1983 Canarian regional election

1983 Canarian regional election
8 May 1983
All 60 seats in the Parliament of the Canary Islands
31 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered925,572
Turnout577,670 (62.4%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Jerónimo Saavedra Francisco Marcos Hernández Lorenzo Olarte
Party PSOE AP–PDP–PL CDS
Leader since 1977 1983 1983
Leader's seat Gran Canaria Tenerife Gran Canaria
Seats won 27 17 6
Popular vote 233,991 163,419 40,789
Percentage 41.5% 29.0% 7.2%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Miguel Cabrera Cabrera Gonzalo Angulo González Esteban Bethencourt Gámez
Party AM UPC–AC AGI
Leader since 1983 1983 1983
Leader's seat Fuerteventura Gran Canaria La Gomera
Seats won 3 2 2
Popular vote 5,551 46,784 3,294
Percentage 1.0% 8.3% 0.6%
Constituency results map for the Parliament of the Canary Islands
President before election

Jerónimo Saavedra
PSOE

 President after election

Jerónimo Saavedra
PSOE

A regional election was held in the Canary Islands on 8 May 1983 to elect the 1st Parliament of the autonomous community. All 60 seats in the Parliament were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.

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), the 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.[1] The People's Coalition, an electoral alliance 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. The centre and centre-right vote became further split between several small parties and splits from the UCD, such as the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) of former Spanish prime minister Adolfo Suárez, which entered Parliament with 6 seats; the Gomera Group of Independents (AGI), with 2 seats; or the Canarian Nationalist Convergence (CNC) and the Independent Herrenian Group (AHI) with 1 seat each.

The election resulted in the most fragmented regional assembly of those elected on 8 May, with nine parties represented in the Parliament.[2][3] The PSOE candidate Jerónimo Saavedra, who had been elected as provisional president in December 1982,[4] was able to get re-elected with the support of AM, AGI and AHI,[5][6] though the party did not commit itself to a global agreement with any other political force.[7]

Overview

Under the 1982 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of the Canary Islands was the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a regional president.[8] The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions (which were those used in the 1977 general election).[9]

Date

The Government of Spain, in coordination with the Regional Government of the Canary Islands, was required to call an election to the Parliament of the Canary Islands within from 1 February to 31 May 1983.[10]

The Parliament of the Canary Islands could not be dissolved before the expiration date 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 Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called, with elected lawmakers serving the remainder of its original four-year term.[11]

On 7 March 1983, it was confirmed that the first Parliament election would be held on 8 May, together with regional elections for twelve other autonomous communities as well as the regularly scheduled nationwide local elections.[12][13][14] The election to the Parliament of the Canary Islands was officially called on 10 March 1983 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the Official Journal of Extremadura, setting election day for 8 May.[15]

Electoral system

Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Canary Islands and with full political rights.[16]

The Parliament of the Canary Islands had 60 seats in its first election. All were elected in seven multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the islands of El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, La Palma, Lanzarote and Tenerife, each of which was assigned a fixed number of seats—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a 20 percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency or three percent regionally.[17] As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats:[18]

Seats Constituencies
15 Gran Canaria, Tenerife
8 La Palma, Lanzarote
7 Fuerteventura
4 La Gomera
3 El Hierro

The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes.[19]

Provisional parliament

The regional Statute established a provisional assembly—to remain in place until an election to the actual Cortes of Aragon could be held—which was to be made up of 60 members designated by political parties in proportion to the result of the preceding Spanish general election (distributed by applying regional election rules to island results).[20] As a result, the composition of the Provisional Parliament of the Canary Islands, upon its constitution in December 1982, was as indicated below:[21]

Groups Parties Legislators
Seats Total
Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 24 24
People's Parliamentary Group AP–PDP 16 16
Centrist Parliamentary Group INDEP 14 14
Mixed Group CDS 3 6
UPC 2
CC 1

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 Parliament of the Canary Islands.

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Results

Overall

Summary of the 8 May 1983 Parliament of the Canary Islands election results →
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Total +/−
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 233,99141.50n/a 27n/a
People's Coalition (AP–PDP–UL) 163,41928.98n/a 17n/a
Canarian People's Union–Canarian Assembly (UPC–AC) 46,7848.30n/a 2n/a
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 40,7897.23n/a 6n/a
Communist Party of the Canaries (PCC–PCE) 24,8684.41n/a 1n/a
Canarian Nationalist Convergence (CNC) 24,3764.32n/a 1n/a
Party of the Canarian Country (PPC) 7,6761.36n/a 0n/a
Majorera Assembly (AM) 5,5510.98n/a 3n/a
Workers' Socialist Party (PST) 3,9090.69n/a 0n/a
Gomera Group of Independents (AGI) 3,2940.58n/a 2n/a
Lanzarote Independents Group (AIL) 2,7180.48n/a 0n/a
Seven Green Stars (SEV) 2,7090.48n/a 0n/a
Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) 1,7840.32n/a 0n/a
Popular Struggle Coalition (CLP) 1,0100.18n/a 0n/a
Independent Herrenian Group (AHI) 9440.17n/a 1n/a
Blank ballots 00.00n/a
Total 563,822 60n/a
Valid votes 563,82297.60n/a
Invalid votes 13,8482.40n/a
Votes cast / turnout 577,67062.41n/a
Abstentions 347,90237.59n/a
Registered voters 925,572
Sources[22][23]
Popular vote
PSOE
 
 41.50%
AP–PDP–UL
 
 28.98%
UPC–AC
 
 8.30%
CDS
 
 7.23%
PCC–PCE
 
 4.41%
CNC
 
 4.32%
PPC
 
 1.36%
AM
 
 0.98%
AGI
 
 0.58%
AHI
 
 0.17%
Others
 
 2.15%
Blank ballots
 
 0.00%
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%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency PSOE CP UPC–AC CDS PCC–PCE CNC AM AGI AHI
% S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S % S
El Hierro 28.5 1 29.9 1 14.0 − 27.6 1
Fuerteventura 13.8 1 18.4 1 22.8 2 45.0 3
Gran Canaria 39.0 7 28.3 5 9.5 1 5.3 1 4.5 − 9.1 1
La Gomera 39.2 2 15.2 − 7.3 − 38.3 2
La Palma 32.0 3 37.4 3 15.8 1 14.8 1
Lanzarote 47.4 5 18.2 2 12.0 1 4.7 − 4.3 −
Tenerife 47.1 8 30.5 5 9.9 1 7.3 1 2.7 −
Total 41.5 27 29.0 17 8.3 2 7.2 6 4.4 1 4.3 1 1.0 3 0.6 2 0.2 1
Sources[22][23]

Aftermath

Government formation

Investiture
Nomination of Jerónimo Saavedra (PSOE)
Ballot → 7 June 1983
Required majority → 31 out of 60 check
Yes
  • • PSOE (27)
  • • AM (3)
  • • AGI (2)
  • • AHI (1)
33 / 60
No
22 / 60
Abstentions
2 / 60
Absentees
3 / 60
Sources[5][22]

1985 investiture

Investiture
Nomination of Jerónimo Saavedra (PSOE)
Ballot → 16 July 1985
Required majority → 31 out of 60 check
Yes
32 / 60
No
24 / 60
Abstentions
  • • AGI (1)
  • • AHI (1)
2 / 60
Absentees
  • • AP–PDP–UL (1)
  • • AGI (1)
2 / 60
Sources[22][24]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Within UPC.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Results for CD (1979) and AP–PDP (1982).
  3. 1 2 Within AC.

References

Opinion poll sources
  1. ↑ "Holgada mayoría socialista en el Parlamento autonómico". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.
  2. ↑ "Ficha técnica de los sondeos". El País (in Spanish). 1 May 1983.
  3. ↑ "Preelectoral municipales y autonómicas 1983 (VII). Canarias (Estudio nº 1352. Abril 1983)" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 9 April 1983.
Other
  1. ↑ Martín, Carmelo (10 May 1983). "Nueve fuerzas en el Parlamento autónomo". El País (in Spanish). Tenerife. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  2. ↑ "El PSOE domina 12 de las 17 comunidades autónomas". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. 9 May 1983. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  3. ↑ "Los socialistas deberán pactar en cinco comunidades atonómas para gobernar". El País (in Spanish). 10 May 1983. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  4. ↑ Martín, Carmelo (30 December 1982). "El socialista Jerónimo Saavedra, elegido presidente del Gobierno canario". El País (in Spanish). Tenerife. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  5. 1 2 Martín, Carmelo (8 June 1983). "Jerónimo Saavedra, elegido presidente del Gobierno canario". El País (in Spanish). Tenerife. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  6. ↑ Talavera, Diego (12 June 1983). "Jerónimo Saavedra asumió la presidencia del Gobierno canario". El País (in Spanish). Las Palmas. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  7. ↑ Martín, Carmelo (17 May 1983). "El PSOE de Canarias descarta un pacto global con otros grupos". El País (in Spanish). Tenerife. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  8. ↑ Statute (1982), arts. 8, 12 & 16.
  9. ↑ Statute (1982), trans. prov. 1; Royal Decree 453/1983 (1983), art. 3.
  10. ↑ Statute (1982), trans. prov. 1.
  11. ↑ Statute (1982), art. 16.
  12. ↑ "Se confirma el 8 de mayo como la fecha de las elecciones locales". El País (in Spanish). 8 March 1983. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  13. ↑ "Hoy se hará oficial la convocatoria de elecciones locales para el 8 de mayo". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. 9 March 1983. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  14. ↑ "Convocadas las elecciones locales y autonómicas para el domingo 8 de mayo". El País (in Spanish). 10 March 1983. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  15. ↑ Royal Decree 453/1983 (1983), art. 1.
  16. ↑ Statute (1982), arts. 8–9 (suppl. by Royal Decree-Law 20/1977 (1977), art. 2).
  17. ↑ Statute (1982), art. 8 & trans. prov. 1.
  18. ↑ Statute (1982), trans. prov. 1; Royal Decree 453/1983 (1983), art. 2.
  19. ↑ Royal Decree-Law 20/1977 (1977), art. 20.
  20. ↑ Statute (1982), trans. prov. 8.
  21. ↑ Martín, Carmelo (20 December 1982). "Posible control socialista del gobierno autónomo de Canarias". El País (in Spanish). Tenerife. Retrieved 30 April 2026.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones al Parlamento de Canarias (desde 1983)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  23. 1 2 Government of the Canary Islands 1987, pp. 205–234.
  24. ↑ Martín, Carmelo (17 July 1985). "Jerónimo Saavedra, elegido por tercera vez consecutiva presidente del Ejecutivo canario". El País (in Spanish). Tenerife. Retrieved 30 June 2026.

Bibliography

Legislation

Other

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