1983 Castilian-Manchegan regional election

8 May 1983 1987 →
All 44 seats in the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha 23 seats needed for a majority
Registered	1,230,011
Turnout	901,872 (73.3%)
First party Second party   Leader José Bono José Lara Party PSOE AP–PDP–PL Leader since 25 March 1983 1983 Leader's seat Albacete Toledo Seats won 23 21 Popular vote 416,177 364,676 Percentage 46.7% 40.9%
Constituency results map for the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha
President before election Jesús Fuentes Lázaro PSOE Elected President José Bono PSOE

The 1983 Castilian-Manchegan regional election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st Cortes of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. All 44 seats in the Cortes were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

Only two political parties were able to secure parliamentary representation in the Cortes: the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) under José Bono, which obtained 23 out of 44 seats—an absolute majority—and the People's Coalition, an electoral alliance formed by the conservative People's Alliance (AP), the christian democratic People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL). ^[1] As a result of the election, José Bono became the first democratically elected President of the Junta of Communities of Castilla–La Mancha. ^[2]

Overview

Electoral system

The Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha were the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Castilian-Manchegan Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president. ^[3]

Transitory Provision First of the Statute established a specific electoral procedure for the first election to the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha, to be supplemented by the provisions within Royal Decree-Law 20/1977, of 18 March, and its related regulations. Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Castilla–La Mancha and in full enjoyment of their political rights. The 44 members of the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha 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 regionally. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, with each being allocated a fixed number of seats: 9 for Albacete, 10 for Ciudad Real, 8 for Cuenca, 7 for Guadalajara and 10 for Toledo. ^{[3] [4]}

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. ^[4]

Election date

The Junta of Communities of Castilla–La Mancha, in agreement with the Government of Spain, was required to call an election to the Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha within from 1 February to 31 May 1983. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the candidate from the party with the highest number of seats was to be deemed automatically elected. ^[3]

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 preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size								?	N	Lead
1983 regional election	8 May 1983	—	–	33.8	5.0	29.6	–	2.2	1.3	—	26.7	4.2
Alef–DYM–Emopública/CIS [p 1]	20–24 Apr 1983	1,994	–	25.5	2.1	14.4	–	1.2	0.2	49.2	6.3	11.1
CISE–Metra Seis–ECO/CIS [p 2]	5–11 Apr 1983	698	–	34.2	2.2	15.7	–	1.7	–	35.4	10.2	18.5
1982 general election	28 Oct 1982	—	8.9	40.6	3.1	25.8 [a]	1.2	1.7	–	—	15.9	14.8
1979 general election	1 Mar 1979	—	31.0	24.9	7.0	4.1	3.1	–	–	—	27.2	6.1

Results

Overall

Summary of the 8 May 1983 Cortes of Castilla–La Mancha election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	± pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	416,177	46.70	n/a	23	n/a
	People's Coalition ( AP– PDP– UL)	364,676	40.92	n/a	21	n/a
	Communist Party of Spain (PCE)	61,132	6.86	n/a	0	n/a
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	26,911	3.02	n/a	0	n/a
	Liberal Democratic Party (PDL)	15,890	1.78	n/a	0	n/a
	Spanish Communist Workers' Party– Unified Communist Party (PCOE–PCEU)	579	0.06	n/a	0	n/a
Blank ballots		5,823	0.65	n/a
Total		891,188			44	n/a
Valid votes		891,188	98.82	n/a
Invalid votes		10,684	1.18	n/a
Votes cast / turnout		901,872	73.32	n/a
Abstentions		328,139	26.68	n/a
Registered voters		1,230,011
Sources [5] [6] [7]

Distribution by constituency

Aftermath

Investiture José Bono ( PSOE)
Ballot →		6 June 1983
Required majority →		23 out of 44 Y
	Yes • PSOE (23)	23 / 44
	No • AP– PDP– UL (18)	18 / 44
	Abstentions	0 / 44
	Absentees • AP– PDP– UL (3)	3 / 44
Sources [2] [7]

Notes

References

Opinion poll sources

Other