1980 Basque regional election

The 1980 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 9 March 1980, to elect the 1st Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 60 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

1980 Basque regional election
9 March 1980
All 60 seats in the Basque Parliament
31 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered1,554,527
Turnout929,051 (59.8%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Carlos Garaikoetxea Francisco Letamendia Txiki Benegas
Party EAJ/PNV HB PSOE
Leader since April 1977 27 January 1980 26 February 1978
Leader's seat Guipúzcoa Biscay Guipúzcoa
Seats won 25 11 9
Popular vote 349,102 151,636 130,221
Percentage 38.0% 16.5% 14.2%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Juan María Bandrés Jesús María Viana Florencio Aróstegui
Party EE UCD AP
Leader since 1979 1978 1980
Leader's seat Guipúzcoa Álava Biscay
Seats won 6 6 2
Popular vote 89,953 78,095 43,751
Percentage 9.8% 8.5% 4.8%
Constituency results map for the Basque Parliament
Lehendakari before election

Carlos Garaikoetxea
EAJ/PNV

 Elected Lehendakari

Carlos Garaikoetxea
EAJ/PNV

The Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) won 25 seats, People's Unity (HB) came second with 11 seats, the Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE) came third with 9 seats. The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) and Basque Country Left (EE) won 6 seats each.

Overview

Electoral system

The Basque Parliament was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of the Basque Country, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the regional Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a lehendakari.[1]

Transitory Provision First of the Statute established a specific electoral procedure for the first election to the Basque Parliament, to be supplemented by the provisions within Royal Decree-Law 20/1977, of 18 March, and its related regulations. Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Basque Country and in full enjoyment of their political rights. The 60 members of the Basque Parliament 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 Álava, Biscay and Guipúzcoa, being allocated a fixed number of 20 seats each to provide for an equal representation of the three provinces in parliament as required under the regional statute of autonomy.[1][2] This meant that Álava was allocated the same number of seats as Biscay and Gipuzkoa, despite their populations being, as of 1 January 1980: 251,850, 1,179,666 and 690,009, respectively.[3]

The use of the D'Hondt method might result in a higher effective threshold, depending on the district magnitude.[4]

Election date

The Basque General Council was required to call an election to the Basque Parliament within sixty days from the enactment of the Statute, with election day taking place within four months after the call.[1] As a result, an election could not be held later than the 180th day from the date of enactment of the Statute of Autonomy. The Statute was published in the Official State Gazette on 22 December 1979, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Tuesday, 20 May 1980.[5][6] In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a lehendakari within a sixty-day period from the Parliament re-assembly, the Parliament was to be dissolved and a snap election called.[1]

Initially, 24 February or 2 March 1980 were considered as the most likely dates for the election to be held, but on 22 December 1979 it was announced that it would be called for 9 March.[7][8][9]

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 fifteen days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one-thousandth of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election—with a compulsory minimum of 500 signatures—disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.[2]

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

Candidacy Parties and
alliances		 Leading candidate Ideology Gov. Ref.
EAJ/PNV
List
 Carlos Garaikoetxea Basque nationalism
Christian democracy
Conservative liberalism		 checkY
PSE–PSOE
List
 Txiki Benegas Social democracy checkY
UCD
List
 Jesús María Viana Christian democracy
Social democracy
Liberalism		 checkY
HB
List
 Francisco Letamendia Basque independence
Abertzale left
Revolutionary socialism		 ☒N
EE
List
 Juan María Bandrés Basque nationalism
Socialism		 checkY
AP
List
 Florencio Aróstegui Conservatism
National conservatism		 ☒N

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; 31 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Basque Parliament.

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Victory likelihood

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

Preferred Lehendakari

The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become lehendakari.

Predicted Lehendakari

The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood for each leader to become lehendakari.

Results

Overall
Summary of the 9 March 1980 Basque Parliament election results →
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes  % ±pp Total +/−
Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) 349,10237.95n/a 25n/a
Popular Unity (HB) 151,63616.48n/a 11n/a
Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE–PSOE) 130,22114.16n/a 9n/a
Basque Country Left (EE) 89,9539.78n/a 6n/a
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 78,0958.49n/a 6n/a
People's Alliance (AP) 43,7514.76n/a 2n/a
Communist Party of the Basque Country (PCE/EPK) 36,8454.01n/a 1n/a
Communist Movement of the Basque Country (EMK/MCE) 10,9591.19n/a 0n/a
Socialists' Unification of the Basque Country (ESEI) 6,2800.68n/a 0n/a
Revolutionary Communist League (LKI/LCR) 5,1820.56n/a 0n/a
Workers' Party of the Basque Country (ORT–PTE) 3,4480.37n/a 0n/a
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (historical) (PSOEh) 2,7600.30n/a 0n/a
Carlist Party (EKA/PC) 2,4340.26n/a 0n/a
Workers' Socialist Party (PST) 2,0990.23n/a 0n/a
Communist Unity (UC) 2,0440.22n/a 0n/a
Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) 1,4660.16n/a 0n/a
Blank ballots 3,5700.39n/a
Total 919,845 60n/a
Valid votes 919,84599.01n/a
Invalid votes 9,2060.99n/a
Votes cast / turnout 929,05159.76n/a
Abstentions 625,47640.24n/a
Registered voters 1,554,527
Sources[10][11]
Popular vote
EAJ/PNV
 
 37.95%
HB
 
 16.48%
PSE–PSOE
 
 14.16%
EE
 
 9.78%
UCD
 
 8.49%
AP
 
 4.76%
PCE/EPK
 
 4.01%
EMK/MCE
 
 1.19%
Others
 
 2.80%
Blank ballots
 
 0.39%
Seats
EAJ/PNV
 
 41.67%
HB
 
 18.33%
PSE–PSOE
 
 15.00%
EE
 
 10.00%
UCD
 
 10.00%
AP
 
 3.33%
PCE/EPK
 
 1.67%

Distribution by constituency
Constituency PNV HB PSE EE UCD AP PCE/EPK
 % S  % S  % S  % S  % S  % S  % S
Álava 30.1 7 14.1 3 14.0 3 9.2 2 19.7 4 5.7 1 3.0 –
Biscay 40.0 9 16.4 4 14.4 3 7.8 1 6.8 1 5.8 1 4.8 1
Guipúzcoa 37.3 9 17.6 4 13.8 3 13.5 3 7.6 1 2.7 – 3.0 –
Total 38.0 25 16.5 11 14.2 9 9.8 6 8.5 6 4.8 2 4.0 1
Sources[10][11]

References
Opinion poll sources
  1. "Los partidos nacionalistas conseguirán treinta y dos escaños". ABC (in Spanish). 27 February 1980.
  2. "Electoralismo y los problemas de cada día". El Diario Vasco (in Spanish). 27 February 1980.
  3. "Ningún partido conseguirá la mayoría absoluta en las elecciones vascas". ABC (in Spanish). 26 February 1980.
  4. "Según los últimos sondeos ningún partido conseguirá la mayoría absoluta en las elecciones vascas". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 26 February 1980.
  5. "El PNV será mayoría minoritaria en el Parlamento Vasco" (PDF). Diario 16 (in Spanish). 30 January 1980.
  6. "Elecciones al Parlamento Vasco (Estudio nº 1.219. Febrero 1980)" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 28 February 1980.
Other
  1. "Ley Orgánica 3/1979, de 18 de diciembre, de Estatuto de Autonomía para el País Vasco". Organic Law No. 3 of 18 December 1979 (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  2. "Real Decreto-ley 20/1977, de 18 de marzo, sobre Normas Electorales". Royal Decree-Law No. 20 of 18 March 1977 (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  3. "Principales series desde 1971. Resultados por Provincias. Población residente por fecha, sexo y edad". ine.es (in Spanish). National Institute of Statistics. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  4. Gallagher, Michael (30 July 2012). "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  5. Unzueta, Patxo (15 December 1979). "No habrá elecciones al Parlamento vasco hasta marzo". El País (in Spanish). Bilbao. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  6. "El Rey sancionó los estatutos de Cataluña y el País Vasco". El País (in Spanish). 21 December 1979. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  7. Angulo, Javier (20 December 1979). "El Consejo General Vasco estudia la fecha de las elecciones al Parlamento". El País (in Spanish). Bilbao. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  8. Angulo, Javier (22 December 1979). "El CGV propone el 9 de marzo como fecha para las elecciones al Parlamento". El País (in Spanish). Bilbao. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  9. Angulo, Javier (12 January 1980). "Convocadas oficialmente las elecciones al Parlamento vasco". El País (in Spanish). Bilbao. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  10. "Elecciones al Parlamento Vasco / Eusko Legebilitzarra (1980 - 2020)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  11. "Election Results Archive". euskadi.eus (in Spanish). Basque Government. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
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