1987 Valencian regional election

The 1987 Valencian regional election was held on Wednesday, 10 June 1987, to elect the 2nd Corts of the Valencian Community. All 89 seats in the Corts were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain, as well as the 1987 European Parliament election.

1987 Valencian regional election

10 June 1987
All 89 seats in the Corts Valencianes 45 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	2,727,703 2.7%
Turnout	2,030,881 (74.5%) 1.8 pp
Leader Joan Lerma Rita Barberá José Luis Boado Party PSOE AP CDS Leader since 31 July 1979 1987 1987 Leader's seat Valencia Valencia Valencia Last election 51 seats, 51.4% 27 seats (CP–UV)[lower-alpha 1] 0 seats, 1.9% Seats won 42 25 10 Seat change 9 2 10 Popular vote 828,961 476,099 225,663 Percentage 41.3% 23.7% 11.2% Swing 10.1 pp n/a 9.3 pp   Leader Filibert Crespo Albert Taberner Party UV IU–UPV Leader since 1987 1986 Leader's seat Valencia Valencia Last election 5 seats (CP–UV)[lower-alpha 1] 6 seats, 10.5%[lower-alpha 2] Seats won 6 6 Seat change 1 0 Popular vote 183,541 159,579 Percentage 9.1% 7.9% Swing n/a 2.6 pp
Constituency results map for the Corts Valencianes
President before election Joan Lerma PSOE Elected President Joan Lerma PSOE

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), suffering from a strong loss of popular support, lost 9 seats together with the absolute majority it had achieved in 1983. However, the PSOE remained as the largest party by a great margin due to the splitting up of the vote between the opposition parties. Incumbent President Joan Lerma was able to retain government thanks to the support of the IU-UPV alliance, and went on to form a minority government.

The People's Coalition had broken up after the 1986 general election. As a result, the People's Alliance (AP) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) contested the election separately. AP, with future Mayoress of Valencia Rita Barberá as regional candidate, scored slightly less than 24% of the vote and lost 2 seats compared to the combined totals for the AP-PDP-UL coalition in 1983, while the PDP was swept out of the Courts entirely.[1]

On the other hand, the election saw an increase of support for minor parties: Centrist Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) experienced a significant increase of its popular support and became the third political force in the region with over 10% of the share. The regionalist right-wing Valencian Union (UV), which ran separately for the first time, won 6 seats to the 5 it had obtained within the People's Coalition in 1983.[1] The Communist Party of Spain (PCE), which had formed the electoral alliance United Left (IU) in April 1986 with other smaller left-wing parties across Spain, stood in coalition with the regional Valencian People's Unity (UPV) and won 6 seats.

Overview

Electoral system

The Corts Valencianes were the devolved, unicameral legislature of the Valencian autonomous community, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a President of the Government.[2] Voting for the Corts was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the Valencian Community and in full enjoyment of their political rights.

The 89 members of the Corts Valencianes were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of 5 percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied regionally. Parties not reaching the threshold were not taken into consideration for seat distribution. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Alicante, Castellón and Valencia. Each constituency was entitled to an initial minimum of 20 seats, with the remaining 29 allocated among the constituencies in proportion to their populations on the condition that the seat to population ratio in any given province did not exceed three times that of any other.[2][3]

The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of at least 1 percent of the electors registered in the constituency for which they sought election. Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.[3][4][5]

Election date

The term of the Corts Valencianes expired four years after the date of their previous election. The election Decree was required to be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Journal of the Valencian Community, with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication. The previous election was held on 8 May 1983, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 8 May 1987. The election Decree was required to be published no later than 14 April 1987, with the election taking place no later than the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Corts on Saturday, 13 June 1987.[2][3][4][5]

The Corts Valencianes could not be dissolved before the date of expiry of parliament.[2]

Opinion polls

The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 45 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Corts Valencianes.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout										Lead
1987 regional election	10 Jun 1987	N/A	74.5	41.3 42	–	[lower-alpha 3]	[lower-alpha 3]	11.2 10	9.1 6	23.7 25	1.0 0	7.9 6	17.6
Demoscopia/El País[p 1]	22–26 May 1987	?	74	42.2 43	–	[lower-alpha 3]	[lower-alpha 3]	12.7 11	4.8 0	26.8 30	0.7 0	7.4 5	15.4
Sofemasa/AP[p 2][p 3]	16 Apr 1987	?	?	35.3	–	5.9	–	13.7	5.9	23.5	3.9	–	11.8
1986 general election	22 Jun 1986	N/A	76.4	47.5 49	28.8 32	4.7 0	1.9 0	8.8 8	3.1 0	[lower-alpha 4]	[lower-alpha 4]	–	18.7
1983 regional election	8 May 1983	N/A	72.7	51.4 51	31.9 32	7.5[lower-alpha 5] 6	3.1 0	1.9 0	[lower-alpha 4]	[lower-alpha 4]	[lower-alpha 4]	–	19.5

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 10 June 1987 Corts Valencianes election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	828,961	41.28	–10.13	42	–9
	People's Alliance (AP)^1	476,099	23.71	n/a	25	–2
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	225,663	11.24	+9.36	10	+10
	Valencian Union (UV)^1	183,541	9.14	n/a	6	+1
	United Left–Valencian People's Union (IU–UPV)^2	159,579	7.95	–2.58	6	±0
	Workers' Party of Spain–Communist Unity (PTE–UC)	33,770	1.68	New	0	±0
	The Greens (LV)	22,262	1.11	New	0	±0
	People's Democratic Party–Valencian Centrists (PDP–CV)	20,171	1.00	New	0	±0
	Valencian Electoral Coalition (CEV)	11,984	0.60	New	0	±0
	Spanish Vertex Ecological Development Revindication (VERDE)	5,056	0.25	New	0	±0
	Communist Unification of Spain (UCE)	4,325	0.22	New	0	±0
	Valencian Nationalist Left (ENV–URV)	4,175	0.21	–0.19	0	±0
	Humanist Platform (PH)	3,658	0.18	New	0	±0
	Republican Popular Unity (UPR)^3	3,309	0.16	+0.02	0	±0
	Left Front (FI)	2,295	0.11	New	0	±0
	Internationalist Socialist Workers' Party (POSI)	1,884	0.09	New	0	±0
Blank ballots		21,497	1.07	+0.38
Total		2,008,229			89	±0
Valid votes		2,008,229	98.88	–0.09
Invalid votes		22,652	1.12	+0.09
Votes cast / turnout		2,030,881	74.45	+1.71
Abstentions		696,822	25.55	–1.71
Registered voters		2,727,703
Sources[6][7][1]

Popular vote PSOE   41.28% AP   23.71% CDS   11.24% UV   9.14% IU–UPV   7.95% PTE–UC   1.68% LV   1.11% PDP–CV   1.00% Others   1.83% Blank ballots   1.07%

Seats PSOE   47.19% AP   28.09% CDS   11.24% UV   6.74% IU–UPV   6.74%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PSOE		AP		CDS		UV		IU–UPV
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
Alicante	42.6	14	28.0	9	14.3	4	0.8	−	6.8	2
Castellón	40.9	11	30.7	8	11.5	3	3.1	−	5.5	1
Valencia	40.6	17	19.9	8	9.5	3	14.9	6	9.1	3
Total	41.3	42	23.7	25	11.2	10	9.1	6	7.9	6
Sources[6][1]

Aftermath

Investiture
Candidate		Ballot →		21 July 1987
		Required majority →		45 out of 89
	Joan Lerma (PSOE)		Yes • PSOE (42) • IU–UPV (6)	48 / 89
			No • AP (25)	25 / 89
			Abstentions • CDS (10)	10 / 89
			Absentees • UV (6)	6 / 89
	Rita Barberá (AP)		Yes • AP (25)	25 / 89
			No • PSOE (42) • CDS (10) • IU–UPV (6)	58 / 89
			Abstentions	0 / 89
			Absentees • UV (6)	6 / 89
Sources[1][8]

Notes

1. Within the CP–UV alliance in the 1983 election.
2. Aggregated data for PCE–PCPV and UPV in the 1983 election.
3. Within IU–UPV.
4. Within AP–PDP–UL–UV/AP–PDP–PL.
5. Result for PCE–PCPV.

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "El CDS e IU-UPV, partidos 'bisagra'" (PDF). El País (in Spanish). 4 June 1987.
2. "Una encuesta de AP pronostica un fuerte descenso del PSOE en las municipales". ABC (in Spanish). 17 April 1987.
3. "Notable descenso del PSOE en los próximos comicios, según una encuesta encargada por AP". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 17 April 1987.

Other

1. "Eleccions a les Corts Valencianes (1983 - 2019)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 September 2017.
2. "Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community of 1982". Organic Law No. 1 of 1 July 1982. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 March 2017.
3. "Valencian Electoral Law of 1987". Law No. 2 of 31 March 1987. Official Journal of the Valencian Community (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 March 2017.
4. "General Electoral System Organic Law of 1985". Organic Law No. 5 of 19 June 1985. Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 December 2016.
5. "Representation of the people Institutional Act". www.juntaelectoralcentral.es. Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
6. "Corts Valencianes election, 1987". www.datoselecciones.com (in Spanish). Election Data. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
7. "Electoral Results. Electoral Data - Regional Election: 1987". www.cortsvalencianes.es (in Spanish). Corts Valencianes. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
8. "El socialista Joan Lerma, reelegido presidente de la Generalitat valencina". El País (in Spanish). 22 July 1987. Retrieved 28 July 2019.