2000 Spanish general election

Background

On 5 May 1996, José María Aznar from the People's Party (PP) was able to form the first centre-right government in Spain since 1982 through confidence and supply agreements with Convergence and Union (CiU), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), and Canarian Coalition (CC), in what came to be coined as the Majestic Pact.

On the economy, Aznar's government focused its efforts on reducing inflation, public debt and fiscal deficit—which was achieved in part through privatization of state-owned companies such as Telefónica, Tabacalera, Endesa and Repsol—and reactivating the private sector through orthodox economics, in order to meet the convergence criteria established by Maastricht. As a result, in 1999 Spain was able to join the new European currency, the euro. The unemployment rate saw a stark decrease while the Madrid Stock Exchange and the IBEX 35 saw record historical highs. The buoyancy of this period was dubbed an "economic miracle" and served as a platform for Aznar to coin the slogan España va bien (Spanish for "Spain is doing well").

The 1996 general election had seen the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) being forced into opposition for the first time since 1982. In the party congress held in June 1997, Felipe González, who had been prime minister for over 13 years until 1996 and PSOE secretary-general since 1974, announced his intention to leave the party's leadership. The party, divided at the time between González's supporters (renovadores, Spanish for "renovators") and those following the discipline of former deputy prime minister and PSOE deputy secretary-general Alfonso Guerra (guerristas), elected Joaquín Almunia, a "renovator" and former labour and public administrations minister, as new party leader. While it was suggested that González could remain as the party's candidate for prime minister in the next general election, he ruled himself out.

A primary election to elect the prime ministerial nominee, held among PSOE members on 24 April 1998, saw Almunia, supported by González and prominent party "renovators", facing Josep Borrell, former public works minister who received the backing of the guerrista faction. Borrell defeated Almunia, but the latter remained as the party's secretary-general in order to prevent an extraordinary congress, a situation prompting a "bicephaly" (* duumvirate*) which would see both Borrell and Almunia clashing for months on party direction and strategy issues, as the extent of each one's competences on the party's political leadership remained unclear. Borrell renounced as candidate in May 1999 after it was unveiled that two former aides were involved in a judicial investigation for tax fraud, leaving a vacancy that resulted in Almunia being proclaimed as candidate without opposition.

Disappointment with the 1996 election results led United Left (IU) to undergo an internal crisis, which worsened over Julio Anguita's confrontational attitude with the PSOE—to the point of siding with the PP in a number of parliamentary votes—and a perceived lack of democracy within IU. Anguita sought to prevent an electoral alliance between United Left–Galician Left (EU–EG) and the Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdeG–PSOE) ahead of the 1997 Galician regional election, a move which received criticism from Initiative for Catalonia (IC), IU's sister party in Catalonia, with which disagreements over the alliance's political direction had been on the rise since the 1996 general election. The Democratic Party of the New Left (PDNI), constituted as an internal current within IU which had been critical of Anguita's leadership, was expelled from the alliance's governing bodies after it broke party discipline in Congress over the issue of labour reform in June 1997. The crisis came to a peak in September 1997, which saw PDNI's expulsion from IU as a whole, the dissolution of the PDNI-controlled regional leaderships in Cantabria and Castilla–La Mancha and the break up of relations with EU–EG and IC. The PDNI then sought electoral alliances with the PSOE, which materialized ahead of the 1999 local, regional and European Parliament elections.

The Basque separatist group ETA continued with its activity during these years, with its most relevant action being the kidnapping and assassination of PP Ermua councillor Miguel Ángel Blanco in July 1997. Blanco's killing had a deep social impact throughout Spain, with more than six million people across the country taking to the streets over four days to demand an end to ETA violence—a spontaneous civic response dubbed as the "Ermua spirit"—and even some of the group's supporters publicly condemned it. The signing of the Declaration of Estella between the PNV and Herri Batasuna in September 1998 led ETA to announce an "indefinite ceasefire" four days later. Aznar authorized talks between his government and ETA, but a single meeting in Zurich found the group no more willing to compromise on its core demands than it had been in the past; negotiations failed and ETA ended the truce in late 1999. In December 1999, the Civil Guard foiled a plot by ETA to bring 1,700 kg of explosives to Madrid, intended for its use in blowing up the Torre Picasso (in what was dubbed as "the convoy of death").

The relationship between the PP and its parliamentary allies became a focus of political interest due to its importance for government stability, the previous animosity between the PP and peripheral nationalism (particularly with CiU and PNV) and diverging stances over the degree of devolution to be awarded to autonomous communities. PP and CiU frequently clashed over a number of issues and the degree of fulfillment of their signed commitments, with Catalan president Jordi Pujol persistently threatening to terminate his party's support to Aznar. Mutual interest, with the stability of Pujol's government in Catalonia also dependant on continued support from the PP in the regional parliament, helped ensure that the legislative term reached its end, with both parties confirming the renewal of their agreements in January 1998. As a result of the PP–CiU alliance, Aznar's government oversaw a large transfer of powers to regions—traffic, employment promotion, vocational training, port management and fiscal policies (including taxes on personal income, wealth, property transfers, documented legal acts, inheritance, gifts and gambling)—the abolition of compulsory military service and the reform of the State's peripheral administration. Relations with Basque nationalists proved more difficult and worsened throughout the legislative term, particularly following the Estella declaration in September 1998, ultimately leading the PNV to withdraw all support to the government in 1999. Growing political differences between the PP and the Aragonese Party (PAR)—allied since the 1996 election—saw the latter allying with the PSOE in the aftermath of the 1999 Aragonese regional election and breaking away from the PP's parliamentary group in October 1999.

Overview

Under the 1978 Constitution, the Spanish Cortes Generales were envisaged as an imperfect bicameral system. The Congress of Deputies had greater legislative power than the Senate, having the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a prime minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority of votes. Nonetheless, the Senate possessed a limited number of functions—such as ratification of international treaties, authorization of collaboration agreements between autonomous communities, enforcement of direct rule, regulation of interterritorial compensation funds, and its role in constitutional amendment and in the appointment of members to the Constitutional Court and the General Council of the Judiciary—which were not subject to the Congress's override.

Electoral system

Voting for each chamber of the Cortes Generales was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age and in full enjoyment of their political rights, provided that they were not sentenced—by a final court ruling—to deprivation of the right to vote, nor being legally incapacitated.

The Congress of Deputies was entitled to a minimum of 300 and a maximum of 400 seats, with the electoral law setting its size at 350. 348 members were elected in 50 multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Spain, with each being allocated an initial minimum of two seats and the remaining 248 being distributed in proportion to their populations—using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional voting system, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes (which included blank ballots) being applied in each constituency. The two remaining seats were allocated to Ceuta and Melilla as single-member districts and elected using plurality voting. The use of the electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold based on the district magnitude and the distribution of votes among candidacies.

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:

208 seats in the Senate were elected using an open list partial block voting system: in constituencies electing four seats, electors could vote for up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, for up to two candidates; and for one candidate in single-member districts. Each of the 47 peninsular provinces was allocated four seats, whereas for insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, districts were the islands themselves, with the larger (Mallorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife) being allocated three seats each, and the smaller (Menorca, Ibiza–Formentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma) one each. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each. Additionally, autonomous communities could appoint at least one senator each and were entitled to one additional senator per each million inhabitants.

The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacated seats; instead, any vacancies that occurred after the proclamation of candidates and into the legislative term were to be covered by the successive candidates in the list and, when required, by the designated substitutes.

Eligibility

Spanish citizens of age and with the legal capacity to vote could run for election, provided that they were not sentenced to imprisonment by a final court ruling nor convicted, even if by a non-final ruling, to forfeiture of eligibility or to specific disqualification or suspension from public office under particular offences: rebellion and terrorism when involving crimes against life, physical integrity or freedom of the person. Other causes of ineligibility were imposed on the following officials:

• Members of the Spanish royal family and their spouses;
• The holders of a number of positions: the president and members of the Constitutional Court, the General Council of the Judiciary, the Supreme Court, the Council of State, the Court of Auditors and the Economic and Social Council; the Ombudsman; the State's Attorney General; high-ranking members—undersecretaries, secretaries-general, directors-general and chiefs of staff—of Spanish government departments, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Social Security and other government agencies; government delegates and sub-delegates in the autonomous communities; the director-general of RTVE; the director of the Electoral Register Office; the governor and deputy governor of the Bank of Spain; the chairs of the Official Credit Institute and other official credit institutions; and members of electoral commissions and of the Nuclear Safety Council;
• Heads of diplomatic missions in foreign states or international organizations (ambassadors and plenipotentiaries);
• Judges and public prosecutors in active service;
• Personnel of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) and law enforcement corps in active service.

Other causes of ineligibility for both chambers were imposed on a number of territorial-level officers in the aforementioned categories—during their tenure of office—in constituencies within the whole or part of their respective area of jurisdiction, as well as employees of foreign states and members of regional governments. Incompatibility provisions extended to the president of the Competition Defence Court; members of RTVE's board and of the offices of the prime minister, the ministers and the secretaries of state; government delegates in port authorities, hydrographic confederations and toll highway concessionary companies; presidents and other high-ranking members of public entities, state monopolies, companies with majority public participation and public saving banks; as well as the impossibility of simultaneously holding the positions of deputy and senator or regional legislator.

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance 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.

Election date

The term of each chamber of the Cortes Generales—the Congress and the Senate—expired four years from the date of their previous election, unless they were dissolved earlier. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the scheduled date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE), with election day taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication. The previous election was held on 3 March 1996, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 3 March 2000. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 8 February 2000, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible date for election day on Sunday, 2 April 2000.

The prime minister had the prerogative to propose the monarch to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no state of emergency was in force and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since the previous one. Additionally, both chambers were to be dissolved and a new election called if an investiture process failed to elect a prime minister within a two-month period from the first ballot. Barring this exception, there was no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections to the Congress and the Senate. Still, as of , there has been no precedent of separate elections taking place under the 1978 Constitution.

As part of the PP–CiU agreement, Aznar was required to give Pujol early notice in the event he decided to advance the election, with the latter warning about his ability to force one at any given time. Despite policy disagreements between both parties during the legislative term, Aznar warned that losing CiU's support would not necessarily translate into an early election. Pujol's initial aim to bring forward the 1999 Catalan regional election to earlier that year prompted Aznar to offer to coordinate both the regional and general elections, although this did not ultimately materialize. It was suggested that Aznar would be tempted to call a snap election after the introduction of the euro was effective at 1 January 1999, while speculation among PP ranks and government members was that an election would be called in the spring of 1999 or in June, to coincide with the scheduled local, regional and European Parliament elections. This possibility was fueled by some remarks by Pujol that a general election would be held in 1999—a remark that he was forced to rectify later on—coinciding with a critical point in the PP–CiU relationship. Aznar himself repeteadly rejected all these claims.

In the summer of 1999, a new round of speculation emerged that Aznar was considering holding an early election in the autumn, but this was ended by Aznar re-assuring that it was his wish to exhaust the legislature and for the election to be held when due, in March 2000. On 23 December 1999, it was confirmed that the general election would be held in March, together with the 2000 Andalusian regional election. The dissolution of the Cortes Generales was arranged for 17 January, thus ending the longest parliamentary term in Spanish democracy up until that point.

The Cortes Generales were officially dissolved on 18 January 2000 with the publication of the dissolution decree in the BOE, setting election day for 12 March and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 5 April.

Outgoing parliament

The tables below show the composition of the parliamentary groups in both chambers at the time of dissolution.

Parties and candidates

Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:

The election was marked by the exploration of joint candidacies between the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and other parties in the left of the political spectrum. One such example was in Catalonia, where a left-wing alliance came to fruition between the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia–Greens (IC–V) under the Catalan Agreement of Progress label, aiming to mirror the success of a similar alliance between the PSC and IC–V in the 1999 Catalan regional election. Ahead of the Senate election in Ibiza and Formentera, PSOE, United Left of the Balearic Islands (EUIB), The Greens (LV), Nationalist and Ecologist Agreement (ENE) and ERC formed the Pact for Ibiza and Formentera.

Various attempts at forming a joint left-wing candidacy for the Senate in the Valencian Community were unsuccessful, primarily due to disagreement over the label and format of such an alliance. Nationwide, an agreement was reached between the national leaderships of PSOE and United Left, under which both parties agreed to cooperate in the Senate elections for 27 constituencies: in those districts, and taking consideration of the Senate electoral system allowing up to three votes to each voter, the PSOE would field two candidates to one from IU, with the parties urging voters to cast their votes as if it were a joint list of three. The PSOE also offered IU a similar agreement for the Congress of Deputies, wherein IU would not run in 34 constituencies where it would unlikely win a seat on its own, with a later offer reducing the number to 14. These offers were both rejected.

Basque Citizens (EH), the Basque electoral coalition including Herri Batasuna, called for election boycott and urged its supporters to abstain.

Campaign

Party slogans

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2000 Spanish general election

Results

Congress of Deputies

Senate

Maps

File:2000 Spanish general election map.svg|Election results by constituency (Congress). File:2000 Spanish election - Results.svg|Vote winner strength by constituency (Congress). File:2000 Spanish election - AC results.svg|Vote winner strength by autonomous community (Congress).

Aftermath

Government formation

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

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147. (12 January 2000). "La izquierda catalana se presentará unida al Senado y formará grupo al margen del PSOE". El País.
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149. (25 January 2000). "Los partidos de izquierda sellan su pacto para el Senado". El País.
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156. (30 January 2000). "Els Verds de Eivissa se integran en la candidatura unitaria al Senado". Periódico de Ibiza.
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158. (14 November 1999). "Principio de acuerdo de la izquierda para la candidatura única al Senado". El País.
159. (4 December 1999). "El PSPV enfría las posibilidades de lograr un acuerdo al Senado con el resto de partidos". El País.
160. (10 December 1999). "La izquierda se muestra incapaz de pactar una lista única para el Senado". El País.
161. (18 November 1999). "El PSPV sólo aceptará una lista al Senado con EU bajo sus siglas". El País.
162. (28 November 1999). "El Consell Nacional de EU aprueba la "entesa" de la izquierda para el Senado bajo siglas unitarias". El País.
163. (27 January 2000). "EU y Bloc, dispuestos a reabrir la negociación sobre la 'Entesa' al Senado con los socialistas". El País.
164. (29 January 2000). "La ausencia de acuerdo entre PSOE e IU en Madrid frustra la posible 'Entesa' al Senado". El País.
165. (2 February 2000). "PSOE e IU cierran un pacto para el Senado y descartan presentarse juntos al Congreso". El País.
166. (7 February 2000). "PSOE e IU cerraron anoche el pacto para el Senado en 27 provincias". El País.
167. (25 January 2000). "Almunia ofrece a IU un pacto de gobierno". El País.
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170. (29 January 2000). "IU centró su estrategia en forzar una coalición en algunas provincias". El País.
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172. (9 February 2000). "HB despliega una candidatura de presos y dirigentes de su Mesa Nacional para propugnar la abstención". El País.
173. (27 February 2000). "Batzarre deja EH porque ETA ha puesto Lizarra "patas arriba"". El País.
174. (17 February 2004). "Un mapa de España y el eslogan "Juntos vamos a más" serán las claves en la campaña electoral del PP". Libertad Digital.
175. (6 February 2000). "IU exige al PSOE que no pida "el voto útil"". El País.
176. (12 May 2016). "Así naufragó la alianza PSOE-IU en las generales del 2000". Sabemos.
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179. (26 February 2000). "El BNG aclara que su apoyo a un Gobierno progresista no sería "un cheque en blanco"". El País.
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182. (4 April 2000). "Acuerdo de 29 de marzo de 2000, de la Junta Electoral Central, por el que se ordena la publicación del resumen de los resultados de las elecciones al Congreso de los Diputados y al Senado convocadas por Real Decreto 64/2000, de 17 de enero, y celebradas el 12 de marzo de 2000, conforme a las actas de escrutinio general y de proclamación de electos remitidas por las distintas Juntas Electorales Provinciales y por las Juntas Electorales de Ceuta y de Melilla". [[Official State Gazette]].
183. (28 April 2000). "Acuerdo de 10 de abril de 2000, de la Junta Electoral Central, de publicación de corrección de errores del resumen de los resultados de las elecciones al Congreso de los Diputados y al Senado, convocadas por Real Decreto 64/2000, de 17 de enero, y celebradas el 12 de marzo de 2000, según los datos que figuran en las actas de escrutinio general y de proclamación de electos, remitidas por las distintas Juntas Electorales Provinciales y por las Juntas Electorales de Ceuta y de Melilla". [[Official State Gazette]].
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