2003 Aragonese regional election

The 2003 Aragonese regional election was held on Sunday, 25 May 2003, to elect the 6th Cortes of the autonomous community of Aragon. All 67 seats in the Cortes were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in 12 other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.

2003 Aragonese regional election

← 1999 25 May 2003 2007 →
All 67 seats in the Cortes of Aragon 34 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	1,019,644 0.2%
Turnout	717,457 (70.4%) 5.8 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Marcelino Iglesias Gustavo Alcalde Chesús Bernal Party PSOE PP CHA Leader since 15 February 1995 18 May 2001 29 June 1986 Leader's seat Zaragoza Zaragoza Zaragoza Last election 23 seats, 30.8% 28 seats, 38.2% 5 seats, 11.0% Seats won 27 22 9 Seat change 4 6 4 Popular vote 270,468 219,058 97,763 Percentage 37.9% 30.7% 13.7% Swing 7.1 pp 7.5 pp 2.7 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader José Ángel Biel Adolfo Barrena Party PAR IU Leader since 2 June 2000 May 2002 Leader's seat Teruel Zaragoza Last election 10 seats, 13.3% 1 seat, 3.9% Seats won 8 1 Seat change 2 0 Popular vote 79,670 21,795 Percentage 11.2% 3.1% Swing 2.1 pp 0.8 pp
Constituency results map for the Cortes of Aragon
President before election Marcelino Iglesias PSOE Elected President Marcelino Iglesias PSOE

The election saw the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which had ruled Aragon since the previous election, becoming the largest party in the Courts for the first time since the 1991 election. The PSOE gains came at the expense of the People's Party (PP), which saw a drop of 7 points on its vote share. The Aragonese Union (CHA) made gains and overtook the Aragonese Party (PAR) as the third largest party in the Courts. For the PAR, this was the fourth consecutive election where it lost ground. United Left (IU) held its single seat, albeit with a slightly reduced vote share.

The PSOE and PAR maintained the coalition administration formed after the previous election. As a result, Marcelino Iglesias was re-elected as President of Aragon.

Overview

Electoral system

The Cortes of Aragon were the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Aragon, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Aragonese Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president.^[1]

Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Aragon and in full enjoyment of their political rights. The 67 members of the Cortes of Aragon were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza, with each being allocated an initial minimum of 13 seats and the remaining 28 being distributed in proportion to their populations (provided that the seat-to-population ratio in the most populated province did not exceed 2.75 times that of the least populated one).^[1][2]

In smaller constituencies, the use of the electoral method resulted in an effective threshold based on the district magnitude and the distribution of votes among candidacies.^[3]

Election date

The term of the Cortes of Aragon expired four years after the date of their previous election. Elections to the Cortes were fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The previous election was held on 13 June 1999, setting the election date for the Cortes on Sunday, 25 May 2003.^[1][2][4]

The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Cortes of Aragon and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no nationwide election was due and some time requirements were met: namely, that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or within the legislature's last year ahead of its scheduled expiry, nor before one year had elapsed since a previous dissolution under this procedure. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Cortes were to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called. Any snap election held as a result of these circumstances would not alter the period to the next ordinary election, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.^[1][5]

Parties and candidates

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions 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.^[2][4]

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

Candidacy		Parties and alliances	Leading candidate		Ideology	Previous result		Gov.	Ref.
						Votes (%)	Seats
	PP	List People's Party (PP)		Gustavo Alcalde	Conservatism Christian democracy	38.21%	28	N
	PSOE	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)		Marcelino Iglesias	Social democracy	30.81%	23	Y
	PAR	List Aragonese Party (PAR)		José Ángel Biel	Regionalism Centrism	13.25%	10	Y
	CHA	List Aragonese Union (CHA)		Chesús Bernal	Aragonese nationalism Eco-socialism	11.04%	5	N
	IU	List United Left of Aragon (IU)		Adolfo Barrena	Socialism Communism	3.86%	1	N

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; 34 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Aragon.

Color key:

  Exit poll

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Turnout						Lead
2003 regional election	25 May 2003	—	70.4	30.7 22	37.9 27	11.2 8	13.7 9	3.1 1	7.2
Sigma Dos/Antena 3[p 1]	25 May 2003	?	?	? 23/25	? 24/26	? 6/8	? 8/10	? 1/3	?
Ipsos–Eco/RTVE[p 2]	25 May 2003	?	?	? 23/25	? 24/26	? 7/8	? 9/10	? 1	?
C&J/El Periódico[p 3]	12–17 May 2003	?	?	29.0 20/21	37.9 27/28	13.8 9/10	13.3 9/10	? 1	8.9
CIS[p 4][p 5]	22 Mar–28 Apr 2003	1,339	68.6	30.4 22	35.6 26	13.9 10	14.5 8	3.9 1	5.2
C&J/El Periódico[p 6]	27 Apr 2003	?	?	28.0 19/20	38.1 27/28	15.2 9/10	? 9/10	? 0/1	10.1
CIS[p 7][p 8][p 9]	9 Sep–9 Oct 2002	492	71.6	35.1	33.1	10.7	15.3	4.1	2.0
2000 general election	12 Mar 2000	—	71.4	47.2 (34)	31.1 (24)	5.4 (3)	10.4 (5)	3.5 (1)	16.1
1999 regional election	13 Jun 1999	—	64.6	38.2 28	30.8 23	13.3 10	11.0 5	3.9 1	7.4

Results

Overall

← Summary of the 25 May 2003 Cortes of Aragon election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Total	+/−
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	270,468	37.94	+7.13	27	+4
	People's Party (PP)	219,058	30.73	–7.48	22	–6
	Aragonese Union (CHA)	97,763	13.71	+2.67	9	+4
	Aragonese Party (PAR)	79,670	11.18	–2.07	8	–2
	United Left of Aragon (IU)	21,795	3.06	–0.80	1	±0
	The Greens–SOS Nature (LV–SOS)1	4,308	0.60	+0.05	0	±0
	Aragonese Initiative (INAR)	1,703	0.24	New	0	±0
	Family and Life Party (PFyV)	1,300	0.18	New	0	±0
	Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)	1,056	0.15	New	0	±0
	Republican Left (IR)	519	0.07	New	0	±0
	Humanist Party (PH)	330	0.05	–0.10	0	±0
Blank ballots		14,874	2.09	+0.01
Total		712,844			67	±0
Valid votes		712,844	99.36	+0.07
Invalid votes		4,613	0.64	–0.07
Votes cast / turnout		717,457	70.36	+5.76
Abstentions		302,187	29.64	–5.76
Registered voters		1,019,644
Sources[6][7][8]
Footnotes: 1 The Greens–SOS Nature results are compared to SOS Nature totals in the 1999 election.

Popular vote PSOE   37.94% PP   30.73% CHA   13.71% PAR   11.18% IU   3.06% Others   1.29% Blank ballots   2.09%

Seats PSOE   40.30% PP   32.84% CHA   13.43% PAR   11.94% IU   1.49%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency	PSOE		PP		CHA		PAR		IU
	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S	%	S
Huesca	42.4	8	29.7	6	10.0	2	12.3	2	2.6	−
Teruel	34.8	5	33.6	5	7.6	1	18.2	3	3.7	−
Zaragoza	37.4	14	30.5	11	15.7	6	9.7	3	3.1	1
Total	37.9	27	30.7	22	13.7	9	11.2	8	3.1	1
Sources[6][7][8]

Aftermath

Investiture Marcelino Iglesias (PSOE)
Ballot →		3 July 2003
Required majority →		34 out of 67 Y
	Yes • PSOE (27) • PAR (8)	35 / 67
	No • PP (22) • CHA (9)	31 / 67
	Abstentions • IU (1)	1 / 67
	Absentees	0 / 67
Sources[8]

References

Opinion poll sources

1. "El sondeo de Sigma Dos determina una lucha codo a codo entre populares y socialistas en Madrid". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 25 May 2003. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
2. "Sondeo a pie de urna de Ipsos Eco Consulting para TVE". ABC Sevilla (in Spanish). 25 May 2003. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
3. "El PSOE ganará en Aragón e Iglesias podrá repetir si le apoyan PAR o CHA". El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 18 May 2003.
4. "Preelectoral elecciones autonómicas, 2003. CA de Aragón (Estudio nº 2484. Marzo-Abril 2003)" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 17 May 2003.
5. "La guerra pasa factura electoral al PP". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 18 May 2003.
6. "Iglesias podrá elegir entre PAR y CHA para un nuevo pacto". El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 27 April 2003.
7. "Instituciones y autonomías, II. CA de Aragón (Estudio nº 2455. Septiembre-Octubre 2002)". CIS (in Spanish). 19 November 2002.
8. "El PP, partido más votado en diez Comunidades Autónomas" (PDF). El Mundo (in Spanish). 19 November 2002.
9. "El PP ganaría las autonómicas en diez Comunidades y el PSOE en cuatro, según el CIS". ABC (in Spanish). 20 November 2002.

Other

1. Ley Orgánica 8/1982, de 10 de agosto, de Estatuto de Autonomía de Aragón. Boletín Oficial del Estado (Organic Law 8) (in Spanish). 10 August 1982. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
2. Ley 2/1987, de 16 de febrero, Electoral de la Comunidad Autónoma de Aragón. Boletín Oficial del Estado (Law 2) (in Spanish). 12 February 1987. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
3. Gallagher, Michael (30 July 2012). "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
4. Ley Orgánica 5/1985, de 19 de junio, del Régimen Electoral General. Boletín Oficial del Estado (Organic Law 5) (in Spanish). 19 June 1985. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
5. Ley Orgánica 5/1996, de 30 de diciembre, de Reforma de la Ley Orgánica 8/1982, de 10 de agosto, de Estatuto de Autonomía de Aragón, modificada por la Ley Orgánica 6/1994, de 24 de marzo, de reforma de dicho Estatuto. Boletín Oficial del Estado (Organic Law 5) (in Spanish). 30 December 1996. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
6. "Cortes of Aragon election results, 25 May 2003" (PDF). www.juntaelectoralcentral.es (in Spanish). Electoral Commission of Aragon. 20 June 2003. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
7. "Aragon Electoral Archive. Cortes of Aragon election, 2003. Autonomous Community of Aragon". servicios.aragon.es (in Spanish). Government of Aragon. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
8. "Elecciones a las Cortes de Aragón (1983 - 2019)". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 September 2017.