOE AP–PDP–PL UPC-AC Leader since 1977 1983 1979 Seats won 27 17 2 Popular vote 234,562 164,138 46,945 Percentage 42.1% 29.5% 8.4%

Island-level units won by PSOE (red), AP-PDP-UL (yellow) and AM (blue)

President before election Jerónimo Saavedra PSOE Elected President Jerónimo Saavedra PSOE

The 1983 Canarian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st Canarian Parliament, the unicameral regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of the Canary Islands. At stake were all 60 seats in the Parliament, determining the President of the Canary Islands.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) emerged as the largest party in the archipelago with 27 seats (4 short of an overall majority), following the disintegration and dissolution of the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), former ruling party of Spain in the 1977-1982 period which had achieved virtually unopposed victories in the islands in the 1977 and 1979 general elections. As a result, the centre and centre-right vote became split between several small parties and splits from the UCD, such as the Democratic and Social Centre of former Spanish Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez, which entered Parliament with 6 seats; the Independents' Gomera Group (AGI), with 2 seats or the Canarian Nationalist Convergence (CNC), with 1 seat.

The People's Coalition, a party coalition comprising the People's Alliance (AP), the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL) became the second largest party and the main opposition force in the Parliament with 17 seats, while the also-nationwide Communist Party of Spain (PCE) obtained 1 seat.

Electoral system

The 60 members of the Canarian Parliament were elected in 7 multi-member districts using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Unlike other regions, districts did not coincide with provincial limits, being determined by law for each of the main islands to become a district of its own.

As the community had not passed an electoral law of its own at the time, the electoral system came regulated under the Autonomous Statute of Autonomy, as well as under Royal Decree 453/1983, which distributed the Parliament seats as follows: El Hierro (3), Fuerteventura (7), Gran Canaria (15), La Gomera (4), La Palma (8), Lanzarote (8) and Tenerife (15).

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 20% of the total vote in each district or above 3% in all of the community (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.^[1][2]

Results

Overall

Summary of the 8 May 1983 Canarian Parliament election results →

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	234,562	42.09	−	27	−
	People's Coalition (AP-PDP-UL)	164,138	29.46	−	17	−
	Canarian People's Union-Canarian Assembly (UPC-AC)	46,945	8.42	−	2	−
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	40,682	7.30	−	6	−
	Canarian Nationalist Convergence (CNC)	24,479	4.39	−	1	−
	Communist Party of Canarias (PCC-PCE)	17,750	3.19	−	1	−
	Canarian Country Party (PPC)	7,675	1.38	−	0	−
	Majoreran Assembly (AM)	5,551	1.00	−	3	−
	Independents' Gomera Group (AGI)	4,941	0.89	−	2	−
	Lanzarote Island Group (AIL)	2,718	0.49	−	0	−
	Workers' Socialist Party (PST)	1,546	0.28	−	0	−
	People's Fight Coalition (CLP)	1,022	0.18	−	0	−
	Independent Herrenian Group (AHI)	944	0.17	−	1	−
	Revolutionary Communist League (LCR)	750	0.13	−	0	−
	Blank ballots	3,518	0.63	−
Total		557,221	100.00		60	−
Valid votes		557,221	98.39	−
Invalid votes		9,105	1.61	−
Votes cast / turnout		566,326	60.49	−
Abstentions		369,919	39.51	−
Registered voters		936,245
Source: Argos Information Portal

Vote share
PSOE			42.09%
AP-PDP-UL			29.46%
UPC-AC			8.42%
CDS			7.30%
CNC			4.39%
PCC-PCE			3.19%
PPC			1.38%
AM			1.00%
AGI			0.89%
AHI			0.17%
Others			1.08%
Blank ballots			0.63%

Parliamentary seats
PSOE			45.00%
AP-PDP-UL			28.33%
CDS			10.00%
AM			5.00%
UPC-AC			3.33%
AGI			3.33%
CNC			1.67%
PCC-PCE			1.67%
AHI			1.67%

References

1. "Royal Decree 453/1983, of 10 March, by which elections to the Parliament of the Autonomous Community of Canarias are called" (PDF).
2. "Organic Law 10/1982, of 10 August, of the Statute of Autonomy of Canarias".