Basque parliamentary election, 2016

25 September 2016

All 75 seats in the Basque Parliament 38 seats needed for a majority

Opinion polls
Registered	1,783,419 0.5%
Turnout	1,070,357 (60.0%) 3.9 pp
	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Iñigo Urkullu	Maddalen Iriarte	Pilar Zabala
Party	EAJ/PNV	EH Bildu	Elkarrekin Podemos
Leader since	2 December 2007	24 August 2016	11 August 2016
Leader's seat	Álava	Gipuzkoa	Gipuzkoa
Last election	27 seats, 34.2%	21 seats, 24.7%	0 seats, 3.7%^{[lower-alpha 1]}
Seats won	28	18	11
Seat change	1	3	11
Popular vote	398,168	225,172	157,334
Percentage	37.4%	21.1%	14.8%
Swing	3.2	3.5 pp	11.0 pp

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Leader	Idoia Mendia	Alfonso Alonso	Nicolás de Miguel
Party	PSE–EE (PSOE)	PP	C's
Leader since	20 September 2014	15 October 2015	2 August 2016
Leader's seat	Biscay	Álava	Álava
Last election	16 seats, 18.9%	10 seats, 11.6%	Did not contest
Seats won	9	9	0
Seat change	7	1	±0
Popular vote	126,420	107,771	21,477
Percentage	11.9%	10.1%	2.0%
Swing	7.0 pp	1.5 pp	New party

Lehendakari before election

Iñigo Urkullu
EAJ/PNV

Elected Lehendakari

Iñigo Urkullu
EAJ/PNV

The 2016 Basque parliamentary election will be held on Sunday, 25 September 2016, to elect the 11th Basque Parliament, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of the Basque Country. All 75 seats in the Parliament will be up for election. The election was held simultaneously with a regional election in Galicia.

Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu announced the election would be held one month ahead of schedule, on September 2016, as a result of the ongoing "climate of ungovernability" affecting the national government so as to move the regional election away from a possible new general election and from the speculation surrounding the government formation process.^[1] In a domino effect, this prompted Galician President Alberto Núñez Feijóo to also set the Galician regional election, scheduled for autumn 2016, for the same date.^[2]

Electoral system

The 75 members of the Basque Parliament are elected in 3 multi-member districtsces using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Each district is assigned a fixed number of 25 seats. Only party lists polling above 3% of valid votes in each district (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) are entitled to enter the seat distribution.^[3] Owing to large discrepancies in population between the three provinces, each of the 25 elected members in Álava represents around 6,000 electors, while in the more populous Biscay each of the 25 elected members represents over 20,000 electors.^[4]

Background

On 1 March 2016, Sortu Secretary-General Arnaldo Otegi left the Logroño prison after serving his full prison sentence imposed for attempting to reorganize the banned Batasuna party. In addition to the prison sentence, Otegi had been sentenced to disqualification from holding any public office until 2021.^[5] Despite this, on 24 May the EH Bildu coalition proclaimed him as its candidate for lehendakari, on grounds that the ruling did not specify what specific charges affected his disqualification.^[6] After the official announcement of elections for 25 September, the various parties began to express their opinions on the issue.

The Basque Nationalist Party and Podemos announced that they would challenge his candidacy because they thought it should be up to the Basque citizens to decide whether Otegi deserved to be elected or not;^[7] the Socialist Party of the Basque Country, meanwhile, said that it would not challenge him neither because the decision should be taken by justice.^[8] The People's Party, Citizens and Union, Progress and Democracy announced that, following the publication of electoral lists, they would go to the prosecution to challenge Otegi's candidacy.^[9]

On August 24 the Gipuzkoa Provincial Electoral Board ruled that Otegi could not be a candidate in the lists of EH Bildu for being barred to stand for election as part of his sentence.^[10] The journalist Maddalen Iriarte, who was second in EH Bildu Gipuzkoa's list, went on to top the list as provided for in Article 65.2 of the Electoral Law of the Basque Country.^[11]

Campaign

Parties, leaders and slogans

	Leader/candidate	Campaign slogan(s)
Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)	Iñigo Urkullu	"Build the Basque Country. Look to the future"^[12]
Basque Country Unite (EH Bildu)	Arnaldo Otegi Maddalen Iriarte	"Here and now. A shared country"^[12]
Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE (PSOE))	Idoia Mendia	"Together"^[12]
People's Party of the Basque Country (PP)	Alfonso Alonso	"Alonso, the voice that unites us"^[12]
United We Can (Podemos–IU–eQuo) (Elkarrekin Podemos)	Pilar Zabala	"For the Basque Country. With the people"^[12]
Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (C's)	Nicolás de Miguel	"Europeans from the South, Spaniards from the North, Basques of centre"^[12]

Opinion polling

Party vote

Poll results are listed in the tables below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first, and using the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. If such date is unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two parties with the highest figures. When a specific poll does not show a data figure for a party, the party's cell corresponding to that poll is shown empty.

Color key:

Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls

Polling firm/Link	Fieldwork/ publication date	Sample size	TO										Lead
Polling firm/Link	Fieldwork/ publication date	Sample size	TO										Lead

Regional Election	25.09.16	N/A	59.8%	37.7	21.2	11.9	10.2	—	—	—	14.8	2.0	16.5

Gizaker	23.09.16–25.09.16	2,400	?	36.5	20.7	11.1	9.7	—	—	—	17.9	2.2	15.8
Celeste-Tel	12.09.16–16.09.16	1,200	64.1%	37.3	20.4	11.9	8.4	—	—	—	18.3	2.0	16.9
Gizaker	14.09.16–15.09.16	1,200	64.4%	37.2	21.0	11.0	9.7	—	—	—	17.8	2.3	16.2
GAD3	14.09.16–15.09.16	801	?	38.5	19.7	10.8	9.2	—	—	—	17.8	—	18.8
Metroscopia	13.09.16–15.09.16	2,100	65.8%	36.3	19.2	12.1	8.8	—	—	—	17.9	2.0	17.1
Sigma Dos	12.09.16–15.09.16	1,200	?	35.1	21.1	12.5	9.5	—	—	—	16.9	2.1	14.0
NC Report	06.09.16–14.09.16	1,000	?	36.2	21.0	11.4	9.1	—	—	—	18.8	—	15.2
Ikerfel	08.09.16–11.09.16	2,700	65.4%	36.7	18.9	12.9	8.8	—	—	—	19.3	2.2	17.4
Ikertalde	01.09.16–08.09.16	2,576	64.7%	33.5	21.3	11.7	9.2	—	—	—	19.3	2.2	12.2
Gizaker	05.09.16–06.09.16	1,200	63.5%	36.2	20.7	10.7	10.3	—	—	—	18.2	2.7	15.5
CIS/IMOP	27.08.16–02.09.16	3,007	?	37.9	20.2	10.8	8.8	—	—	—	18.9	1.8	17.7
General Election	26.06.16	N/A	64.9%	24.9	13.3	14.2	12.9	—	0.1	—	29.1	3.5	4.2
Gizaker	08.06.16–09.06.16	1,200	?	37.2	21.3	10.7	9.1	—	0.4	—	18.2	2.7	15.9
Ikertalde	23.05.16–02.06.16	2,310	67.5%	31.8	21.0	12.3	8.7	—	0.2	—	20.8	2.2	10.8
Ikertalde	23.05.16–02.06.16	2,310	67.5%	31.8	21.0	12.3	8.7	3.0	0.2	17.8	—	2.2	10.8
SYM Consulting	05.05.16–20.05.16	1,274	?	34.1	20.4	11.8	9.1	—	—	—	20.7	3.5	13.4
Gizaker	11.05.16–12.05.16	1,200	?	35.5	20.2	11.0	9.2	—	0.2	—	19.4	3.0	15.3
Gizaker	13.04.16–14.04.16	1,200	?	35.3	19.0	12.1	8.8	2.4	0.2	19.1	—	2.3	16.2
Ikertalde	25.01.16–02.02.16	2,310	70.5%	31.3	19.1	12.0	8.8	2.5	0.2	20.5	—	3.3	10.8
UPV/EHU	19.01.16–31.01.16	600	67%	29.3	16.3	12.2	9.4	—	—	25.2	—	3.6	4.1
Redondo & Asociados	16.01.16	?	?	30.0	19.0	12.8	8.3	3.0	—	25.0	—	—	5.0
General Election	20.12.15	N/A	69.0%	24.7	15.1	13.2	11.6	2.9	0.3	26.0	—	4.1	1.3
UPV/EHU	29.05.15–15.06.15	600	65%	33.5	23.1	14.5	8.1	—	1.7	15.1	—	—	10.4
JJGG Election	24.05.15	N/A	63.8%	33.3	22.4	13.6	9.3	2.7	0.5	13.7	—	2.1	10.9
Municipal Elections	24.05.15	N/A	63.8%	33.1	23.4	14.6	9.4	3.1	0.1	—	—	1.6	9.7
UPV/EHU	27.10.14–14.11.14	600	67%	30.5	19.7	12.8	8.1	3.2	2.2	25.6	—	—	4.9
EP Election	25.05.14	N/A	43.1%	27.5	23.4	13.8	10.2	5.6	3.3	6.9	—	0.8	4.1
UPV/EHU	30.04.14–19.05.14	600	60%	34.2	23.9	16.5	8.1	6.4	2.2	4.8	—	—	10.3
UPV/EHU	24.10.13–15.11.13	1,200	60%	34.9	25.9	15.5	9.6	4.4	2.2	—	—	—	9.0
Ikertalde	08.10.13–11.10.13	2,289	64.0%	34.7	24.1	17.7	10.8	3.1	2.3	—	—	—	10.6
UPV/EHU	07.05.13–27.05.13	1,200	60%	34	24	18	10	4	3	—	—	—	10
Ikertalde	22.04.13–27.04.13	2,277	63.5%	34.9	24.2	17.8	10.0	3.1	2.5	—	—	—	10.7

Regional Election	21.10.12	N/A	64.0%	34.2	24.7	18.9	11.6	2.7	1.9	—	—	—	9.5

Seat projections

Opinion polls showing seat projections are displayed in the table below. The highest seat figures in each polling survey have their background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. 38 seats are required for an absolute majority in the Basque Parliament.

Color key:

Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls

Polling firm/Link	Fieldwork/ publication date
Polling firm/Link	Fieldwork/ publication date

Regional Election	25.09.16	28	18	9	9	—	—	—	11	0

Gizaker	23.09.16–25.09.16	27/30	16/18	8/10	7/8	—	—	—	13/15	0/1
Celeste-Tel	12.09.16–16.09.16	29	15	9	7	—	—	—	15	0
Gizaker	14.09.16–15.09.16	27/29	17	8/9	7/8	—	—	—	13/14	0/1
GAD3	14.09.16–15.09.16	28/29	15/16	8/9	8/9	—	—	—	14/15	0
Metroscopia	13.09.16–15.09.16	27/29	16/17	8	6/7	—	—	—	14/16	1
Sigma Dos	12.09.16–15.09.16	26/28	17/18	9	8	—	—	—	13/14	0
NC Report	06.09.16–14.09.16	27	16	9	8	—	—	—	15	0
Ikerfel	08.09.16–11.09.16	28	14/15	9/10	8	—	—	—	15/16	0
Ikertalde	01.09.16–08.09.16	26	17	9	8	—	—	—	15	0
Gizaker	05.09.16–06.09.16	27	17	8	8	—	—	—	14	1
CIS/IMOP	27.08.16–02.09.16	27/28	16	8	8	—	—	—	15/16	0
General Election	26.06.16	(18)	(10)	(11)	(10)	—	(0)	—	(25)	(1)
Gizaker	08.06.16–09.06.16	27	17	8	8	—	0	—	14	1
Ikertalde	23.05.16–02.06.16	24	17	9	7	—	0	—	17	1
Ikertalde	23.05.16–02.06.16	24	18	10	8	0	0	14	—	1
Gizaker	11.05.16–12.05.16	27	16	9	7	—	0	—	15	1
Gizaker	13.04.16–14.04.16	27	15	10	7	0	0	15	—	1
Ikertalde	25.01.16–02.02.16	24	15	9	8	0	0	18	—	1
UPV/EHU	19.01.16–31.01.16	22/23	13	9	8/9	0	0	19/21	—	1/3
Redondo & Asociados	16.01.16	22/23	13/14	10	6	0/1	0	21/22	—	0
General Election	20.12.15	(18)	(12)	(10)	(10)	(1)	(0)	(21)	—	(3)
UPV/EHU	29.05.15–15.06.15	25/26	18/19	10/11	7/8	0	0	11/12	—	0
JJGG Election	24.05.15	(26)	(18)	(10)	(9)	(1)	(0)	(11)	—	(0)
UPV/EHU	27.10.14–14.11.14	22/23	13/14	10	6	0/1	0/1	21/22	—	0
EP Election	25.05.14	(21)	(21)	(12)	(10)	(4)	(1)	(6)	—	(0)
UPV/EHU	30.04.14–19.05.14	29	22	12	7	3	1	1	—	—
UPV/EHU	24.10.13–15.11.13	29	23	12	8	2	1	—	—	—
Ikertalde	08.10.13–11.10.13	27	21	15	10	1	1	—	—	—
UPV/EHU	07.05.13–27.05.13	28	20	14	10	2	1	—	—	—
Ikertalde	22.04.13–27.04.13	27	21	15	10	1	1	—	—	—

Regional Election	21.10.12	27	21	16	10	0	1	—	—	—

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 25 September 2016 Basque Parliament election results
Party		Popular vote			Seats

Party		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)	398,168	37.36	+3.20	28	+1
	Basque Country Unite (EH Bildu)	225,172	21.13	–3.54	18	–3
	United We Can (Podemos–IU–eQuo) (Elkarrekin Podemos)^{[lower-alpha 1]}	157,334	14.76	+11.04	11	+11
	Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE (PSOE))	126,420	11.86	–7.03	9	–7
	People's Party of the Basque Country (PP)	107,771	10.11	–1.48	9	–1
	Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (C's)	21,477	2.02	New	0	±0

Parties with less than 1.0% of the vote		22,559	2.12	—	–1
	Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA/ATTKAA)	8,589	0.81	+0.45	±0
	Let's Win the Basque Country: Yes We Can (Ganemos Irabazi)	6,049	0.57	New	±0
	Zero Cuts–Green Group (Recortes Cero–GV)	2,747	0.26	New	±0
	Family and Life Party (PFyV)	1,836	0.17	+0.10	±0
	Blank Seats (EB/AZ)	1,288	0.12	–0.90	±0
	Vox (Vox)	771	0.07	New	±0
	Basque Communists–Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (EK–PCPE)	466	0.04	±0.00	±0
	Welcome (Ongi Etorri)	374	0.04	+0.03	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	351	0.03	–0.07	±0
	Navarrese Freedom (Ln)	191	0.02	New	±0
	Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD)	N/A	N/A	–1.91	–1

	Blank ballots	6,681	0.63	–0.67

Total		1,065,685	100.00		75	±0

Valid votes		1,065,685	99.56	+0.37
Invalid votes		4,672	0.44	–0.37
Votes cast / turnout		1,070,357	60.02	–3.94
Abstentions		713,062	39.98	+3.94
Registered voters		1,783,419

Source: Election Results
1 2 Elkarrekin Podemos results are compared to the combined totals of IU–LV and EB–EE in the 2012 election.

Vote share

EAJ/PNV			37.36%
EH Bildu			21.13%
Elkarrekin Podemos			14.76%
PSE–EE (PSOE)			11.86%
PP			10.11%
C's			2.02%
Others			2.12%
Blank ballots			0.63%

Parliamentary seats

EAJ/PNV			37.33%
EH Bildu			24.00%
Elkarrekin Podemos			14.67%
PSE–EE (PSOE)			12.00%
PP			12.00%

Results by district

Álava

Biscay

Gipuzkoa


District	PNV		EHB		EP		PSE–EE		PP
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
Álava	28.0	8	17.8	5	16.1	4	12.9	3	18.5	5
Biscay	41.8	11	17.5	5	14.8	4	11.7	3	9.7	2
Gipuzkoa	34.0	9	28.7	8	14.2	3	11.8	3	7.2	2
Total	37.6	28	21.3	18	14.9	11	11.9	9	10.2	9

Aftermath

Investiture vote

First round: 23 November 2016
Absolute majority (38/75) required
Choice		Vote
Choice		Parties	Votes
	NIñigo Urkullu	PNV (28), PSE–EE (9)	37 / 75
	NMaddalen Iriarte	EH Bildu (18)	18 / 75
	Blank ballots	EP (11), PP (9)	20 / 75
Source: Historia Electoral

Second round: 24 November 2016
Simple majority required
Choice		Vote
Choice		Parties	Votes
	YIñigo Urkullu	PNV (28), PSE–EE (9)	37 / 75
	NMaddalen Iriarte	EH Bildu (18)	18 / 75
	Blank ballots	EP (11), PP (9)	20 / 75
Source: Historia Electoral

References

↑ "Urkullu moves forward the Basque election to 25 September" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2016-07-29.
↑ "Feijóo sets the Galician election for 25 September" (in Spanish). El País. 2016-08-01.
↑ "Law 5/1990, of 15 June, of elections to the Basque Parliament.".
↑ Álvarez-Rivera, Manuel. "Election Resources on the Internet: Elections to the Basque Parliament". Election Resources.org. Election Resources.
↑ "Arnaldo Otegi leaves the Logroño prison after six and a half years imprisoned" (in Spanish). El País. 2016-03-01.
↑ "EH Bildu membership chooses Otegi as lehendakari candidate" (in Spanish). El País. 2016-05-24.
↑ "Prosecutors emphasize that Otegi is "ineligible"" (in Spanish). El País. 2016-08-12.
↑ "The PSE–EE will not challenge Otegi's candidacy" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2016-08-11.
↑ "PP, UPyD and C's will challenge Otegi's list in defense of the victims of terrorism" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 2016-08-09.
↑ "The Board ratifies that Otegi cannot be candidate and bars him from contesting the Basque election" (in Spanish). Europa Press. 2016-08-29.
↑ "The Electoral Board rules that Otegi cannot be candidate for being disqualified" (in Spanish). El País. 2016-08-24.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "PNV, Elkarrekin Podemos and C's open campaign in Vitoria, EH Bildu and PSE in Bilbao and the PP in San Sebastián" (in Spanish). 20 Minutos. 2016-09-08.

Elections and referendums in the Basque Country

Parliamentary elections	1980 1984 1986 1990 1994 1998 2001 2005 2009 2012 2016 next

General elections	1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008 2011 2015 2016 next

Referendums	1933 1979

Regional elections in Spain in the 2010s

2010	November: Catalonia

2011	May: Aragon Asturias Balearic Islands Canary Islands Cantabria Castile and León Castile-La Mancha Ceuta Extremadura La Rioja Madrid Melilla Murcia Navarre Valencian Community

2012	March: Andalusia Asturias October: Basque Country Galicia November: Catalonia

2015	March: Andalusia May: Aragon Asturias Balearic Islands Canary Islands Cantabria Castile and León Castile-La Mancha Ceuta Extremadura La Rioja Madrid Melilla Murcia Navarre Valencian Community September: Catalonia

2016	September: Basque Country Galicia

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.