2011 Spanish general election

2011 Spanish general election
← 2008 20 November 2011 2015 →
All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 (of 266) seats in the Senate
176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Opinion polls
Registered35,779,491 Green arrow up2.0%
Turnout24,666,441 (68.9%)
Red arrow down4.9 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Mariano Rajoy Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida
Party PP PSOE CiU
Leader since 2 September 2003 9 July 2011 24 January 2004
Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Barcelona
Last election 154 seats, 40.1%[a] 169 seats, 43.9% 10 seats, 3.0%
Seats won 186 110 16
Seat change Green arrow up32 Red arrow down59 Green arrow up6
Popular vote 10,866,566 7,003,511 1,015,691
Percentage 44.6% 28.8% 4.2%
Swing Green arrow up4.5 pp Red arrow down15.1 pp Green arrow up1.2 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Cayo Lara Iñaki Antigüedad Rosa Díez
Party IU Amaiur UPyD
Leader since 14 December 2008 11 October 2011 26 September 2007
Leader's seat Madrid Biscay Madrid
Last election 2 seats, 3.9%[b] 0 seats, 0.3%[c] 1 seats, 1.2%
Seats won 11 7 5
Seat change Green arrow up9 Green arrow up7 Green arrow up4
Popular vote 1,686,040 334,498 1,143,225
Percentage 6.9% 1.4% 4.7%
Swing Green arrow up3.0 pp Green arrow up1.1 pp Green arrow up3.5 pp
Map of Spain showcasing seat distribution by Congress of Deputies constituency
Map of Spain showcasing winning party's strength by constituency
Map of Spain showcasing winning party's strength by autonomous community
Prime Minister before election

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
PSOE

Prime Minister after election

Mariano Rajoy
PP

The 2011 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 20 November 2011, to elect the 10th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Senate. An election had not been due until April 2012 at latest, but a call by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for a snap election five months ahead of schedule was announced on 29 July 2011. Zapatero would not be seeking a third term in office, and with political pressure mounting, a deteriorating economic situation and his political project exhausted, an early election was perceived as the only way out.[1][2]

The election campaign was dominated by the effects of an ongoing financial crisis, high unemployment, a large public deficit and a soaring risk premium. Opinion polls had shown consistent leads for the opposition People's Party (PP) over the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), whose popularity had plummeted after Zapatero's U-turns in economic policy had forced him to adopt tough spending cuts and austerity measures. Massive anti-austerity protests had taken place in May 2011 under the form of the 15-M Movement, and in the local and regional elections held a few days later popular support for the PSOE fell dramatically. On 21 October, the armed organization ETA announced a permanent cessation of armed activity, turning the 2011 election into the first since the Spanish transition to democracy without ETA attacks.[3]

The election resulted in the PSOE being swept out from power in the worst defeat for a sitting government in Spain up until that time since 1982, losing 4.3 million votes and scoring its worst result in a general election ever since the first democratic election in 1977.[4] In contrast, PP's Mariano Rajoy won a record absolute majority in a landslide, being his party's best historic result as well as the second largest and, to date, last majority in Spanish democracy.[5] Also for the first time in a general election, the PSOE failed to come out on top in both Andalusia and Catalonia, with the nationalist Convergence and Union (CiU) emerging victorious in the later, whereas the abertzale left Amaiur achieved a major breakthrough in both the Basque Country and Navarre.[6] United Left (IU) experienced a turnaround of its electoral fortunes and saw its first remarkable increase in 15 years,[7] whereas centrist Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) exceeded all expectations with over one million votes, 5 seats and just 0.3% short of the 5% threshold required for being recognized a party parliamentary group in Congress.[8][9]


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  1. ^ Garea, Fernando (29 July 2011). "Zapatero convoca el 20-N para que "otro Gobierno dé certidumbre"". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  2. ^ "Siete años de Gobierno de Zapatero" (in Spanish). Cadena SER. 29 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  3. ^ Europa Press (11 November 2011). "El Gobierno resalta que son las primeras elecciones sin atentados de ETA". eldiario.es (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  4. ^ Fernández, Alberto (20 November 2011). "Rubalcaba bate la peor marca del PSOE en 30 años" (in Spanish). RTVE. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  5. ^ Hernanz, Miriam (20 November 2011). "Rajoy rompe el techo de Génova y logra la segunda mayoría más amplia de la democracia" (in Spanish). RTVE. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  6. ^ Martín Plaza, Ana (20 November 2011). "Rajoy logra para el PP una mayoría histórica con 186 diputados y el PSOE se hunde con 110" (in Spanish). RTVE. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  7. ^ Vallejo, Mario (20 November 2011). "IU multiplica sus diputados y sale de una "larga travesía del desierto" por el descalabro del PSOE" (in Spanish). RTVE. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  8. ^ Hernanz, Miriam (20 November 2011). "UPyD roza el grupo parlamentario al superar el millón de votos y obtener escaño por Valencia" (in Spanish). RTVE. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  9. ^ Rojo, Iratxe (20 November 2011). "El PP se lleva por delante al PSOE". El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 12 July 2017.