Spanish general election, 2008
Encyclopedia
Legislative elections for the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 Cortes Generales
Cortes Generales
The Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...

 were held on March 9, 2008. The elections were for 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, and the 208 directly elected seats in the upper house, the Senate
Spanish Senate
The Senate of Spain is the upper house of Spain's parliament, the . It is made up of 264 members: 208 elected by popular vote, and 56 appointed by the regional legislatures. All senators serve four-year terms, though regional legislatures may recall their appointees at any time.The last election...

, determining the Prime Minister of Spain
Prime Minister of Spain
The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...

. The elections are commonly referred to as 9-M in the Spanish media.

Much like the previous election, this election returned a hung parliament
Hung parliament
In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...

 with governing Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

 (PSOE) being the largest party, but short of seven seats for an overall mayority. PSOE led by current Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...

 declared victory on March 9, and the opposition People's Party conceded defeat. Zapatero was reelected in the investiture vote in the Congress, with the abstention vote
Abstention
Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrasted with "blank vote", in which a voter casts a ballot willfully made invalid by...

 of minor parties, then, he formed a minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...

.

Candidates and coalitions

By tradition, the first candidate on each Madrid
Madrid (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Madrid is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It has the largest electorate of all the 52 districts. Madrid is the largest city...

 party list for the Congress of Deputies is the Prime Ministerial candidate for that party. nationalist parties who did not expect to win enough seats to be contenders for the office of Prime Minister typically designated one of their list leaders as their main candidate. Those candidates were generally featured more prominently in the Spanish national media than other list leaders or candidates. Regional, provincial and local media nearly always covers the activities of the Prime Ministerial candidates, together with the leading candidates in their area.

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

As in 2004, the governing Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

 (PSOE) was led by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...

. Mr Zapatero was the only PSOE candidate who sought the nomination and he was therefore proclaimed candidate on November 25, 2007 at a rally in Fuenlabrada
Fuenlabrada
Fuenlabrada is a city and municipality located in the Madrid Metropolitan Area, Community of Madrid, Spain. It is located to the southwest of the community, 22,5 km far from the capital, and had a population of 197,836 in 2009. Is the fourth biggest town of Madrid after the capital, Móstoles...

, Madrid. The PSOE ran in all Spanish constituencies. In Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, the Socialists' Party of Catalonia
Socialists' Party of Catalonia
The Socialists' Party of Catalonia is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain resulting from the merge of two parties PSC Reagrupament led by Josep Pallach i Carolà and PSC Comgres. It is the Catalan referent of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , and its Aranese section is...

 (PSC) operated as part of the PSOE's ticket.

The current Deputy Prime Minister
First Vice President of the Government (Spain)
The First Vice President of the Government of Spain , usually known in English as the First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain, is the second in command to the Prime Minister of Spain, filling in for him when he is absent or incapable of exercising his power. The person for the post is usually...

 María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz, LLD is a Spanish Valencian Socialist politician. From 18 April 2004 to 20 October 2010, she was the First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Presidency and Cabinet Spokesperson in the government of Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero...

 led the party's list in the province of Valencia
Valencia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Valencia is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies—the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is the third largest district in Congress in terms of the numbers of deputies elected, as it elects sixteen deputies out of the total...

. After the election, she continued as Deputy Prime Minister.

José Bono Martínez
José Bono Martínez
José Bono Martínez is a Spanish politician, born in Salobre, Albacete. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , he is the President of the Congress of Deputies. Before that, he was the Minister of Defence of Spain from April 18, 2004, in the Government chaired by José Luis Rodríguez...

, former Minister of Defence and President of Castile-La Mancha
President of Castile-La Mancha
The President of the Junta of Communities of Castile-La Mancha , usually known in English as the President of Castile-La Mancha, is the head of government of Castile-La Mancha. The president leads the executive branch of the regional government....

 for 21 years, led the list in Toledo
Toledo (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Toledo is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the five electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castilla La Mancha...

. After the election, he was elected President (i.e., Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...

) of the Congress of Deputies.

After some discussion due to the need for ensuring the future support of the Prime Minister for his economic policy and his intentions to retire, the current Second Deputy Prime Minister
Second Vice President (Spain)
- List of Second Vice Presidents of Spain :*Constituent Legislature **: Enrique Fuentes Quintana** : Fernando Abril Martorell*1st Legislature **: Fernando Abril Martorell...

 and Minister of Economy and Finance, Pedro Solbes
Pedro Solbes
Pedro Solbes Mira is a Spanish economist. While independent in the sense of not affiliated to any party, his various ministerial roles in Spain have always been within Socialist Workers' Party cabinets...

, was second on the Madrid list. He continued as Minister of Economy after the election.

Other prominent politicians who led provincial lists for the Socialist Party included the current Minister of Culture
Minister of Culture (Spain)
The Ministry of Culture of Spain is the departament of Spanish government responsible for culture. The current minister is Ángeles González Sinde, who succeeded César Antonio Molina in 2009.- Organization :* Ministry of Culture** Subsecretary of Culture...

, César Antonio Molina, in A Coruña
A Coruña (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
A Coruña is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is located in the Community of Galicia. A Coruña is the largest municipality and the only municipality with more than 100,000 voters...

, the current Home Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba is a Spanish politician and a leading figure in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He served in the government of Spain as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993 and as Minister of the Interior from 2006 to 2011; in addition, he was First Deputy Prime Minister from...

, in Cádiz
Cádiz (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Cádiz is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election...

, the Minister of Public Works
Minister of Public Works (Spain)
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport is the government ministry in Spain responsible for preparation and implementation of government policy on land transport infrastructure, air and maritime jurisdiction of state and control, management and regulation of administrative services transport,...

, Magdalena Álvarez
Magdalena Álvarez
Magdalena Álvarez Arza Is Spanish Politician, who from 2004 to 2009 served as Minister of Public Works . She was born in San Fernando, in the Province of Cádiz, on 15 February 1952. She is an MP for the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party for Málaga Province...

, in Málaga
Málaga (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Málaga is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election...

, the former Minister of Housing (and now Minister of Defence) Carme Chacón
Carme Chacón
Carme Chacón Piqueras is a Spanish politician who is currently serving as Minister of Defence in the cabinet led by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. She is married and gave birth to her first child, a son named Miquel on 19 May 2008....

, in Barcelona
Barcelona (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Barcelona is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. When first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election, Barcelona was the largest electoral district in Congress in terms of...

 and the former Home Minister and current Socialist Parliamentary Group spokesman, José Antonio Alonso, in León
León (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
León is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Congress of Deputies, the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election...

.

There were relatively few disputes about the composition of the election lists, except for minor problems on the Balearic Island of Formentera
Formentera
Formentera is the smaller and more southerly island of the Pine Islands group , which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community .-Geography:...

 and in the capital. In Madrid the selection of the remaining candidates on the list after the socialist leadership (Prime Minister Zapatero, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Solbes, and the electoral coordinator Jesús Caldera
Jesús Caldera
Jesús Caldera Sánchez-Capitán is a Spanish socialist politician. He holds degrees in political science and sociology from the Complutense University of Madrid and a law degree from UNED.He was Minister of Labor during the VIII legislature of the Spanish government.- Biography :Born in Béjar in...

) was unclear, since the regional socialist federation had recently changed their leadership. Besides this, Unión General de Trabajadores
Unión General de Trabajadores
The Unión General de Trabajadores is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party .-History:...

 (UGT), an old federated socialist union, suggested presenting joint lists. The final decision by the PSOE leadership to include a deputy linked to UGT, Manuel de la Rocha, ended the discussion.

People's Party

The People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...

 (PP) was led by Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy Brey is a Spanish People's Party politician and is the Prime Minister-elect since 20 November 2011. He will be sworn into office in mid-December 2011....

, former Deputy Prime Minister
First Vice President of the Government (Spain)
The First Vice President of the Government of Spain , usually known in English as the First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain, is the second in command to the Prime Minister of Spain, filling in for him when he is absent or incapable of exercising his power. The person for the post is usually...

 and successor to the former Prime Minister José María Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...

. He was nominated as candidate by the National Board of Directors of the party on September 10, 2007. PP ran in all the constituencies with its sister party the Navarrese People's Union
Navarrese People's Union
The Navarrese People's Union , abbreviated to UPN, is a regional conservative political party in Navarre, Spain. Until 2008, it was a fraternal party of the People's Party , acting as the latter's Navarrese branch....

 (UPN) acting as part of the PP ticket in Navarre
Navarra (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Navarra is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

.

Rajoy chose Manuel Pizarro as his candidate for Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance. Pizarro is the former chairman of Endesa
Endesa (Spain)
Endesa, S.A. is the largest electric utility company in Spain. The firm, a majority-owned subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, has 10 million customers in Spain, with domestic annual generation of over 97,600 GWh from nuclear, fossil-fueled, hydroelectric, and renewable resource power...

, where he was noted for his criticism of the economic policies of Zapatero's Government.

The People's Party suggested reducing taxes and raising the minimum threshold for Income Tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...

.

Some controversy took place when the Mayor of Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón
Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón
Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Jiménez is a Spanish politician and mayor of Madrid. A stalwart of the conservative People's Party , he has previously been a leading figure in various local and national legislative bodies.-Personal life:...

, sought a place on the Madrid list for the Congress, something which increased his rivalry with fellow Madrid PP rank Esperanza Aguirre
Esperanza Aguirre
Esperanza Aguirre y Gil de Biedma, Countess of Murillo, Grandee of Spain, DBE is a Spanish politician and the current President of Madrid...

 (president of the Community of Madrid and leader of the party in this Autonomous Community). The subsequent People's Party leadership's refusal was considered by the press as a victory for Aguirre, preventing him from taking advantage in the succession of Rajoy in the eventuality of an electoral defeat. Several left leaning media and political parties referred to this as a victory of the most radical, reactionary, sectors close to Aguirre over the so-called moderate way represented by Gallardón. Sources close to the People's Party denied such interpretations. Some newspapers even speculated about the possibiliy of internal conflicts between the supporters of each politician. However, the appearance of both politicians at electoral events together stopped or at least reduced criticism.

With the People's Party defeat, there was some speculation over Rajoy's eventual resigning for future electoral contests. Then, at a meeting of his party's Executive Committee on 11 March, Rajoy dispelled doubts about his future by stating that he would stand again as party leader at a party congress in June.

United Left

United Left
United Left (Spain)
The United Left is a political coalition that was organized in 1986 bringing together several political organisations opposed to Spain joining NATO. It was formed by a number of groups of leftists, greens, left-wing socialists and republicans, but was dominated by the Communist Party of Spain...

 (IU) is a coalition of several leftist movements. During the previous legislature, there had been internal fighting between the main component of the coalition, the Communist Party (PCE) and the faction headed by Llamazares. This led to a primary election between October and November 2007. This internal election was contested by Gaspar Llamazares
Gaspar Llamazares
Gaspar Llamazares Trigo is a Spanish politician. He was the leader of the leftist coalition Izquierda Unida from 2001 to 2008, in the post of General Coordinator. He is a member of Communist Party of Spain ....

, the then General Coordinator of United Left and Margarita Sanz, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Valencian Country
Communist Party of the Valencian Country
Communist Party of the Valencian Country , is a Spanish communist political party, acting as the federation of the Communist Party of Spain in the Valencian Community...

 - the Valencian federation of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE). On November 14, Llamazares was declared the winner beating his contender by a wide margin. After that, three members of the Communist Party, who were most critical, including the former leader of it, Felipe Alcaraz
Felipe Alcaraz
Felipe Alcaraz is a Spanish politician. He is the current Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Spain....

, were expelled from the Directive Committee.

IU ran in all constituencies; in many of them, they ran in coalition with other parties. In Catalonia, IU ran with Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds
Initiative for Catalonia Greens
Initiative for Catalonia Greens is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya and was the equivalent of Izquierda Unida in Catalonia...

. Felipe Alcaraz, executive chairman of PCE, announced his intention not to seek nomination for Seville
Sevilla (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Seville is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is the fourth largest district in terms of electorate...

, another of the traditional PCE/IU seats and district where he had been deputy from 1993 to 2004, in the Andalusian Council of IU, after losing the provincial assembly, he was substituted by the former mayor of Carmona
Carmona
Carmona may be:Places* Carmona, a town in Seville, Spain.* Carmona, Cavite, a municipality in the Philippines* Carmona, Goa* Carmona, Costa Rica, a city in Guanacaste province.* The former name of the Angolan town of Uíge.People...

 Sebastián Martín Recio who failed to gain a seat.

The Assembly of EUPV (IU's federation in the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...

) elected Antonio Montalbán as its leading candidate for Valencia
Valencia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Valencia is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies—the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is the third largest district in Congress in terms of the numbers of deputies elected, as it elects sixteen deputies out of the total...

, one of the traditional districts where IU or PCE have obtained deputies, against incumbent Isaura Navarro
Isaura Navarro
Isaura Navarro Casillas is a Spanish politician and former member of the Spanish Parliament. She holds a law degree obtained from the University of Valencia and specialises in business and labour law with a focus on worker's rights, due to obtaining the relevant qualifications in 1997...

 after heated debate on ideology matters and different stances regarding the convenience of keeping a coalition with another party, the Valencian Nationalist Bloc
Valencian Nationalist Bloc
The Valencian Nationalist Bloc is a Valencian nationalist party in the Valencian Country, Spain. It is the largest party in the Coalició Compromís....

 (BNV). The coalition with the BNV was finally discarded by the party Executive. This led to a schism within EUPV which saw incumbent EUPV MP Isaura Navarro, among others, defecting to a newly created party made up of critics with the direction of EUPV. The new party was named Iniciativa pel País Valencià (IpV) and ran in these elections in coalition with the BNV, the party which had been discarded by EUPV. Ultimately EUPV failed to hold their seat in Valencia (IpV-BLOC did not win any seat in this constituency either).

The outcome of these elections proved a hard blow for IU, which got its worst ever result, obtaining two seats, down from five at the Spanish Parliament, subsequently Llamazares resigned in the immediate aftermath of the elections.

Convergence and Union

In November 2007, Convergence and Union (CiU) designated their leader in Congress and leader of the Democratic Union of Catalonia
Democratic Union of Catalonia
The Democratic Union of Catalonia is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. Together with the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia, it is part of the Convergence and Union coalition.It describes itself as Catalan nationalist and Christian Democrat....

 Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida
Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida
Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida is a Spanish politician. A qualified lawyer, Duran began his political career when he was elected MP in the General Elections of Spain in 1979, representing Lleida becoming tinent d'alcalde in the municipality of Lleida.Currently Duran is an MP for Barcelona district,...

 as main candidate. CiU only contested the four Catalan provinces
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

.

Republican Left of Catalonia

In August 2007, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC in its Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

 acronym) designated their spokesman in the Catalan Parliament Joan Ridao i Martín as their leader for the elections. ERC ran in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 and in the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...

 through its local branch ERPV. It also participated in an electoral coalition with other nationalist parties in the Balearic Islands
Islas Baleares (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Balearic Islands is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It corresponds to the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Palma is by far the largest town with 265,000 voters - over 40%...

 constituency called Unitat per les Illes.

ERC was the party with the biggest loss in these elections, obtaining three MPs, down from their previous eight seats. These bad results opened an ongoing internal dispute over ideology and strategies.

Basque Nationalist Party

The Basque Nationalist Party
Basque Nationalist Party
The Basque National Party is the largest and oldest Basque nationalist party. It is currently the largest political party in the Basque Autonomous Community also with a minor presence in Navarre and a marginal one in the French Basque Country...

 (EAJ-PNV) ran only in the three Basque
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....

 provinces. Josu Erkoreka headed the ticket in Vizcaya
Vizcaya (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Biscay is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is situated in the Basque Country and the largest city is Bilbao where around 30% of the electorate of almost a million live...

, the most populous on the three provinces. In Navarre
Navarra (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Navarra is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

 they were part of the Nafarroa Bai
Nafarroa Bai
Nafarroa Bai is a Navarrese coalition of both left and right wing Basque nationalist parties which was created for the 2004 Spanish General election....

 coalition.

Minor parties in Congress

  • Canarian Coalition
    Canarian Coalition
    The Canarian Coalition , abbreviated to CC, is a Canarian nationalist and liberal political party in the Canary Islands of Spain. The party aim is for greater autonomy for the islands, but short of independence. The party has governed the Canary Islands since 1993...

     presented candidates in the Canary Islands.
  • The Galician Nationalist Bloc ran candidates in Galicia.
  • Basque Solidarity (Eusko Alkartasuna) ran in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country but lost their solitary representative in Guipúzcoa/Gipuzkoa
    Guipúzcoa (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
    Gipuzkoa is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

     In Navarre
    Navarra (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
    Navarra is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

     they were part of the Nafarroa Bai
    Nafarroa Bai
    Nafarroa Bai is a Navarrese coalition of both left and right wing Basque nationalist parties which was created for the 2004 Spanish General election....

     coalition.
  • The current deputy of the Chunta Aragonesista Singer-songwriter Jose Antonio Labordeta
    José Antonio Labordeta
    José Antonio Labordeta Subías , described by The Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa 2000 as “The most important Aragonese singer-songwriter”, began singing in an attempt to give more relevance to his poetry. His songs are anthems, not only in Aragón, but all around Spain...

     announced his intention not to run as candidate for the election and the party failed to hold his seat.

Reallocation of seats

Four districts - Córdoba
Córdoba (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Córdoba is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of eight districts which correspond to the provinces of Andalusia. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election...

, A Coruña
A Coruña (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
A Coruña is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is located in the Community of Galicia. A Coruña is the largest municipality and the only municipality with more than 100,000 voters...

, Soria
Soria (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Soria is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

 and Vizcaya
Vizcaya (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Biscay is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is situated in the Basque Country and the largest city is Bilbao where around 30% of the electorate of almost a million live...

 - lost a seat in the Congress of Deputies due to net population loss in these constituencies. Then, another four - Alicante
Alicante (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Alicante is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is the fifth largest district in terms of electorate after Madrid,...

, Almería
Almería (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Almeria is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is one of eight districts which correspond to the provinces of Andalusia...

, Murcia
Murcia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Murcia is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. Murcia and Cartagena are the largest towns and together account for almost...

 and Toledo
Toledo (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Toledo is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the five electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castilla La Mancha...

, all with population increases, gained a seat each.

If the 2004 general election had been fought under the new distribution of seats, the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) would have lost one seat in both La Coruña and Vizcaya, while the opposition People's Party (PP) would have had one seat fewer in Córdoba as well as in Soria. However, PSOE would have captured the additional seats in Alicante, Murcia and Toledo, whereas PP would have only won the newly-added seat in Almería. In all, PSOE would have made a net gain of one seat, for a total of 165, while PP would have come down by one, to 147 seats.

Campaigns

Although the official electoral campaign period in Spain only lasts for the 15 days before the election, (with the exception of the day just before the election), many parties, especially the PP and PSOE, start their "pre-campaigns" months in advance, often before having finalised their electoral lists.

PSOE

The first phase campaign was done under the slogan "Con Z de Zapatero" (With Z of Zapatero), a joke based on the Prime Minister and socialist candidate's habit of tending to pronounce words ending with D as if they ended with Z. The campaign was linked to terms like equality (Igualdad-Igualdaz) or solidarity (Solidaridad-Solidaridaz), emphasizing the policies carried out by the current government. The second phase was done under the slogan "La Mirada Positiva" (The Positive outlook), emphasising the future government platform, and "Vota con todas tus fuerzas" (Vote with all of your strength), aiming to mobilize the undecisive or potentially abstaining voters.

PP

For the pre-campaign the PP used the slogan "Con Rajoy es Posible" (With Rajoy it's Possible). Usually emphasizing PP's campaign proposals, such as "Llegar a fin de mes, Con Rajoy es Posible"(Making it to the end of the month, With Rajoy it's Possible). IU accused PP of copying its slogan from the last municipal elections
Spanish regional elections, 2007
A number of elections were held in Spain on 27 May 2007:* municipal elections;* local elections of various types like the elections to the Cabildo on the Canary Islands;* elections to the Assembly of Ceuta and Melilla; and...


IU

IU chose the pre-campaign slogan "LlamazarES + Más Izquierda" (LlamazarES (is) More Left), calling attention to their position as the third national party.

The economy

The economy became a major campaign issue due to a number of factors:
  • A slowing down in the housing market, with prices even beginning to fall in some areas.
  • Sharp increases in prices of some basic commodities.
  • Global instability as a result of market uncertainty.
  • A rise in unemployment.


The sudden emergence of the economy as a political issue came after several years of steady economic growth, and led some observers to suggest that maybe the government would have benefitted from calling an earlier election. In addition to those factors both the PP and the PSOE made competing proposals on taxation.

Opinion polls

CIS polling found that the PSOE's support fell from a high of 45.8% in April 2004 to around 40% in most polls held after October 2005. In the same period the PP rose from 35.4% in April 2004 to a high of 38.7% in February 2008.

Results

Congress

This election saw a strong swing towards bipartidism
Two-party system
A two-party system is a system where two major political parties dominate voting in nearly all elections at every level of government and, as a result, all or nearly all elected offices are members of one of the two major parties...

, with every single constituency being won by one of the two major parties (until now, the Basque provinces had been the stronghold of the Basque Nationalist Party
Basque Nationalist Party
The Basque National Party is the largest and oldest Basque nationalist party. It is currently the largest political party in the Basque Autonomous Community also with a minor presence in Navarre and a marginal one in the French Basque Country...

 (PNV)). Both main parties gained seats, capturing between them nearly 84% of the popular vote and 92% of the representation. Despite this, the relatively small distance separating the two major parties and the failure of either to win a majority means that smaller parties hold the balance of power. Thus, a hung parliament
Hung parliament
In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...

 was formed.

The PSOE has gained 5 seats, mainly keeping its votes from 2004 (winning about 250,000 more) and capitalizing on the decline of its former allies, IU and ERC, both of which lost half of their parliamentary representation and their right to form a parliamentary group within Congress. The People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...

, main opposition party during the last term, improved their support by about 500,000 votes (+1.6%) and 6 seats, thus slightly closing the gap with the governing party. However, the seat redistribution prior to this election meant that in many provinces an even number of seats led to both parties cancelling each other out. Nevertheless, there were some cases where such reshuffling made the seat total even, but the strong popular vote of the winner meant that it maintained or even increased its majority. This was the case in Córdoba (PSOE 4-2 PP), Murcia (PP 7–3 PSOE) and Alicante (PP 7–5 PSOE).

Regional variations

Some regions were of particular significance: on the one hand, Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 and the Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....

 were instrumental to the PSOE victory, as most of its new seats came from them. The abstention of nationalist voters was cited as being of particular importance, but the gains of the governing party in traditionally nationalist areas cannot be entirely attributed to this factor. PSOE's biggest increases in vote share came in the three Basque provinces, where the election had been overshadowed by the killing of a Isaías Carrasco
Isaías Carrasco
Isaías Carrasco was a Basque politician, affiliated with the PSE. He was shot dead when he left his house in Tolosa de Mondragón on March 7, 2008, two days ahead of general elections in Spain, in what is believed to be an attack by ETA....

, a local PSOE councillor, by ETA
ETA
ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...

. Galicia also continued its long term shift to the left. Orense was the only district where the PSOE gained a seat directly from the PP, while in Lugo
Lugo (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Lugo is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the four districts which correspond to the provinces of Galicia. Lugo is the largest municipality and the only municipality with...

 the PSOE vote continued its long term increase. PSOE also polled well in Melilla
Melilla (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Melilla is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

 where they came close to winning the seat.

On the other hand, in Madrid
Madrid (autonomous community)
The Community of Madrid is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located at the center of the country, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Castilian Central Plateau . The community is also conterminous with the province of Madrid and contains the capital of Spain, which is also...

, where the two candidates for the office of President of the Government
Prime Minister of Spain
The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...

 headed their respective lists, the PSOE suffered a significant setback: while in the last election they had come extremely close to winning (finishing less than one point behind) and had managed to deprive the PP of its majority, the main opposition party has now scored 49.34% with a 10-point lead over the PSOE and recovered the majority of seats in the region, whilst both the PSOE and IU lost one seat each. Union, Progress and Democracy
Union, Progress and Democracy
Union, Progress and Democracy is a Spanish political party founded in September 2007.It is a progressivist party, between social democracy and social liberalism. One of its goals is to build a federal system for Spain and European Union, with clear responsibilities distributed among local...

 (UPyD), the new party under the leadership of Rosa Díez
Rosa Díez
Rosa Díez González is a Spanish politician. She is a former Member of the European Parliament for the PSOE , integrated in the Party of European Socialists.In 2007 she gave up her seat and left the PSOE due to strong disagreement on what she perceived to be the...

, captured the remaining seat, entering Parliament for the first time. Many traditional PSOE strongholds either fell to the PP, like Móstoles
Móstoles
Móstoles is the second-largest city in population belonging to the autonomous community of Madrid. It is located 18 kilometres southwest from central Madrid. Móstoles was for a long time only a small village, but expanded rapidly in the twentieth century....

, or saw PSOE support fall sharply, like Parla
Parla
Parla is a municipality of the Madrid Metropolitan Area, Spain. It is located in the southern part of the autonomous community, approximately 20 km from the capital, Madrid. , it has a population of 120,182.- History :- Origins :...

 where a previous record 36-point margin was reduced to a 15% lead. The PP's best results came on the Mediterranean coast south of Catalonia. Their highest vote share in a single constituency came in Murcia
Murcia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Murcia is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. Murcia and Cartagena are the largest towns and together account for almost...

, with more than 60% of the popular vote. Murcia also registered the worst result in vote share terms for the PSOE, resulting in a large gap between the two main parties. The main opposition party also did well in the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...

 and in Almería
Almería (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Almeria is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is one of eight districts which correspond to the provinces of Andalusia...

. As in previous elections, the party struggled in regions where Nationalist parties have historically been strong. However they regained their representation in Lleida
Lleida (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Lleida is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of four electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Catalonia. Lleida is the largest municipality accounting for 97,000...

, leaving Girona
Girona (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Girona is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of four electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Catalonia. Girona is the largest municipality although it only has...

 as the only electoral district without PP representation.

One seat in Barcelona
Barcelona (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Barcelona is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. When first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election, Barcelona was the largest electoral district in Congress in terms of...

 was close between the PP and Convergence and Union, the PP won it by a margin of about 250 votes after the scrutiny of overseas votes.
Party vote share by electoral district
Electoral District PSOE
(2004)
PP
(2004)
PSOE
(2008)
PP
(2008)
PSOE
Change
PP
Change
A Coruña
A Coruña (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
A Coruña is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is located in the Community of Galicia. A Coruña is the largest municipality and the only municipality with more than 100,000 voters...

38.9 44.6 39.9 43.3 1.0 -1.3
Álava
Álava (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Álava is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. The largest municipality is Vitoria-Gasteiz where approximately 75% of the...

30.8 26.9 40.8 26.5 10.0 -0.4
Albacete
Albacete (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Albacete is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the five electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castilla La Mancha...

46.3 46.9 45.5 47.6 -0.8 0.7
Alicante
Alicante (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Alicante is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is the fifth largest district in terms of electorate after Madrid,...

42.1 48.9 41.1 52.4 -1.0 3.5
Almería
Almería (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Almeria is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is one of eight districts which correspond to the provinces of Andalusia...

47.7 44.3 41.2 50.7 -6.5 6.4
Asturias
Asturias (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Asturias is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. The total electorate in April 2008 was 982,230 and the largest municipalities were Gijón with 232,000, Oviedo with 179,000 and Avilés with...

43.4 43.8 46.3 42.1 2.9 -1.7
Ávila
Ávila (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Ávila is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the nine electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castile and León. Ávila is the largest town with only 43,000...

34.0 59.5 34.5 59.2 0.5 -0.3
Badajoz
Badajoz (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Badajoz is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. Located in Extremadura in south west Spain, it is the largest electoral...

51.7 41.7 52.2 41.9 0.5 0.2
Barcelona
Barcelona (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Barcelona is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. When first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election, Barcelona was the largest electoral district in Congress in terms of...

41.7 16.0 46.7 16.8 5.0 0.8
Burgos
Burgos (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Burgos is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the nine electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castile and León. Burgos is the largest municipality accounting...

38.9 52.0 40.3 50.7 1.4 -1.3
Cáceres
Cáceres (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Cáceres is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of two electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Extremadura...

50.5 43.5 52.0 42.1 1.5 -1.4
Cádiz
Cádiz (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Cádiz is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election...

50.7 33.6 51.0 38.3 0.3 4.7
Cantabria
Cantabria (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Cantabria is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It corresponds to the autonomous community of Cantabria. Santander is the largest municipality with 165,000 voters - 35% of the total...

40.9 51.9 43.4 50.2 2.5 -1.7
Castellón
Castellón (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Castellón is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is one of three districts which correspond to the provinces of the...

44.6 45.6 44.1 49.1 -0.5 3.5
Ceuta
Ceuta (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Ceuta is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

35.8 59.2 40.2 55.5 4.4 -3.7
Ciudad Real
Ciudad Real (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Ciudad Real is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the five electoral districts that correspond to the provinces of Castilla La Mancha. With nearly 55,000 voters out of the...

48.1 46.6 46.6 47.9 -1.5 1.3
Córdoba
Córdoba (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Córdoba is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of eight districts which correspond to the provinces of Andalusia. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election...

49.9 33.7 50.7 37.7 0.8 4.0
Cuenca
Cuenca (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Cuenca is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales....

45.4 49.7 45.1 50.0 -0.3 0.3
Girona
Girona (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Girona is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of four electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Catalonia. Girona is the largest municipality although it only has...

31.6 11.5 39.5 12.2 7.9 0.7
Granada
Granada (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Granada is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. Granada is the largest city with an electorate of over 217,000 in the...

51.5 37.0 49.6 41.5 -1.9 4.5
Guadalajara
Guadalajara (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Guadalajara is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is the sixth smallest district in terms of electorate...

44.1 47.6 41.0 50.8 -3.1 3.2
Guipúzcoa
Guipúzcoa (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Gipuzkoa is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

26.3 15.3 38.9 14.5 12.6 -0.8
Huelva
Huelva (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Huelva is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the eight electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Andalusia...

56.2 30.6 55.6 35.1 -0.6 4.5
Huesca
Huesca (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Huesca is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the three electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Aragon. Huesca is the largest municipality although it only has...

45.7 37.5 47.4 37.8 1.7 0.3
Islas Baleares
Islas Baleares (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Balearic Islands is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It corresponds to the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Palma is by far the largest town with 265,000 voters - over 40%...

39.5 45.9 44.1 44.0 4.6 -1.9
Jaen
Jaén (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Jaén is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales.-Boundaries and electoral system:Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution...

54.4 34.1 55.4 36.6 1.0 2.5
La Rioja
La Rioja (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
La Rioja is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. Logroño is the largest town accounting for nearly half the electorate...

44.0 49.9 43.6 49.6 -0.4 -0.3
Las Palmas
Las Palmas (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Las Palmas is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election and covers the Eastern part of the Canary Islands...

33.9 42.2 42.5 39.9 8.6 -2.3
León
León (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
León is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Congress of Deputies, the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election...

46.8 45.0 49.5 43.9 2.7 -1.1
Lleida
Lleida (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Lleida is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of four electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Catalonia. Lleida is the largest municipality accounting for 97,000...

29.6 14.6 37.0 15.1 7.4 0.5
Lugo
Lugo (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Lugo is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the four districts which correspond to the provinces of Galicia. Lugo is the largest municipality and the only municipality with...

37.2 49.7 40.0 45.6 2.8 -4.1
Madrid
Madrid (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Madrid is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It has the largest electorate of all the 52 districts. Madrid is the largest city...

44.1 45.0 39.5 49.3 -4.6 4.3
Málaga
Málaga (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Málaga is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election...

49.8 36.4 46.7 43.2 -3.1 6.8
Melilla
Melilla (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Melilla is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

41.4 54.6 48.0 49.2 6.6 -5.4
Murcia
Murcia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Murcia is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. Murcia and Cartagena are the largest towns and together account for almost...

35.0 57.4 32.6 61.4 -2.4 4.0
Navarra
Navarra (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Navarra is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

33.6 37.6 34.6 39.3 1.0 1.7
Ourense
Ourense (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Ourense is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is located in the Community of Galicia...

31.1 55.3 37.6 48.1 6.5 -7.2
Palencia
Palencia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Palencia is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the nine electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castile and León. With 68,000 voters in 2004, Palencia is by...

43.1 50.2 43.4 49.9 0.3 -0.3
Pontevedra
Pontevedra (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Pontevedra is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the four electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Galicia...

37.5 46.0 39.5 44.2 2.0 -1.8
Salamanca
Salamanca (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Salamanca is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the nine electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castile and León. Salamanca is the largest municipality and...

39.8 54.3 39.1 54.6 -0.7 0.3
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Santa Cruz de Tenerife is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election and covers the western part of the Canary Islands...

35.0 28.3 36.6 30.9 1.6 2.6
Segovia
Segovia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Segovia is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the nine electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castile and León. Segovia is the largest municipality...

39.9 52.4 39.0 53.5 -0.9 1.1
Sevilla
Sevilla (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Seville is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is the fourth largest district in terms of electorate...

58.3 27.9 58.1 31.5 -0.2 3.6
Soria
Soria (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Soria is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

38.8 50.8 42.2 50.2 3.4 -0.6
Tarragona
Tarragona (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Tarragona is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of four electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Catalonia...

35.5 17.0 44.9 17.8 9.4 0.8
Teruel
Teruel (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Teruel is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the three electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Aragon...

41.1 40.8 44.1 39.9 3.0 -0.9
Toledo
Toledo (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Toledo is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the five electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castilla La Mancha...

46.5 47.5 42.9 51.4 -3.6 3.9
Valencia
Valencia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Valencia is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies—the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is the third largest district in Congress in terms of the numbers of deputies elected, as it elects sixteen deputies out of the total...

42.2 45.7 40.1 51.7 -2.1 6.0
Valladolid
Valladolid (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Valladolid is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the nine electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castile and León. Valladolid is the largest municipality...

44.6 46.8 42.5 49.4 -2.1 2.6
Vizcaya
Vizcaya (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Biscay is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is situated in the Basque Country and the largest city is Bilbao where around 30% of the electorate of almost a million live...

26.8 18.7 37.0 18.4 10.2 -0.3
Zamora
Zamora (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Zamora is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the nine electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castile and León. Zamora is the largest municipality, accounting...

39.9 53.3 42.0 52.2 2.1 -1.1
Zaragoza
Zaragoza (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Zaragoza is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the three electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Aragon...

40.3 35.5 46.3 36.5 6.0 1.0
SPAIN TOTALS 42.6 37.7 43.9 39.9 1.3 2.2

Investiture voting

On April 11 Zapatero was re-elected Prime Minister by 169 to 158 with 23 abstentions. Only PSOE deputies voted for his candidate.
The 154 PP deputies were joined by four others. One was Rosa María Díez González, the former socialist Euro MP who formed a new party based in the Basque country in opposition to Zapatero's willingness to cooperate with Basque nationalists. She complained of "the discrimination suffered by tens of thousands of families who are unable to educate their children in the Spanish language" because Basques learn in Basque at school, and she was booed in the congress for this. The three Republican Left of Catalonia deputies also voted No. They said that, while not shutting any doors, they wanted to show their disappointment that Zapatero seemed reluctant to decentralize further, and seemed to be too co-operative with the conservatives and the centre-right Catalan CiU, although they remained convinced that they could agree on the social democratic agenda. The rest of nationalist parties (CiU, PNV, CC, BNG, NaBai) and United Left abstained, and are continuing negotiations with the government.
Invesiture voting for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...

 (PSOE
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

)
Vote Parties Votes
Yes PSOE
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

 
169
No PP
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...

, ERC, UPyD
Union, Progress and Democracy
Union, Progress and Democracy is a Spanish political party founded in September 2007.It is a progressivist party, between social democracy and social liberalism. One of its goals is to build a federal system for Spain and European Union, with clear responsibilities distributed among local...

 
158
Abstentions CiU, PNV
Basque Nationalist Party
The Basque National Party is the largest and oldest Basque nationalist party. It is currently the largest political party in the Basque Autonomous Community also with a minor presence in Navarre and a marginal one in the French Basque Country...

, IU
United Left (Spain)
The United Left is a political coalition that was organized in 1986 bringing together several political organisations opposed to Spain joining NATO. It was formed by a number of groups of leftists, greens, left-wing socialists and republicans, but was dominated by the Communist Party of Spain...

, BNG, CC
Canarian Coalition
The Canarian Coalition , abbreviated to CC, is a Canarian nationalist and liberal political party in the Canary Islands of Spain. The party aim is for greater autonomy for the islands, but short of independence. The party has governed the Canary Islands since 1993...

, NaBai
Nafarroa Bai
Nafarroa Bai is a Navarrese coalition of both left and right wing Basque nationalist parties which was created for the 2004 Spanish General election....

 
23

Proportionality issues

If the election had been fought using a national list system, or at least larger constituencies, instead of the current provincial constituencies mandated by the Constitution, both major parties would have lost representation: the PSOE would have fallen to some 160 instead of their current 169, while PP would have obtained 147 instead of 154. Smaller parties running in all Spanish constituencies would have seen much better results under a simple representative criteria, thus IU would have obtained 14 MPs instead of 2 while UPyD would have obtained 4 MPs instead of 1. Unsurprisingly, those two parties are the most vocal in advocating a reform of the electoral law to use an alternative seats allocating system while the major parties give little importance to the issue.

Senate

The system for the Senate elections is majoritarian, based on partial block voting
Plurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...

. Most constituencies share the same representation of 4 senators, and each elector can freely distribute up to 3 votes among all the running candidates. This usually produces a 3/1 seat split between the winner and the runner-up. Thus, a large swing in votes can amount to nothing if the constituency winner is not altered, but a much smaller swing can invert the province's representation. Senatorial elections are the only case in Spanish democracy where electors can choose candidates from different parties at the same ballot.

Only 208 seats are up for election, since the rest of them (51 until now, going up to 56 due to demographic changes) are appointed by the regional legislatures. The People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...

, even gaining some popular vote and capturing Almería
Almería
Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...

 from the PSOE, lost one seat, though it retains the status of first party in the Senate. The PSOE
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

, on the other hand, made large gains from the Basque provinces (reducing the PNV to 2 seats from 6) and the Canary Islands (where Canarian Coalition
Canarian Coalition
The Canarian Coalition , abbreviated to CC, is a Canarian nationalist and liberal political party in the Canary Islands of Spain. The party aim is for greater autonomy for the islands, but short of independence. The party has governed the Canary Islands since 1993...

 was nearly wiped out by the main parties, keeping one elected Senator). It also captured Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...

 and Teruel
Teruel
Teruel is a town in Aragon, eastern Spain, and the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 34,240 in 2006 making it one of the least populated provincial capitals in the country...

 from the PP and, by a razon-thin margin, managed to avoid the complete takeover of Ciudad Real
Ciudad Real
Ciudad Real is a city in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, with a population of c. 74,000. It is the capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It has a stop on the AVE high-speed rail line and has begun to grow as a long-distance commuter suburb of Madrid, located 115 miles to the north. A high capacity...

 by the opposition party, producing an infrequent 2-2 result.

In order to know the final composition of the Senate for the first half of the 9th term, one has to wait for the remaining appointments from regional legislatures, which go as follows: all 9 from Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

, which held its regional elections concurrently with the national polls, and one from each of the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...

, the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

, Catalonia and Madrid
Madrid (autonomous community)
The Community of Madrid is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located at the center of the country, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Castilian Central Plateau . The community is also conterminous with the province of Madrid and contains the capital of Spain, which is also...

, all of which get one additional Senator due to their population growth. The graphic shown at the right assumes that the involved regional parliament keep their Senate representation roughly proportional to their own composition, which has always been the case until now. Thus, the five new seats would distribute as follows: 3 PP (Andalusia, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands), 1 PSOE (Madrid), 1 CiU (Catalonia).

External links

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