The 2019 Balearic regional election was held on Sunday, 26 May 2019, to elect the 10th
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
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 ...
of the
Balearic Islands. All 59 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with
regional elections in eleven 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 ...
, as well as the
2019 European Parliament election
The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...
.
Overview
Electoral system
The
Parliament of the Balearic Islands
The Parliament of the Balearic Islands (Catalan: ''Parlament de les Illes Balears'') is the unicameral autonomous parliament of the Balearic Islands, one of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Parliament, composed of 59 elected seats, is l ...
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 ...
,
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 multi ...
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 ...
of the
Balearic Islands, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the
Spanish Constitution
The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the democratic law that is supreme in the Kingdom of Spain. It was e ...
and the
Balearic Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a
regional president.
Voting for the Parliament 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 stan ...
, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Balearic Islands and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Additionally,
Balearic people abroad were required to
apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote ( es, Voto rogado).
The 59 members of the Parliament of the Balearic Islands 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 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. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the
islands
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
of
Mallorca,
Menorca
Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...
,
Ibiza and
Formentera, with each being allocated a fixed number of seats:
Election date
The term of the Parliament of the Balearic Islands expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. 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 ...
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 Gazette of the Balearic Islands (BOIB), with election day taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication. The
previous election was held on 24 May 2015, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 24 May 2019. The election decree was required to be published in the BOIB no later than 30 April 2019, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Sunday, 23 June 2019.
The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of the Balearic Islands and call 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 ...
, provided that no
motion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or m ...
was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since the previous one. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a sixty-day period from the first ballot, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called.
The Parliament of the Balearic Islands was officially dissolved on 2 April 2019 after the publication of the dissolution decree in the BOIB, setting the election date for 26 May.
Background
The
previous election saw a left-wing majority in the
Parliament of the Balearic Islands
The Parliament of the Balearic Islands (Catalan: ''Parlament de les Illes Balears'') is the unicameral autonomous parliament of the Balearic Islands, one of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Parliament, composed of 59 elected seats, is l ...
for the first time. After the election, on 30 June 2015, Francina Armengol was elected president, forming a government with the
Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands
The Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands–PSOE ('' ca, Partit Socialista de les Illes Balears–PSOE'') is the regional branch in the Balearic Islands of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the main centre-left party in Spain since th ...
(PSIB),
More for Mallorca (Més) and
More for Menorca (MpM), with the external support of
We Can (Podemos) and the representative of
People for Formentera (GxF). Xelo Huertas, of Podem, took office as the
Parliament's speaker, the second authority of the region.
In November 2016, Podemos decided to cease two party deputies, including Huertas, for trying to benefit another party member's personal interests. On 25 January 2017, Huertas resigned as Speaker, although she continued in the Mixed Group as an independent deputy, along with Montse Seijas, the other expelled Podemos deputy. The parties of the pact, with some disputes, agreed to vote for Podemos deputy Baltasar Picornell to become new Speaker on 14 February 2017.
In March 2017, a fraudulent contract to the campaign manager of Més made by the regional vice president, Gabriel Barceló, appeared in the media. This fact created a crisis in the Government and ended up with the resignation of transparency minister Ruth Mateu and the withdrawal of her party, MpM, from the government, although remaining as an outer supporter.
In June 2017, the
People's Party (PP) member Álvaro Gijón resigned from the party but continued as a deputy in the Mixed Group. The cause was a fraudulent contract for a municipal company in
Palma made by the time Gijón was deputy mayor, also involving part of his family.
In December 2017, Barceló was accused of accepting a personal travel as a gift. This fact, along with controversies and internal disputes since March, made him resign as regional vice president and tourism minister. Barceló was relieved by Bel Busquets, of Més.
Parliamentary composition
The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the Parliament at the time of dissolution.
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 ...
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,
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 ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, 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:
The main opposition party, the
People's Party (PP), held its regional congress in March 2017, electing Biel Company as new party leader over former regional president
José Ramón Bauzà, who had resigned as the PP leader after the 2015 election. On 23 January 2019, Bauzà announced his withdrawal as PP member, resigning from his senator post, accusing his former party of "sowing and watering a
atalannationalism" allegedly "exploited" by left-wing parties. It was later revealed that Bauzà would be running for
Citizens (Cs) in the
2019 European Parliament election
The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...
.
In May 2017,
More for Minorca (MpM) was transformed into a party, electing 2015 candidate Nel Martí as its coordinator. In December 2018, Josep Castells was elected as its 2019 candidate.
In June 2018, president of the Island Council of Mallorca
Miquel Ensenyat won the
More for Mallorca (Més) primaries to become its candidate.
In November 2018,
We Can (Podemos) chose that its candidate would be
Juan Pedro Yllanes, who was member of the
Congress of Deputies
The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid.
It has 350 members elect ...
at the time.
In March 2019, Cs held its primaries, having Marc Pérez-Ribas winning over the regional leader and 2015 candidate Xavier Pericay.
Campaign
Party slogans
Election debates
;Opinion polls
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 poll. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 30 seats were required for an
absolute majority
A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority r ...
in the
Parliament of the Balearic Islands
The Parliament of the Balearic Islands (Catalan: ''Parlament de les Illes Balears'') is the unicameral autonomous parliament of the Balearic Islands, one of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Parliament, composed of 59 elected seats, is l ...
.
;
Results
Overall
Distribution by constituency
Aftermath
Notes
References
;Opinion poll sources
;Other
{{Regional elections in Spain in the 2010s
Balearic Islands
Regional elections in the Balearic Islands