Spain election maps

[Velasco]

I'm making some Spanish regional election maps and I thought it could be funny a thread on the subject. By the moment I've finished maps for Asturias (2011 and 2012), Canaries (2007 and 2011, also local elections) and Galicia (2005). I'm working in Galicia 2009 right now and I suppose that I'll finish others this summer, I'm interested particularly in Catalan elections. I'll make telegraphic summaries about voting systems, parties, candidates or the geographic distribution of the vote. Don't expect great things because I have a limited capacity, but ask what you want.

Asturias: 2011 and 2012.

The General Council of the Principality of Asturias has 45 members elected in closed list proportional representation allocated by D'Hont method. There is a 3% threshold for eligible lists. Asturias is divided in three electoral electoral districts: Central (34 seats), Western (6) and Eastern (5). The Central district has the bulk of the Asturian population and economic activity. Comprises the capital (Oviedo) the most populated city (Gijón), the industrial city of Avilés and the mining basins of Caudal (Mieres) and Nalón (Langreo). Eastern and Western districts are more rural and are slightly over represented.



The map above shows the population (thousands) in every council. The most populated area is the triangle between Oviedo, Gijón and Avilés. The coal mining basins have lost population because of the decline of the economic activity. Also, the rural areas have experienced a drop.

Traditionally Oviedo is a conservative place (overwhelming PP majorities in local elections), Gijón and Avilés are more progressive and the mining basins are obvious leftist strongholds, with PSOE and IU usually in 1st or 2nd places.

2011 election:

The Asturian branch of the Spanish Workers' Socialist Party (PSOE) has been in office since the first election in 1983, with the sole exception of the 1995-1999 legislature. PSOE had to face two major challenges: 1) the catastrophic economic situation in Spain and the unpopularity of Zapatero and PSOE and 2) the surge of a new party around the charismatic and well known nationwide figure of Francisco Álvarez Cascos, former Deputy Prime Minister of Spain and former general secretary of PP (People's Party). Internal quarrels between Álvarez Cascos and the regional and national PP directions ended with the 'general secretario' exit and the subsequent split of Asturian PP between Cascos and Gabino Lorenzo (former mayor of Oviedo). The new party was called FAC (it means Civic Asturian Forum, but also are the initials of Francisco Álvarez Cascos) and was a terrible headache for Asturian PP and the only cloud in the diaphanous PP sky in May 2011. Asturian PP placed Isabel Pérez Espinosa, former Oviedo councilor and a puppet of Gabino Lorenzo. PSOE candidate was Javier Fernández a mining engineer who replaced Vicente Álvarez Areces, the incumbent regional president.The IU (United Left) candidate was Jesús Iglesias (Llamazares 'Open Left' sector).



The outcome of the election was a terrible defeat for PSOE: 29.8% (-12.2%) and 15 seats (-6). FAC was the great winner, beyond expectations: 29.8% and 16 seats. PP dropped to the third place: 19.9% (-21.6%) and 10 seats (-10). IU improved slightly: 10.3% (+0.6%) and 4 seats (+1). UPyD fell short: 2.5% and 0 seats.

Surprisingly FAC was the party with the most votes in the main cities of Asturias, even in PP's Gabino de Lorenzo bastion of Oviedo. PSOE performances at Oviedo, Gijón or Avilés were terrible and its figures were also low in the mining basins. PP only managed to win in a few scattered unimportant councils.

[Velasco]

2012 Election:

FAC was the party with the plurality of seats on May election, although PSOE got the plurality of votes by a narrow margin. The Genaral Council had a right-wing majority in a traditionally left leaning region; FAC and PP won 26 of 45 seats and 49.7% of the vote. But a coalition government was impossible due the bad blood between Álvarez Cascos and the regional and national PP. Javier Fernández, the understated PSOE candidate gave up to present his candidacy.  FAC formed minority government for six months but he was unable to pass the budget and had to call a new election which was held on March 2012. Álvarez Cascos proved to be a bad bargainer and during his short term he was recriminated for being a sectarian and lacking of any sense of touch. Also, he had to face public recrimination for calling new elections in a crisis context. PSOE repeated candidacy with Javier Fernández, and PP appointed this time Mercédez Fernández, former friend of the former general secretary, IU placed again Jesús Iglesias.

FAC hopes were strenghthen its majority in a personal challenge of Álvarez Cascos against his critics. PSOE hoped to obtain a clear victory that allowed them to form a left-wing coalition or a minority government with IU external support. PP wished to overperform Cascos and at least get the second place. Finally, UPYD (Union, Progress and Democracy, the party of the former PSOE politician, Rosa Díez) hoped to get parliamentary representation and to be decisive in the subsequent negotiations.  

  

The election result was: PSOE: 32% (+2.2%) and 17 seats (+2); FAC 24% (-5%) and 12 seats (-4); PP 21.5% (+1.6%) and 10 seats (=); IU 13.8% (+3.5%) and 5 seats (+1) and UPyD 3.8% (+1.3%) and 1 seat.

This time the right block (PP-FAC) and the left block (PSOE-IU) gained 22 seats each one and the 'centrist' UPyD had the key to break the tie. The result was a slight recovery for PSOE; a good but not spectacular one for IU; a drop for FAC (although the former general secretary mantained the leadership in the Asturian right-wing), and a little but useless improvement for PP which was a defeat because it was still the 3rd force. Finally, UPyD achieved a success seating its first parliamentary in Asturias.

Geographically PSOE improved its performance in the main cities, IU ended second behind PSOE in the mining basins, PP managed to be the party with the most votes in Oviedo (it was a three party contest between PP, FAC and PSOE) and FAC dropped in the populated areas, although improved in some councils in the Western district. This improvement was not enough to gain its second seat in Western Asturias which finally went to PSOE after the count of the Asturian vote abroad.

After 51 days of negotiations and the uncertainty of the UPyD position, Javier Fernández was elected President of the Principality of Asturias and formed a minority government with the external support of IU and UPyD.

[Velasco]

Thanks, Hash, I've seen some of your maps and Julio told me about your fascination with Basque Country. Also, I've read about the 90% of your stuff about Spain at World Elections and some threads here. Needless to say that all is brilliant.

Probably we'll have elections in Galicia next autumn if rumours are true.

Galicia 2005: Fraga loses absolute majority and PSOE and BNG  form a coalition government at la Xunta



Galicia 2009: PP comes back to power with Alberto Núñez Feijoó. Notice that the red area around La Coruña turned into blue. The yellow area in Ourense province is Allariz and environs. Anxo Quintana, the BNG candidate in 2005 and 2009 was mayor of that town.

[Velasco]

I've always wondered what was up with those left-wing towns in Lugo Province right on the regional border. Are these mining/industrial areas like in next-door Asturias and Leon?

 

No, they're basically small councils in Os Ancares and A Fonsagrada comarques, a montainous, isolated and poor rural region. The neighbouring rural areas in Asturias also show a strong support towards PSOE. I'm not too much versed in local politics in this concrete area. José (or Pepinho) Blanco, the former minister in Zapatero's cabinet is from Lugo province. The regions around A Coruña and Ferrol in the north and Vigo in the south have more industrial activities. Galicia is not too much industrialised and there is no coal mining except a coalpit (anthracite) and a highly polluting power plant at As Pontes (A Coruña); PSOE won there and BNG polled strongly. Ferrol has shipyards and Vigo has automobile factories. Also textiles have some importance. The Zara's headquarters is at Arteixo, a council (concello) next to A Coruña.

[Velasco]

Welcome back. Other beautiful rural places like Cangas de Onís (Cabrales!), Somiedo or Los Oscos area in the West voted strongly for PSOE. The real drop for the socialists was in the most populated Central Asturias, the results in Gijón or in places like Mieres on May 2011 were really bad.

The Mondariz area is really conservative, although the best PP's records are at Avión and Beariz (Ourense, next to Pontevedra border). A lot of people registered in these councils really don't live there. PP usually polls above 80%. It's in the coast or in the provincial capitals where PSOE and BNG together were stronger than PP (at least in 2005). There was a positive trend for PSOE that reached its peak at 2008 General Elections.

I guess Feijoo will beat PSdeG and BNG again this time.

Many people say that is unlikely that Feijoó will retain the majority (the crisis, of course). He's the sure winner and in his favour run the present-day PSOE weakness and the split of the Galician nationalism in two. For the next election there will be two nationalist lists: the 'classical' BNG (Galician Nationalist Bloc) with the dominant communist or left-wing UPG (Union do Povo Galego; Galician People's Union) and the dissident internal factions that left BNG and are going to build a new formation around Xosé Manuel Beiras. The latter was BNG candidate in the 1997 and 2001 elections which recorded the best results for the Galician nationalism (25% and 23% respectively and with PSOE as 3rd force). Add to this the recent improvements of Galician IU, that received many votes of disillusioned former BNG voters and you'll have four forces fighting in the left.

Next episode: The Canaries. I'm afraid that I'll have to say something about the f***ing electoral system in my little corner of the world (oh, Jesus!). I'm trying to make a little historical serie of Catalan elections (1999-2010). Do you have another suggestions, Julio, or are you going to make some maps of Madrid or something else?

[Velasco]

I don't trust Spanish opinion polls very much but there's an obvious and logical trend against PP. With the Sigma Dos (El Mundo) figures, maybe PP could count with the conditional confidence and supply of CiU.

The cutbacks will affect the Galician Parliament. Núñez Feijoó wants to cut the number of seats from 75 to 61 in a clear move to secure a parliamentary majority.

There are four electoral districts in Galicia. Every province has a minimum of 10 seats and the 35 remaining seats are allocated by population. Nowadays A Coruña elects 24 seats, Pontevedra 22, Lugo 15 and Ourense 14. With the proposed reform A Coruña falls to 19 (-5), Pontevedra falls to 17 (-5), Lugo to 13 (-2) and Ourense to 12 (-2). The threshold is 5% for elegible lists in every province. PSOE and BNG are opposed, obviously.

According to El Mundo a likely election date would be October 28 (my f***ing birthday date, btw).

[Velasco]

Canary Islands, demographics, malapportionment:

Population (thousands) by municipalities:



The Canarian Parliament has 60 seats in seven insular electoral districts. The allocation of seats follows the principle of the "triple parity": 30 seats for both Canarian provinces (Las Palmas and SC de Tenerife), 30 seats the central or major islands and 30 the peripherical or minor islands and equal number of seats (15) for Gran Canaria and Tenerife. This apportionment was motivated for the perennial rivalry between the major islands (pleito insular, roughly insular quarrel or disputation) and the reivindications of the traditionally disadvantaged minor islands.

Allocation of seats (registered voters, 2011/quota):

Tenerife 15 (674608/44974); Gran Canaria 15 (651327/43421); Lanzarote 8 (84469/10559); La Palma 8 (80130/10016); Fuerteventura 7 (56309/8044); La Gomera 4 (11691/2923); El Hierro 3 (10250/3417).

Since 1996 the 'electoral barriers' or thresholds for elegible lists were increased from 3 to 6% of the regional votes and from 15 to 30% of insular votes.

The malapportionment and the high electoral barriers make almost impossible gaining seats for minoritarian forces. The consequence is that the Canarian Parliament had only three major forces in most of the legislatures: CC (Canarian Coalition), PSOE (Socialists) and PP (People's Party). Since its foundation (February 1993) CC has been in office, mainly in coalition governments with PP and lately with PSOE.

[Velasco]

I don't mind. Celeste Tel is a small pollster from Valencia. I prefer them rather than the polls of some media from Madrid. PP seems to be at very low figures and UPyD ones are surprisingly high.

[Velasco]

2007 election:

The Canarian Coalition candidate was Paulino Rivero, replacing the incumbent Adán Martín. Rivero is from Tenerife, like Martín (both members of the powerful Tenerife Independent Group, ATI). Since there was an implicit pact between the groups that formed CC about the rotation of candidates between Tenerife and Gran Canaria there was a split in the governing force. The former president, Román Rodríguez (1995-1999), and members of the former left-wing Canarian Initiative (ICAN) created a rival nationalist force: New Canaries (NC). On the other hand members of the former Canarian Independent Center (CCI) created another candidature called Canarian Nationalist Centre (CCN).

PSOE placed Juan Fernando López Aguilar, former Minister of Justice. He was the personal bid of Zapatero in the traditionally hostile ground of the Canaries and the favourite to win the election.

The PP candidate was José Manuel Soria, President of the Island Council (Cabildo) of Gran Canaria and former mayor of Las Palmas. PP was in the government coalition in the first half of the 2003-2007 Legislature. In the second half there was a CC minority government.



PSOE won the election with 34.5% of the vote and 26 seats. CC got 24.1% of the vote and 19 seats, including the independents of El Hierro (AHI). PP got 24% of the vote and only 15 seats, because the PP vote was highly concentrated in Gran Canaria.

Out of the Parliament: NC with 5.4% of the vote (the center-left nationalists failed to reach the 6% regional threshold, because of their weakness outside Gran Canaria), the CCN with 4%, the Canarian Greens (LVC) with 1.9% and the Independents of Lanzarote (PIL) which failed to reach the 30% threshold in Lanzarote.

Two examples of the weird effects of the electoral law.

Gran Canaria: PSOE 37.9% (7 seats); PP 34.2% (7); NC 11.8% (no seats); CC 5.4% (1)

Lanzarote: PSOE 28.7% (4 seats); PIL 21.9% (no seats); CC 18.7% (2); PP 15.2% (2)

Paulino Rivero was elected President of the Canary Islands and formed a coalition government with PP. José Manuel Soria was appointed Vice-President.

[Velasco]

Are you asking for Asturias and León or Lugo?

Galician language has official status but the Asturian language has not, although it has some legal protection and it's an optional choice at school.

About the Astur-Leonese languages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astur-Leonese_linguistic_group

[Velasco]

Let's finish with the Canaries.

2011 election:

CC-PP coalition government broke several months prior to the election.

The incumbent Paulino Rivero sought for re-election. CC concluded agreements with the CCN and the tiny PNC (Canarian Nationalist Party).

Juan Fernando López Aguilar left the Canaries after being elected MEP in the last European Election. Some people in the Canarian Socialists, lead by Jerónimo Saavedra, then mayor of Las Palmas, felt that PSOE was too long in the opposition and looked for a better relationship with the ruling CC. José Miguel Pérez, then President of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria (PSOE-NC coalition), was elected new general secretary and later appointed candidate for the 2011 election. Some dissatisfied militants of Tenerife broke with the regional PSOE and created a new group called Socialists for Tenerife (SxT).

José Manuel Soria was once again the PP candidate. Populares expected that the blue wave would reach the Canaries, despite the bad records of the CC-PP government, where Soria was  regional councillor of Economy plus Vice-President.

New Canaries looked for gaining seats in the new parliament and concluded agreements with Socialists for Tenerife, the Independents of Lanzarote and other small groups in Fuerteventura, La Gomera and La Palma.


Election result: PP 31.9% and 21 seats; CC-CCN (including AHI) 24.9% and 21 seats; PSOE 21% and 15 seats; NC 9.1% and 3 seats.

The blue wave reached Gran Canaria and PP had good records at Tenerife, Lanzarote or La Palma. CC experienced a drop in its strongholds in the Western Canaries but improved at Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. PSOE suffered a disaster in all places except La Gomera (they were still the main force) and El Hierro (slight increase). NC gained three seats, two in Gran Canaria and one in Lanzarote. The latter went to Fabián Martín, son of the PIL Alma Mater Dimas Martín, a corrupt insular cacique that rest in jail since 2009. Santiago Pérez, former right hand of JFLA in the Canarian PSOE, got 4.7% of the vote in Tenerife and couldn't win a seat.

After the election an agreement between CC and PSOE ended in a coalition government lead again by Paulino Rivero.

[Velasco]

Your link doesn't work but I found the article anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reintegrationism

There's an obvious kinship between Galician and Portuguese languages. In fact many philologists say that they're variants of the same language. I agree with the Castelao statement quoted in the Wiki article. Maybe the Galician language is older than Portuguese keeping in mind that the Reconquista went from north to south. This issue is politically controversial in Galicia in the same manner that anti-catalan people from Valencia sustain that Valencià has nothing to do with Catalan language, which is ridiculous. I remember myself talking with certain people from Galicia claiming that Galician is an isolated language. I'm afraid that most of the non-nationalist people in Galicia are in the same posture. Since I'd prefer to see Linguistics separate from political debates, all these things sound sad for me.

[Velasco]

The administrative divisions in Catalonia are a bit complex. There are four provinces: Barcelona. Girona, Lleida and Tarragona which are the electoral districts for regional and General elections. Another division is the comarca which roughly can be compared with an US county or a French canton. I'll use this division for regional election maps because Catalonia has almost 1000 municipalities and roughly the half of them have a population lower than 1000. Finally, there is another proposed division called vegueria. There are seven. Catalan legislators expect that veguerias could replace the provinces as regional electoral districts. I'll make some local election maps of the veguería known as Àmbit Metropolità, which is an extension of the Metropolitan Barcelona. It has 4.8 out of 7.5 millions of people living in Catalonia.


Credits for the map: a certain Hansen from Barcelona. I limited myself to give colours to the comarcas according with their population.

About comarcas (comarques in Catalan language) and veguerias:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comarques_of_Catalonia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegueria

[Velasco]

Elections in Catalonia:

The Parliament of Catalonia has 135 members ellected by universal suffrage in proportional lists, allocated by D'Hont method, in four provincial constituencies. Barcelona elects 85 members, Tarragona 18, Girona 17 and Lleida 15. The three smaller provinces are over representated in comparison with Barcelona. This apportionment had effects in 1999 and 2003 elections, when PSC got the plurality of votes and CiU the plurality of seats.

Jordi Pujol, the CiU candidate, won surprisingly the first Catalonian election after the Civil War and the death of Franco, which was held in 1980. He got 30% of the vote and his PSC (Catalan Socialists) rival, Joan Reventós (the favourite prior the voting day) only a 22%. Since then, the leader of CiU, the Catalan center-right nationalist coalition, obtained comfortable majorities until the 1995 election.

1999 election:

Jordi Pujol, which was in office leading a minority government with external supports of PP and ERC, depending on the issues, faced a major challenge with the Pasqual Maragall candidature. Maragall was the succesful PSC mayor of Barcelona from 1982 to 1997; in 1992 the Olympic Games were in Barcelona and his personal popularity boosted.

The election result was a tie between Pujol and Maragall: PSC and allies got the 37.8%(+13%) and 52 seats(+18); CiU came second in popular vote with 37.7%(-3.2%) but won the plurality of seats: 56 (-4); PP got 9.5% (-3.5%) and 12 seats (-5); ERC 8.7%(-0.8%) and 12 seats (-1) and IC-V won 2.5% of the Catalan vote (-7.2%) and 3 seats in Barcelona (-8).



PSC went in coalition with IC-V (Catalan Initiative-Greens) in Tarragona, Lleida and Girona and with a platform called Citizens for Change (CpC) which was inspired by Maragall himself. He won in the metropolitan comarques of Barcelonès, Baix Llobregat, Vallès Occidental and Garraf and in Tarragonès and Baix Penedès. Pujol showed a great strenght in the interior comarques of Catalonia.



The candidate of the Catalan branch of the conservative People's Party was Alberto Fernández Díaz. PP polled better in metropolitan Barcelona and Tarragona. ERC nominated Josep Lluís arod-Rovira, which was elected leader of the Catalan left-wing independentist Republican Left of catalonia after an internal crisis. Like CiU, ERC got better results in the 'deep Catalonia', especially in comarques like Pla de L'Estany (above 20% of the vote).

Finally, Catalonian Initiative (IC) suffered a split because of the deep disagreements between the IC direction and the federal IU about the pervivence of the old PSUC (Socialist Unified Party of Catalonia) and the pact policies. Julio Anguita, then the IU Coordinator, was fiercely opposed to form coalition governments with PSOE at regional and local levels, while IC was supportive of such agreements to form progressive governments. A new IU Catalan branch was formed: Alternative and United Left (EUiA) which stood lists in the four Catalan provinces and got 1.4% of the vote. IC-V only stood alone in Barcelona (3.3% in the province and 3 seats) and in coalition with PSC-CpC in the rest.

[Velasco]

You'll love the following map, Julio.

The Catalonian election was on October 17. Months before (June 13) Municipal elections were held in Spain. In Catalonia, the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) got 37.1% of the vote; Convergence and Union (CiU) 26.3%; People's Party (PP) 10.8%; Initiative for Catalonia-Greens (IC-V) 7.8%; Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) 7.7% and finally, Alternative and United Left (EUiA) 2%.

Barcelona Metropolitan Region:



PSC: The sucessor of Maragall, Joan Clos, won in Barcelona with 45% of the vote and 20 councillors. The Catalan Socialists also won in Lleida and Girona and even in nationalist strongholds like Olot. In metropolitan Barcelona, PSC mantained an overwhelming dominance in the 'red belt' around Barcelona, especially in Hospitalet, Cornellà or Santa Coloma. PSC also won a comfortable majority in Terrassa and won narrowly in Sabadell in a close contest with an ICV-EUiA unitarian list. After this election PSC controlled the majority of the municipal power in Catalonia. PMC is an alternative label of the catalan Socialists that means "Municipal Progress of Catalonia". The Spanish left, and particularly the Catalonian, loves the word "progress".

CiU: The coalition between Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC) won in Tarragona and in the majority of the small towns. In the metropolitan area the most important municipalities where they came first were Sant Cugat and Vilanova i la Geltrú. In Barcelona they got only 21.6% of the vote and 10 councillors.

PP: People's Party didn't win in significant places but came third in the popular vote in Barcelona (14.8%, 6 councillors) and in the whole Catalonia.

ERC:The Catalan independentists got 6.5% and 3 councillors in Barcelona and won in several small and middle towns across Catalonia. Its alternative label for local elections is "AM" (Municipal Agreement)

IC-V:The ecosocialist party, that is the official sucessor of the Euro-Communist PSUC, suffered with the EUiA split. They got 6.3% of the vote and 2 councillors in Barcelona and dropped in several municipalities of the 'red belt' like Badalona, Santa Coloma (former PSUC stronghold) and Cornellà. In Sabadell the incumbent ICV mayor retired and they lost the city to PSC. They managed to keep Prat de Llobregat (where lies the Barcelona airport), Rubí and other towns. The IC-V alternative label is "EPM" (Municipal Progress Union). EUiA won several councillors in towns around Barcelona.

PS: Edited a small patch of ground somewhere.

[Velasco]

This is off-topic but the last poll by CIS says:

PP 36.6%; PSOE 29.9%; IU 8.6%; UPyD 6.6%; CiU 4%; ERC 1.7%; PNV 1.5%; Amaiur (now EHB) 1.2%.

I think that I said this before: I don't trust Spanish polls very much. Anyways ERC seems to be recovering in Catalonia.

[Velasco]

Municipal elections, May 2003:



PSC: 34.6% and 229 mayoralties. The Catalan socialists still mantained their predominance in the most populated cities of Catalonia. In Barcelona PSC got 34.2% of the vote and 15 councillors. Joan Clos was re-elected mayor and lead a "tripartite" PSC-ERC-ICV local goverment. In the rest of Catalonia PSC won in Girona, Lleida, Reus, Tortosa and Manresa. In the Metropolitan Region PSC gained the towns of Rubí and Molins de Rei to ICV and Vilanova i La Geltrú to CiU. In Vilafranca del Penedès won a PSC-ICV list.

CiU: 24.8% and 522 mayoralties. The nationalists got 21.8% of the vote and 9 councillors in the city of Barcelona. The most important city in CiU hands was still Tarragona. In the Metropolitan Region they mantained Sant Cugat del Vallès but lost several mayoralties to PSC and ERC.

ERC: 13% and 116 mayoralties. In Barcelona the list lead by Jordi Portabella got 13% of the vote and 5 councillors. The spectacular increase of the Republican Left of catalonia was the prelude of its great success in the 2003 Catalonian election. In the Metropolitan Region they won in several municipalities of the Vallès Oriental and Maresme comarques like Lliçà d'Amunt, Llinars del Vallès or Calella. ERC also won the mayoralties of Valls and Puigcerdà.

PP: 11.3% and 9 mayoralties. People's Party got 16.4% and 7 councillors in Barcelona. In the Metro area they won in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres (Maresme) and the little Pontons (Alt Penedès), just like in 1999.

ICV-EUiA: 10.5% and 20 mayoralties. The candidate in Barcelona was Inma Mayol and the list got 12.3% of the vote and 5 councillors. ICV retained El Prat and Sant Feliu in the Baix Llobregat but, while the trend was favourable in Barcelona and in rural areas, in the 'red belt' PSC was progressively gaining ground. In several municipalities EUiA ran separated lists.

[Velasco]

2003 election:

Jordi Pujol left politics and was replaced by Artur Mas. PSC repeated with Maragall. Approximately the same geographical distribution, although with lower vote percentages than in the previous election. PSC got 31.2% and 42 deputies; CiU 30.9% and 46 seats.



2003 and 2004 were the Carod-Rovira moment. The left-wing independentist ERC achieved its best results in the recent History. With 16.5% of the vote and 23 seats ERC had the key in the new parliament. Finally they decided to form a left-wing "tripartite" with PSC and ICV-EUiA. By that moment ERC hoped to replace CiU as the main nationalist force in Catalonia. PP placed Josep Piqué. former minister for foreign affairs and a soft catalanist, previously related with CiU, in an attempt to moderate the anti-catalanist image of PP in certain sectors of the society. The party improved its previous record: 11.9% and 15 seats. The best PP result was in 1995 with Aleix Vidal-Quadras, more controversial than the moderate Piqué. Finally ICV and EUiA reached a coalition agreement, with Gaspar Llamazares as IU national coordinator. They were still separate parties and EUiA remained as the IU reference in Catalonia. The coalition achieved 7.3% and 9 seats and became the minor partner of the tripartite.

[Velasco]

Euskadi 2005:

The coalition between the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Basque Solidarity (Eusko Alkartasuna, EA) won 29 seats (38.7%). The Socialist Party of Euskadi (PSE-EE) 18 seats (22.7% of the vote). People's Party 15 seats (17.4%). The Communist Party of the Basque Homelands (EHAK-PCTV), that was a puppet of the banned Batasuna, 9 seats (12.4%). United Left (Ezker Batua-Berdeak, EB-B) 3 seats (5.4%). Aralar 1 seat (2.2%).

Juan José Ibarretxe (PNV) was re-elected lehendakari.



Euskadi 2009:

EHAK was banned in 2008 and the new left abertzale banner (D3M, Three Million Democracy) wasn't allowed to take part in the election. PNV and EA broke the coalition. In the 2008 General Election PSOE achieved a historic victory in Euskadi.

PNV won the election with 38.6% of the vote and 30 seats. PSE-EE got 30.7% of the vote and 25 seats. PP got 14.1% and 13 seats. Aralar 6% and 4 seats. EA 3.7% and 1 seat. EB-B 3.5% and 1 seat. UPyD 2.1% and 1 seat.

Invalid votes were 8.8%, around 100000 votes. Between 95 and 96 thousands were D3M ballots according with Pérez Rubalcaba, then Minister of Interior, and other sources.

The ban of Batasuna allowed a non-nationalist majority in the basque Parliament for the first time. Patxi López (PSE-EE) was elected lehendakari with the confidence and supply of PP.

[Velasco]

No, by the moment I haven't done. Look for the Andalusia 2012 thread, someone posted a map of that election. Also, there is another thread (I think that the link is in "special threads") around here where I found maps of some general election in Andalusia.

[Velasco]

Catalonia 2006:

[Velasco]

Barcelona Metropolitan Region, 2007 Municipal Elections:

[Velasco]

Catalonia 2010:



In 2006 CiU won a plurality of seats and the popular vote, but the nationalists received less votes than in 2003 due to the low turnout. In 2010 Artur Mas achieved a great victory, while the Tripartite suffered an epic downfall. CiU got 38.4% of the vote (+6.9%) and 62 seats (+16).

Pasqual Maragall resigned in 2006 and was replaced by José Montilla, born in Andalusia, former mayor of Cornellà and Minister of Industry between 2004 and 2006. PSC dropped in the 2006 election, especially in the metropolitan Barcelona, but the 2010 election was disastrous: 18.4% of the vote (-8.4%) and 28 seats (-14).

In the 2006 Election PSC managed to win in 3 comarcas: Barcelonès, Vallès Occidental and Baix Llobregat. In the two first the margin was very narrow (Barcelonès: PSC 27.54%; CiU 27.46%; Vallès Occidental: PSC 29.54%; CiU 29.34%) In the stronghold of Baix Llobregat the PSC vote decreased significantly but the margin was higher: PSC polled 34.97% and CiU 24.12%.

CIU experienced a remarkable increase in the Metropolitan Barcelona in 2010, even when the numbers are compared with the 1999 election. Barcelonès: CiU 33.95%; PSC 20.17%; Vallès Occidental: CiU 37%; PSC 19.3%; Baix Llobregat: CiU 31.94%; PSC 23.45%. In some interior comarcas PSC polled below 10%. For example, in the very nationalist Osona PSC got only 9.05% of the vote, polling behind CiU (50.32%), SI (9.7%) and ERC (9.41%)

[Velasco]

In 2010 Alicia Sánchez-Camacho improved the 2006 Josep Piqué's performance. PP got 18 seats (+4), its highest record in a Catalonian election, and 12.4% of the vote. ICV-EUiA achieved a good result in 2006 with Joan Saura. The coalition performed very well in the city of Barcelona and, surprisingly, in the "deep Catalonia". The ICV-EUiA result was determinant in order to retain the Tripartite's majority. Joan Saura reclaimed more power and was awarded with the Interior portfolio in the Montilla's cabinet. In 2010 the coalition's vote decreased slightly: 7.4% (-2.1%) of the vote and 10 (-2) seats.



The Catalonian independentism suffered various splits after an adversarial internal election. Joan Puigcercòs, the new ERC leader who replaced the conseller en cap (a sort of Catalan Premier) Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira, achieved a disastrous result. ERC dropped from 14% to 7% and from 21 to 10 seats. A new independentist party, Solidarity for Independence, was the surprise of the 2010 election and got 4 seats. SI is a populist and cross-ideological party which was led by the former Barça president Joan Laporta. Also in the party were some politicians coming from ERC and CiU and some people linked to the informal independentist referendums that were held in several Catalonian municipalities. Finally, Joan Carretero left ERC after losing the internal election and created Rally for the Independence (RI) with a poor performance in the polls.



The Citizen's Party (Ciutadans, C's) was formed after a manifesto by a group of Catalan intelectuals very critical of Catalan nationalism. C's is regarded as a single-issue party due to its strong oposition to nationalism and language policies. Ideologically is supposed to be between liberalism and socialdemocracy, not too far from UPyD. It was the surprise in the 2006 election achieving 3 seats, all in Barcelona. In 2010 improved slightly and retained its seats. Its leader is Albert Rivera. Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC) is a party led by the xenophobic Vic councillor Josep Anglada. It's another single-issue party, this time far-rightist and centered in an anti-islamist speech. Anglada was previously in Fuerza Nueva , a Francoist party in the beggining of the Transition. PXC has achieved good results in several municipalities with a great portion of inmigrant population (Vic, Vendrell, Salt and various places in Barcelona's periphery). It got around 75 000 votes in 2010 and not too far from the 3% threshold in the province of Barcelona.

[Velasco]

Barcelona Metropolitan Region, 2011 Municipal Eelctions:



Vote percentages in the maps for the Municipal Elections in the Metropolitan Barcelona: vote for candidatures. For the Catalonian elections percentages are "valid votes": vote to candidatures + blank votes (or NOTA).

Key:
PSC_PM: Socialists' Party of Catalonia-Municipal Progress. Center-left, Socialdemocracy.
CiU: Convergence and Union. Center-right, Liberalism, Christian Democracy, Nationalism, Independentism.
PP: People's Party. Conservative.
ERC-AM: Republican Left of Catalonia- Municipal Agreement. Left-wing Nationalism, Independentism.
ICV-EUiA:: Initiative for Catalonia Greens- Alternative and United Left. Green politics, Ecosocialism, Democratic Socialism, Communism. EUiA-BO: EUiA list in Olesa de Montserrat.
CUP: Candidatures of Popular Unity. Catalan Independentism, Socialism.
SI: Catalan Solidarity for Independence. Catalan Independentism.
Other: Mainly independent lists, also small groups like FIC (Independents' Federation of Catalonia).