1991 Extremaduran regional election

Last updated
1991 Extremaduran regional election
Flag of Extremadura with COA.svg
  1987
26 May 1991
1995  

All 65 seats in the Assembly of Extremadura
33 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered824,866 Increase2.svg 2.0%
Turnout583,172 (70.8%)
Decrease2.svg 3.6 pp
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Juan Carlos Rodriguez Ibarra 1991 (cropped).jpg Portrait placeholder.svg Portrait placeholder.svg
Leader Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra Luis Ramallo Manuel Pareja
Party PSOE PP IU
Leader since20 December 198219901983
Leader's seat Badajoz Badajoz Badajoz
Last election34 seats, 49.2%17 seats, 25.4% [a] 2 seats, 5.4%
Seats won39194
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 5Increase2.svg 2Increase2.svg 2
Popular vote314,384155,48541,290
Percentage54.2%26.8%7.1%
SwingIncrease2.svg 5.0 pp Increase2.svg 1.4 pp Increase2.svg 1.7 pp

 Fourth partyFifth party
  Portrait placeholder.svg Portrait placeholder.svg
Leader Tomás Martín Tamayo Pedro Cañada
Party CDS EU
Leader since198310 December 1980
Leader's seat Badajoz Cáceres (lost)
Last election8 seats, 12.4%4 seats, 5.8%
Seats won30
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 5Decrease2.svg 4
Popular vote33,29114,503
Percentage5.7%2.5%
SwingDecrease2.svg 6.7 pp Decrease2.svg 3.3 pp

ExtremaduraProvinceMapAssembly1991.png
Constituency results map for the Assembly of Extremadura

President before election

Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra
PSOE

Elected President

Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra
PSOE

A regional election was held in Extremadura on Sunday, 26 May 1991, to elect the 3rd Assembly of the autonomous community. All 65 seats in the Assembly were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

Contents

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) won the largest absolute majority a party would achieve in a regional election in the history of Extremadura, with 39 out of 65 seats (60% of the seats) and slightly above 54% of the vote share. The newly founded People's Party, successor of the late People's Alliance, recovered from AP 1987 results and gained two seats. The Democratic and Social Centre lost seats and votes, falling behind United Left (IU), which gained support and finished in third place for the first time in a regional election. Meanwhile, the regionalist United Extremadura (EU) lost more than half its support and was left out from the Assembly, losing all its seats.

As a result of the election, Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra was elected for a third consecutive term in office.

Overview

Under the 1983 Statute of Autonomy, the Assembly of Extremadura was the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president. [1]

Electoral system

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, provided that they were not sentenced—by a final court ruling—to deprivation of the right to vote, nor being legally incapacitated. [2] [3] [4]

The Assembly of Extremadura was entitled to a maximum of 65 seats, with the electoral law setting its size at that number. All members were elected in two multi-member 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—using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional voting system, 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. [2] [5]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Assembly constituency was entitled the following seats: [6]

SeatsConstituencies
35 Badajoz
30 Cáceres

The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacated seats; instead, any vacancies that occurred after the proclamation of candidates and into the legislative term were to be covered by the successive candidates in the list and, when required, by the designated substitutes. [7] [8]

Election date

The term of the Assembly of Extremadura expired four years after the date of its previous ordinary election, with amendments earlier in 1991 fixing election day for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The election decree was required to be issued between the fifty-fourth and sixtieth day prior to the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official Journal of Extremadura (DOE). [2] [9] [10] The previous election was held on 10 June 1987, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 26 May 1991.

The Assembly of Extremadura could not be dissolved before the date of expiry of parliament, except in the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot. In such a case, the Assembly was to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their original four-year term. [9] [11]

The election to the Assembly of Extremadura was officially called on 2 April 1991 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the DOE, setting election day for 26 May. [6]

Outgoing parliament

The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of the election call. [12] [13]

Parliamentary composition in April 1991
GroupsPartiesLegislators
SeatsTotal
Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 3434
People's Parliamentary Group PP 1717
CDS Parliamentary Group CDS 88
Mixed Parliamentary Group EU 26
IU 2
PREx2

Parties and candidates

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance 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. [14] [15]

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

CandidacyParties and
alliances
CandidateIdeologyPrevious resultGov.Ref.
Vote %Seats
PSOE Juan Carlos Rodriguez Ibarra 1991 (cropped).jpg Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra Social democracy 49.2%34Check-green.svg [16]
PP
List
Portrait placeholder.svg Luis Ramallo Conservatism
Christian democracy

25.4%
[a]
17Dark Red x.svg
CDS Portrait placeholder.svg Tomás Martín Tamayo Centrism
Liberalism
12.4%8Dark Red x.svg
EU Portrait placeholder.svg Pedro Cañada Regionalism
Conservatism
5.8%4Dark Red x.svg
IU Portrait placeholder.svg Manuel Pareja Socialism
Communism
5.4%2Dark Red x.svg

Opinion polls

The tables below list opinion polling results 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.

Voting intention estimates

The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. 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.

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Victory preferences

The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.

Results

Overall

Summary of the 26 May 1991 Assembly of Extremadura election results
ExtremaduraAssemblyDiagram1991.svg
Parties and alliancesPopular voteSeats
Votes%±pp Total+/−
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)314,38454.16+4.9839+5
People's Party (PP)1155,48526.78+1.3419+2
United Left (IU)41,2907.11+1.704+2
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)33,2915.73−6.623−5
United Extremadura (EU)14,5032.50−3.310−4
Extremaduran Regionalist Party (PREx)8,6601.49New0±0
The Greens (LV)6,0111.04New0±0
Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)2,3790.41New0±0
Blank ballots4,5080.78−0.02
Total580,51165±0
Valid votes580,51199.34+0.33
Invalid votes3,8670.66−0.33
Votes cast / turnout584,37870.85−3.54
Abstentions240,48829.15+3.54
Registered voters824,866
Sources [12] [17] [18]
Footnotes:
Popular vote
PSOE
54.15%
PP
26.76%
IU
7.13%
CDS
5.75%
EU
2.50%
PREx
1.49%
LV
1.01%
PCPE
0.41%
Blank ballots
0.80%
Seats
PSOE
60.00%
PP
29.23%
IU
6.15%
CDS
4.62%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency PSOE PP IU CDS
%S%S%S%S
Badajoz 56.32125.198.735.92
Cáceres 50.91829.3104.815.51
Total54.23926.8197.145.73
Sources [12] [17] [18]

Aftermath

Investiture
Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra (PSOE)
Ballot →2 July 1991
Required majority →33 out of 65 Yes check.svg
Yes
39 / 65
No
  • PP (19)
  • IU (4)
23 / 65
Abstentions
0 / 65
Absentees
3 / 65
Sources [12]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Results for AP (24.2%, 17 seats), PDP (0.9%, 0 seats) and PL (0.4%, 0 seats) in the 1987 election.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Within PP.

References

Opinion poll sources
  1. 1 2 3 "Seis comunidades dependen de pactos". ABC (in Spanish). 20 May 1991.
  2. 1 2 3 "Las elecciones de 26-5-91". CEPC (in Spanish). August 1991.
  3. "Rodríguez Ibarra arrasa". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.
  4. "Ficha técnica". El País (in Spanish). 19 May 1991.
  5. 1 2 "Preelectoral municipales y autonómicas de Extremadura 1991 (III) (Estudio nº 1951. Marzo 1991)". CIS (in Spanish). 25 March 1991.
  6. 1 2 "Preelectoral municipales y autonómicas de Extremadura 1991 (II) (Estudio nº 1925. Febrero 1991)". CIS (in Spanish). 17 February 1991.
  7. "Estudio CIS nº 1925. Ficha técnica". CIS (in Spanish). 17 February 1991.
  8. "Barómetro de la comunidad autónoma de Extremadura (VIII) (Estudio nº 1909. Diciembre 1990)". CIS (in Spanish). 29 December 1990.
  9. "Estudio CIS nº 1909. Ficha técnica". CIS (in Spanish). 29 December 1990.
  10. "Barómetro de la comunidad autónoma de Extremadura (VII) (Estudio nº 1872. Mayo-Junio 1990)". CIS (in Spanish). 2 June 1990.
  11. "Estudio CIS nº 1872. Ficha técnica". CIS (in Spanish). 2 June 1990.
  12. "Barómetro de la comunidad autónoma de Extremadura (VI) (Estudio nº 1820. Julio 1989)". CIS (in Spanish). 29 July 1989.
  13. "Estudio CIS nº 1820. Ficha técnica". CIS (in Spanish). 29 July 1989.
  14. "Barómetro de la comunidad autónoma de Extremadura (V) (Estudio nº 1775. Diciembre 1988)". CIS (in Spanish). 28 December 1988.
  15. "Estudio CIS nº 1775. Ficha técnica". CIS (in Spanish). 28 December 1988.
Other
  1. Statute (1983) , art. 19.
  2. 1 2 3 Statute (1983) , art. 22.
  3. LEEx (1987) , art. 2.
  4. LOREG (1985) , arts. 2–3.
  5. LEEx (1987) , arts. 17–19.
  6. 1 2 Decreto del Presidente 7/1991, de 1 de abril, por el que se convocan Elecciones a la Asamblea de Extremadura (PDF) (Decree 7/1991). Official Journal of Extremadura (in Spanish). 1 April 1991. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
  7. LEEx (1987) , arts. 19 & 26.
  8. LOREG (1985) , arts. 46 & 48.
  9. 1 2 LEEx (1987) , arts. 22–23.
  10. LOREG (1985) , art. 42.
  11. Statute (1983) , art. 34.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones a la Asamblea de Extremadura (desde 1983)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  13. "Grupos Parlamentarios II Legislatura" (in Spanish). Assembly of Extremadura . Retrieved 31 December 2025.
  14. LEEx (1987) , arts. 25–26.
  15. LOREG (1985) , art. 44.
  16. Jara, Pedro (11 April 1988). "El presidente de la Junta de Extremadura asume el liderazgo del PSOE regional". El País (in Spanish). Cáceres. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
  17. 1 2 "Resolución de 6 de junio de 1991, haciendo públicos los resultados del Escrutinio general y proclamación de Diputados Electos resultantes de las Elecciones a la Asamblea de Extremadura, celebradas el día 26 de mayo de 1991" (PDF). Official Journal of Extremadura (in Spanish) (45): 1292–1294. 13 June 1991. ISSN   2483-5188 . Retrieved 21 December 2025.
  18. 1 2 "Nº 152. Informe-declaración de las elecciones a la Asamblea de Extremadura de 26 de mayo de 1991" (PDF). Court of Auditors (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 December 2025.

Bibliography