The 1983 Extremaduran regional election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

of the

autonomous community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...

. All 65 seats in the Assembly were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

all throughout

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE), under the leadership of pre-autonomic president

Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra (Mérida, Spain 19 January 1948) is a Spanish politician of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was President of the Regional Government of Extremadura for 24 years (1983–2007). Biography He gained a ...

, won a landslide victory by securing 53% of the share and 36 out of 65 seats. The People's Coalition, the electoral alliance of the People's Alliance (AP), the

People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan *People's Democratic Party (Belize) *People's Democratic Party (Bhutan) *People's Democratic Party (Chile) * People's Democratic Party (Dom ...

(PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL), emerged as the second largest political force with 30% of the vote and 20 seats, whereas

United Extremadura United Extremadura ( es, Extremadura Unida, EU) is a centre-right regionalist political party in the Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish la ...

(EU) and the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving as ...

(PCE) entered the Assembly with 6 and 4 seats, respectively.

Overview

Electoral system

The

Assembly of Extremadura The Assembly of Extremadura (Spanish: ''Asamblea de Extremadura''; also called ''Parlamento de Extremadura'') is the elected unicameral legislature of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura. The electoral period is four years. The Assembly of Ex ...

was the

devolved Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...

unicameral legislature Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

of the

, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the

Spanish Constitution The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese language, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the Democracy, democratic law that is supreme l ...

and the Extremaduran Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president. Transitory Provision First of the Statute established a specific electoral procedure for the first election to the Regional Assembly of Murcia, to be supplemented by the provisions within Royal Decree-Law 20/1977, of 18 March, and its related regulations. Voting for the Assembly was on the basis of

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Extremadura and in full enjoyment of their political rights. The 65 members of the Assembly of Extremadura were elected using the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...

and a

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some inf ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

, with an

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Alternatively, parties failing to reach the threshold in one of the constituencies were also entitled to enter the seat distribution as long as they ran candidates in both districts and reached five percent regionally. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The population ...

and Cáceres, with each being allocated a fixed number of seats: 35 for Badajoz and 30 for Cáceres.

Election date

The Junta of Extremadura, in agreement with the

Government of Spain gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua , image = , caption = Logo of the Government of Spain , headerstyle = background-color: #efefef , label1 = Role , data1 = Executive power , label2 = Established , da ...

, was required to call an election to the Assembly of Extremadura before 31 May 1983. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Assembly was to be automatically dissolved and a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...

called, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms. On 7 March 1983, it was confirmed that the first election to the Assembly of Extremadura would be held on Sunday, 8 May, together with regional elections for twelve other autonomous communities as well as nationwide local elections.

Parliamentary composition

The first election to the Assembly of Extremadura was officially called on 10 March 1983, after the publication of the election

decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...

in the Official Gazette of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura, with the mandate of the provisional Assembly ending on 8 May 1983. The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the provisional Assembly at the time of its expiry.

Parties and candidates

The electoral law allowed for

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...

and

federations A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

registered in the

interior ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

coalitions A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within fifteen days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one-thousandth of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election—with a compulsory minimum of 500 signatures—disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:

Overview

Electoral system

Election date

Parliamentary composition

Parties and candidates

Results

Overall

Distribution by constituency

Aftermath

Government formation

1987 motion of no confidence

Notes

References