1980 Catalan regional election

1980 Catalan regional election
← 1932 20 March 1980 1984 →
All 135 seats in the Parliament of Catalonia
68 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered4,432,776
Turnout2,718,888 (61.3%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Jordi Pujol Joan Reventós Josep Benet
Party CiU PSC–PSOE PSUC
Leader since 19 September 1978 16 July 1978 23 June 1978
Leader's seat Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona
Seats won 43 33 25
Popular vote 752,943 606,717 507,753
Percentage 27.8% 22.4% 18.8%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Antón Cañellas Heribert Barrera Francisco Hidalgo
Party UCD ERC PSA–PA
Leader since 23 December 1979 1976 1980
Leader's seat Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona
Seats won 18 14 2
Popular vote 286,922 240,871 71,841
Percentage 10.6% 8.9% 2.7%
Election result by constituency
President before election

Josep Tarradellas
ERC

Elected President

Jordi Pujol
CDC (CiU)

The 1980 Catalan regional election was held on Thursday, 20 March 1980, to elect the 1st Parliament of the autonomous community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. This was the first regional election to be held in Catalonia since the Spanish transition to democracy and the second democratic regional election in Catalan history after that of 1932.[1]

The election results granted a victory with nearly 28% of the vote and 43 seats for the Catalan nationalist Convergence and Union (CiU), the alliance of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC) led by Jordi Pujol, despite earlier predictions that the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC–PSOE) would emerge as the largest party in parliament and maintain the first place it had achieved in the 1977 and 1979 general elections.[2] Compared to the general elections, the PSC ambiguous positions throughout the campaign were said to have cost them votes both to the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) and to the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC)—both of which saw improvements to their general election results—as well as to abstention and, to a lesser extent, to the Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA), which was only narrowly able to enter the Parliament.[3][4] Results for the Centrists of Catalonia (CC–UCD) alliance were seen as disappointing, having lost many votes to Pujol's coalition and being shut from any chance to lead the regional government.[5][6]

The complicated parliamentary arithmetic resulting from the election—with the only alliances able to command an absolute majority being CiU–PSC (76 seats), CiU–UCD–ERC (75) and PSC–PSUC–ERC (72)—raised concerns on Pujol's prospects for a successful investiture.[7] In the end, Pujol would be able to get elected as Catalan president through the support from both UCD and ERC in a second ballot held on 24 April 1980.[8][9] The election would mark the beginning of 23 years of uninterrupted Pujol's rule and the start of CiU's hegemony in regional politics for decades to come.[10]

  1. ^ "Hoy se elige el segundo Parlamento democrático de Cataluña". El País (in Spanish). 20 March 1980. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  2. ^ "Los nacionalistas de Jordi Pujol vencen en las elecciones al Parlamento catalán". El País (in Spanish). 21 March 1980. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  3. ^ "El fracaso electoral puede disparar las tensiones internas en el PSC-PSOE". El País (in Spanish). 22 March 1980. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  4. ^ "El escrutinio final de Barcelona confirma los escaños del PSA". El País (in Spanish). 29 March 1980. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  5. ^ "Euforia nacionalista y preocupación de los socialistas en la noche electoral catalana". El País (in Spanish). 21 March 1980. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  6. ^ "Graves pérdidas de UCD y el Partido Socialista en Cataluña, en favor del nacionalismo moderado". El País (in Spanish). 22 March 1980. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  7. ^ "La elección de Pujol como presidente de la Generalidad, sujeta a un difícil proceso de alianzas". El País (in Spanish). 22 March 1980. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  8. ^ "Jordi Pujol intentará conseguir mañana los votos precisos para acceder a la presidencia de la Generalidad". El País (in Spanish). 23 April 1980. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  9. ^ "Jordi Pujol, elegido presidente de la Generalidad". El País (in Spanish). 25 April 1980. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  10. ^ "El pujolismo en once flashes". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 30 July 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2019.