Catalan election maps

[Velasco]

The first regional election in Catalonia after the reestablishment of democracy was held on Thursday 20 March 1980. Leading party by municipality (click right button to enlarge):

Some clarifications:

- The base map shows the current administrative borders. There are some municipalities established after 1980 (i.e Salou, Badia del Vallès) that don't have results, so they are left in colour grey. No amalgamations in this period.

- Most of the comarcas of Catalonia were established in 1987 and some were established later.

- The current municipal districts of Barcelona were established in 1984. By 1980 there were 12 districts: 10 created in 1933 during the Second Republic and 2 added in 1949 during the Franco regime. 1980 results for the old districts are available in the site of the Catalan government.

- Results in some rural municipalities are ties. There are several CiU-UCD ties, 3 or 4 CiU-PSC ties and even 1 PSOE-PSUC and 1 UCD-PSUC tie. I coloured these municipalities as if the smaller party had won (i.e CiU-PSC ties in red).

- Nacionalistes d'Esquerra (NE) came first in the municipality of Ascó (Tarragona province) getting 18.23% of the vote. NE is a defunct socialist pro-independence party that didn't win seats in the Parliament of Catalonia.

Overall results:

Convergence and Union (Convergència i Unió, CiU) 27.83% 43 seats
Candidate: Jordi Pujol. Position: centre-right, catalan nationalism, liberalism, christian democracy

Socialists' Party of Catalonia (Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, PSC-PSOE) 22.43% 33 seats
Candidate: Joan Reventós. Position: centre-left, federalism, socialdemocracy

Socialist Unified Party of Catalonia (Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya, PSUC) 18.77% 25 seats
Candidate: Josep Benet (independent). Position: left-wing, federalism, republicanism, (euro)communism

Centrists of Catalonia (Centristes de Catalunya, CC-UCD) 10.61% 18 seats
Candidaate: Antón Cañellas. Position: centre-right, autonomism, christian democracy, social liberalism

Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC) 8.9% 14 seats
Candidate: Heribert Barrera. Position: centre-left, catalan nationalism, republicanism, socialdemocracy

Socialist Party of Andalusia-Andalusian Party (Partido Socialista de Andalucía-Partido Andaluz, PSA-PA) 2.66% 2 seats
Candidate: Francisco Hidalgo. Position: centre-left, andalusian regionalism, socialdemocracy

Constituency results:

Barcelona (85 seats): CiU 27.24% (26), PSC 23.17% (22), PSUC 20.81% (20), ERC 8.3% (, CC-UCD 8.17% (7), PSA-PA 3.03% (2)

Girona (17 seats): CiU 37.12% (7), PSC 19.64% (4), CC-UCD 15.16% (3), ERC 10.64% (2), PSUC 9.34% (1)

Lleida (15 seats): CiU 28.24% (5), CC-UCD 23.39% (4), PSC 19.27% (3), ERC 12.23% (2), PSUC 10.61% (1)

Tarragona (18 seats): CiU 23.58% (5), PSC 20.55% (4), CC-UCD 19.67% (4), PSUC 15.07% (3), ERC 10.43% (2)

Municipality results:

Barcelona (pop 1752627); CiU 28.7%, PSC 20.9%, PSUC 16.1%, ERC 10.8%, CC-UCD 10.2%, SC 3.8%, PSA 2.5%

Hospitalet (pop 295074): PSC 33.9%, PSUC 29.3%, CiU 11.8%, CC-UCD 6.6%, ERC 5.7%, PSA 5%

Badalona (pop 229780): PSUC 32.5%, PSC 26.7%, CiU 18.8%, CC-UCD 5.1%, ERC 4.9%, PSA 4.4%

Sabadell (pop 186123): PSUC 30.2%, CiU 28.7%, PSC 21.8%, CC-UCD 4.8%, ERC 4.8%, PSA 1.8%

Terrassa (pop 155614): CiU 28.2%, PSUC 25%, PSC 23.6%, CC-UCD 5.8%, ERC 5.6%, SC 3.1%, PSA 2.9%

Santa Coloma de Gramenet (pop 140613): PSC 35.1%, PSUC 34.9%, CiU 10.5%, PSA 4.5%, CC-UCD 4%, ERC 3.4%

Tarragona (109112): PSC 20.9%, CiU 20%, PSUC 19.8%, CC-UCD 15.2%, ERC 10.6%, PSA 3.4%

Lleida (pop 106814): PSC 24.4%, CC-UCD 21.9%, CiU 21.8%, PSUC 15%, ERC 9.6%

Mataró (pop 97008): CiU 31.3%, PSC 22.8%, PSUC 20.3%, CC-UCD 7.3%, ERC 5.4%, PSA 5.2%

Cornellà de Llobregat (pop 91563): PSUC 41.1%, PSC 26.5%, CiU 12%, PSA 6.1%, CC-UCD 4%, ERC 3.2%

Girona (pop 86624): CiU 33.7%, PSC 22.8%, PSUC 13.4%, CC-UCD 13.3%, ERC 7.5%, NE 3%, PSA 1.8%

Reus (pop 79245): CiU 24.2%, PSC 23.3%, ERC 15.8%, PSUC 14.9%; CC-UCD 11.9%, PSA 2.6%

Manresa (pop 67007): CiU 37.3%, PSC 21.3%, PSUC 15%, CC-UCD 8.4%, ERC 7.8%, NE 3.1%, SC 2.5%, PSA 1.3%

You will notice the differences when I post the 2017 map

[Former President tack50]

Wow, I actually hadn't seen Spanish election maps by municipality older than 2011 or 2007 for the most part! They are quite hard to find IMO (particularly for regional elections, Wikipedia does have a couple for general elections)

Great job!

Did you make them yourself? Because considering how many small municipalities Catalonia has it must have been extremely tough to do. And where did you get the results? Público does have data by municipality, but did you have to go municipality by municipality transcribing the data? Or maybe the Central Electoral Junta had more usable data?

As for the map itself, it's surprising to see UCD doing quite well in rural Tarragona and Lleida, which nowadays are secessionist strongholds.

[Velasco]

Did you make them yourself?

No, I didn't make the base map. Sometimes I draw them, but not in this case. Too many municipalities I made some editing and that is all.

And where did you get the results?

I got them in the site of the Catalan government. It's excellent

http://politiquesdigitals.gencat.cat/ca/pgov_ambits_d_actuacio/pgov_eleccions/pgov_dades_electorals/resultats-2?a=a&id_eleccions=A19801&id_territori=CA09

As for the map itself, it's surprising to see UCD doing quite well in rural Tarragona and Lleida, which nowadays are secessionist strongholds.

It may seem surprising, yes. Centrists of Catalonia (CC) was led by certain Antón Cañellas, who was previously the top candidate of the UDC (Democratic Union of Catalonia) in the 1977 general elections. Disagreements on alliance policy led Cañellas and his supporters to leave the UDC and found CC in 1978. The new party made an alliance with the Catalan branch of the UCD (Union of the Democratic Centre, led nationally by Adolfo Suárez), while UDC allied to the Jordi Pujol's CDC to form CiU. Shortly after CC and UCD merged. Cañellas' ambition was to create the Catalan counterpart of the Bavarian CSU, an autonomous and hegemonic party in Catalonia allied to the UCD nationally. The results in the 1979 general election were good, but the regional election in the following year was disappointing. CC-UCD backed Jordi Pujol after the election, in exchange for nothing. CC-UCD disappeared one year after the 1982 collapse. Cañellas was appointed Sindic de Greuges (Catalan ombudsman) years later.

Given that CC was something like a centre-right regionalist party, it's not so strange that it performed well in rural Catalonia. In contrast, the CC-UCD performance in Barcelona and particularly in the metropolitan region was rather mediocre (see results in the OP). It's a base of support different from centre-right non-catalanist parties. Possibly most of the CC-UCD voters went to CiU in 1984, maybe some went to AP-PP*. Also, keep in mind that CiU wasn't openly pro-independence before 2012  (ERC began to be overtly separatist in late 80s with Àngel Colom). The procés means an evolution of Catalan nationalism to secessionism.

* Solidaritat Catalana (SC, "Catalan Solidarity") was the outfit of Manuel Fraga's AP in the 1980 elections.

[Velasco]

Results in 1980 by comarca, a division roughly equivalent to a county. The current division into comarcas was established in 1987, some new comarcas were created the following year and the comarca of Moianès was added in 2015. The website of the Catalan government has results by comarca for the 1980 and 1984, despite such divisions didn't exist by then. CiU came first in 31 of 41 comarcas, with stronger performances in those located in central and northern Catalonia. CiU got its best results in Solsonès (47.28%) and Osona (44.53%), both in the centre-north- The worst results for the nationalist coalition were in Alta Ribagorça (13.01%), in the Aragon border, and in the southernmost Montsià (13.06%). It's remarkable the good performance of CC-UCD in rural Catalonia, particularly in Lleida and Tarragona provinces. The Centrists of Catalonia came first in 6 comarcas*, 5 in Tarragona and 1 in Lleida. The best results for CC-UCD were in Alta Ribagorça (40.8%) and Terra Alta (38.42%), while their worst results were in the metropolitan comarcas of Vallès Occidental (5.5%) and Baix Llobregat (5.99%). The Socialists of Catalonia (PSC-PSOE) came first in Garraf (29.81%) and Segrià (centered in Lleida city, 24%). The best comarca for the PSC-PSOE was Baix Penedès in Tarragona (31.35%, second place) and the worst Solsonès in Lleida (7.04%). The PSUC communists performed strongly in the heavily industrialized 'red belt' of Barcelona, coming first in Baix Llobregat (31.29%) and Vallès Occidental (27.99%). The worst results for the PSUC were in rural comarcas like Solsonès (2.57%), although the communists got pretty decent results in others like Montsià and Conca de Barberà in Tarragona. ERC got its best result in Pallars Sobirà (21.14%) and its worst in Val d'Aran (3.21%). Both comarcas are located in the Pyrenees of Lleida, one next to another but separated by a mountain barrier. The Aran Valley looks to France and has a proper language, as well as there is a good share of immigrants from other parts of Spain. The Andalusian regionalists of the PSA-PA did better in the metropolitan region (Baix Llobregat 4.41%). The Catalan Socialists blamed the PSA-PA for stealing them votes among the Andalusian community. The PSC-PSOE won the 1977 and 1979 general elections in Catalonia, as well as the 1979 local elections including Barcelona and all the provincial capitals. They expected to win the first elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, but were defeated by CiU. Subsequently CiU leader Jordi Pujol was elected premier with the support of CC-UCD and ERC, beginning a long period of hegemony that lasted until 2003.

Population density by muninipality (2009)

_{* Of these 6 comarcas ERC won 4 and JxCAT 2 in the 2017 elections}

[bigic]

Do you know why ERC chose to support a CiU government instead of a left-wing PSC-PSUC government (a similar coalition was formed in 2003)?

[Velasco]

Do you know why ERC chose to support a CiU government instead of a left-wing PSC-PSUC government (a similar coalition was formed in 2003)?

It's a good question. Jordi Pujol owes his investiture as premier in 1980 to Antón Cañellas (leader of CC-UCD) and Heribert Barrera (leader of ERC), whom supported the CiU leader receiving little or nothing in return. In the case of Heribert Barrera, he was the leader of a historic force that was hegemonic during the years of the Second Republic, controlling the regional government from the establishment of regional autonomy in 1932 to the conquest of Catalonia by the Franco army at the final stage of the Spanish Civil War in 1939. ERC is a Catalan nationalist party that defines itself as republican and left-wing, but it has no connection with the  unions and the workers movement (represented by socialists, communists and anarchists during the Second Republic). Historically ERC represented the urban middle class and the rural small owners (Unió de Pagesos).

 ERC was the party of Josep Tarradellas, leader of the Catalan government in the exile and a key figure of the Spanish Transition to Democracy. Tarradellas returned to Spain in September 1977 and arranged with Spanish PM Adolfo Suárez the reestablishment of the Generalitat (the Catalan government and institutions) in December 1977. Previously Tarradellas was appointed in October 1977 head of the provisional government. Then he made a famous proclamation to the crowd gathered under the balcony of the Generalitat in Barcelona: Ciutadans de Catalunya, ja sóc aquí! ("Citizens of Catalonia, I am here at last!"). Those words had a great symbolic charge as they implied the continuity of the republican legitimacy, broke by the Civil War and the Franco dictatorhip. The use of the expression "Citizens of Catalonia" was interpreted as a way to include all the people born outside Catalonia. Ironically there is a party nowadays that intends to represent the Citizens of Catalonia in opposition to the Catalan Nationalism. I believe that confrontation was not what Tarradellas looked for. Tarradellas retired from the political scene when he was replaced by Jordi Pujol after the 1980 elections. Tarradellas disliked Pujol and had a tense relationship with the CiU leader. Apparently Tarradellas deemed Pujol as a corrupt, sectarian and opportunistic man who would not hesitate to wave the Catalan flag when he was investigated for his scandals (Banca Catalana in the 80s, Andorra accounts scandal in the 2010s). Tarradellas died in 1988.

ERC leader Heribert Barrera defined his party as the only one in Catalonia defending republican values ad the right to self-determination during the preliminary discussions to draft the Spanish Constitution. ERC supported the "No" in the constitutional referendum held in 1978. Barrera intervened in the draft of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, which ERC supported. Heribert Barrera supported Pujol because, despite being a right-winger, the CiU leader was nationalist. Also, Barrera was a staunch anti-marxist unwilling to support a government with the PSUC communists. PSUC and PSC had a strong support in the industrial belt around of Barcelona with its large immigrant population. The ERC leader didn't like that his party was the smallest force of the Catalan Left due to the support to rival parties of voters he deemed as "non-Catalans". Heribert Barrera was elected Speaker of the first Parliament of Catalonia (1980-1984) in exchange for his support to Pujol. Later in 2001 Barrera released a book with his thoughts that was controversial, as he expressed views regarded as racist and xenophobic. Jordi Pujol couldn't refuse to chair the presentation of the book. Maybe he felt uncomfortable (Pujol's wife was notorious too for her xenophobic statements), but the premier and `Father of the Catalan Nation owed Barrera too much. In any case, ERC has been always cleaved between leftism and nationalism. Heribert Barrera chose nationalism. Years later a new ERC leader called Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira, openly pro-independence, chose leftism and supported PSC candidate Pasqual Maragall in 2003.

[Velasco]

Leading party by municipality in the 2017 Catalan regional election