| Election Name: | 2011 Castilian-Leonese regional election |
| Country: | Castile and León |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2007 Castilian-Leonese regional election |
| Previous Year: | 2007 |
| Next Election: | 2015 Castilian-Leonese regional election |
| Next Year: | 2015 |
| Seats For Election: | All 84 seats in the Cortes of Castile and León |
| Majority Seats: | 43 |
| Opinion Polls: |
|
| Registered: | 2,166,385 0.2% |
| Turnout: | 1,462,397 (67.5%) 3.2 pp |
| Election Date: | 22 May 2011 |
| Leader1: | Juan Vicente Herrera |
| Party1: | People's Party of Castile and León |
| Leader Since1: | 16 March 2001 |
| Leaders Seat1: | Burgos |
| Last Election1: | 48 seats, 49.2% |
| Seats1: | 53 |
| Seat Change1: | 5 |
| Popular Vote1: | 739,502 |
| Percentage1: | 51.6% |
| Swing1: | 2.4 pp |
| Leader2: | Óscar López |
| Party2: | Socialist Party of Castile and León |
| Leader Since2: | 20 September 2008 |
| Leaders Seat2: | Segovia |
| Last Election2: | 33 seats, 37.7% |
| Seats2: | 29 |
| Seat Change2: | 4 |
| Popular Vote2: | 425,777 |
| Percentage2: | 29.7% |
| Swing2: | 8.0 pp |
| Leader3: | José María González |
| Party3: | IUCyL |
| Colour3: | 732021 |
| Leader Since3: | 21 May 2006 |
| Leaders Seat3: | Valladolid |
| Last Election3: | 0 seats, 3.1% |
| Seats3: | 1 |
| Seat Change3: | 1 |
| Popular Vote3: | 69,872 |
| Percentage3: | 4.9% |
| Swing3: | 1.8 pp |
| Leader4: | Alejandro Valderas |
| Party4: | Leonese People's Union |
| Leader Since4: | 27 January 2011 |
| Leaders Seat4: | León |
| Last Election4: | 2 seats, 2.7% |
| Seats4: | 1 |
| Seat Change4: | 1 |
| Popular Vote4: | 26,660 |
| Percentage4: | 1.9% |
| Swing4: | 0.8 pp |
| Map Size: | 325px |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Juan Vicente Herrera |
| Before Party: | People's Party of Castile and León |
| After Election: | Juan Vicente Herrera |
| After Party: | People's Party of Castile and León |
The 2011 Castilian-Leonese regional election was held on Sunday, 22 May 2011, to elect the 8th Cortes of the autonomous community of Castile and León. All 84 seats in the Cortes were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.
The election saw the People's Party (PP), which had formed the government of the region since the second democratic election in 1987, winning its largest majority to date with over 63% of the seats at stake (53 out of 84 seats), with incumbent president Juan Vicente Herrera being subsequently re-elected for a fourth term in office. The opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Leonese People's Union (UPL) both lost ground, with the former securing its worst result since 1995, whereas United Left (IU) re-entered parliament for the first time since the 1999 election. The new Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) party, while achieving a remarkable result for a first-time national party with 3.3% of the share (and scoring in third place in the Ávila and Burgos constituencies), failed to obtain any seats.
The Cortes of Castile and León were the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Castile and León, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Castilian-Leonese 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 Castile and León and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Amendments to the electoral law in 2011 required for Castilian-Leonese people abroad to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote (Spanish; Castilian: Voto rogado).[2]
All members of the Cortes of Castile and León 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 Ávila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora, with each being allocated an initial minimum of three seats, as well as one additional member per each 45,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 22,500.[1] [3]
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Cortes constituency was entitled the following seats:
| Seats | Constituencies | |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Valladolid | |
| 14 | León | |
| 11 | Burgos, Salamanca | |
| 7 | Ávila, Palencia, Segovia, Zamora | |
| 5 | Soria |
The use of the D'Hondt method might result in a higher effective threshold, depending on the district magnitude.[4]
After legal amendments in 2007, fixed-term mandates were abolished, instead allowing the term of the Cortes of Castile and León to expire after an early dissolution. The election Decree 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 Castile and León, with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and sixtieth days from publication. The previous election was held on 27 May 2007, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 27 May 2011. The election Decree was required to be published no later than 3 May 2011, with the election taking place up to the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Cortes on Saturday, 2 July 2011.[1] [3] [5]
The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Cortes of Castile and León and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or before one year had elapsed since a previous dissolution. 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.[1]
The Cortes of Castile and León were officially dissolved on 29 March 2011, after the publication of the dissolution decree in the Official Gazette of Castile and León.[6] The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the Cortes at the time of dissolution.[7]
| Groups | Parties | Legislators | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | Total | |||||
| People's Parliamentary Group | PP | 48 | 48 | |||
| Socialist Parliamentary Group | PSOE | 33 | 33 | |||
| Mixed Parliamentary Group | UPL | 2 | 2 | |||
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.[3] [5]
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:
| Candidacy | Parties and alliances | Leading candidate | Ideology | Previous result | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | |||||||||
| PP | Juan Vicente Herrera | Conservatism Christian democracy | 49.17% | [8] | ||||||
| PSOE | Óscar López | Social democracy | 37.73% | [9] [10] | ||||||
| IUCyL | José María González | Socialism Communism | 3.08% | [11] [12] [13] | ||||||
| UPL | Alejandro Valderas | Regionalism Autonomism | 2.73% | [14] | ||||||
The tables below list opinion polling results 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.
The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 43 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Castile and León (42 until 1 January 2010).
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Turnout | UPL | Lead | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 regional election | 22 May 2011 | 67.5 | 51.6 | 29.7 | 4.9 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 21.9 | ||
| TNS Demoscopia/Antena 3[15] [16] | 6–10 May 2011 | 2,000 | ? | 51.8 | 31.9 | 4.8 | 2.4 | – | 19.9 | |
| NC Report/La Razón[17] [18] | 3–10 May 2011 | ? | ? | 52.8 | 34.6 | ? | 2.3 | – | 18.2 | |
| TNS Demoscopia/RTVCyL[19] | 26 Apr–3 May 2011 | 4,600 | ? | 52.4 | 32.4 | 4.6 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 20.0 | |
| NC Report/La Razón[20] [21] | 25 Apr 2011 | ? | ? | 53.4 | 35.5 | 3.6 | 2.4 | – | 17.9 | |
| Celeste-Tel/Terra[22] | 13–20 Apr 2011 | 900 | ? | 52.9 | 31.1 | 5.4 | 3.3 | – | 21.8 | |
| Ikerfel/Vocento[23] [24] | 13–17 Apr 2011 | 3,200 | ? | 51.5 | 34.0 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 17.5 | |
| CIS[25] [26] | 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 | 2,974 | ? | 51.5 | 32.8 | 4.3 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 18.7 | |
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo[27] | 7–12 Apr 2011 | 1,600 | ? | 53.8 | 33.4 | 3.9 | 2.6 | – | 20.4 | |
| TNS Demoscopia/Ical[28] [29] | 10–28 Mar 2011 | 5,850 | ? | 54.2 | 31.2 | 5.2 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 23.0 | |
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo[30] | 20–23 Dec 2010 | 1,600 | ? | 53.6 | 34.4 | 3.0 | 2.4 | – | 19.2 | |
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo[31] | 20–24 May 2010 | 1,600 | ? | 55.1 | 31.4 | 3.9 | 1.8 | 3.6 | 23.7 | |
| TNS Demoscopia/Ical[32] | 8–20 Apr 2010 | 2,500 | ? | 49.8 | 34.5 | 5.4 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 15.3 | |
| Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público[33] | 1–6 Mar 2010 | 800 | ? | 48.9 | 33.4 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 5.4 | 15.5 | |
| 2009 EP election | 7 Jun 2009 | 51.4 | 51.7 | 38.2 | 2.3 | – | 3.7 | 13.5 | ||
| 2008 general election | 9 Mar 2008 | 77.7 | 50.0 | 42.8 | 2.5 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 7.2 | ||
| 2007 regional election | 27 May 2007 | 70.7 | 49.2 | 37.7 | 3.1 | 2.7 | – | 11.5 | ||
The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | UPL | Lead | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 regional election | 22 May 2011 | 36.0 | 20.6 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 28.9 | 15.4 | |||
| CIS | 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 | 2,974 | 34.4 | 15.0 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 32.7 | 7.7 | 19.4 | |
| Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público | 1–6 Mar 2010 | 800 | 36.3 | 21.2 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 2.7 | – | – | 15.1 | |
| 2007 regional election | 27 May 2007 | 35.6 | 27.0 | 2.2 | 2.0 | – | 28.6 | 8.6 | |||
The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become president of the Junta of Castile and León.
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Other/ None/ Not care | Lead | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CIS | 17 Mar–17 Apr 2011 | 2,974 | 35.8 | 11.1 | 12.4 | 40.7 | 24.7 | ||
| Obradoiro de Socioloxía/Público | 1–6 Mar 2010 | 800 | 38.4 | 17.0 | 44.6 | 21.4 | |||
| Parties and alliances | Popular vote | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Total | +/− | |||
| People's Party (PP) | 739,502 | 51.55 | +2.38 | 53 | +5 | ||
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) | 425,777 | 29.68 | –8.05 | 29 | –4 | ||
| United Left of Castile and León (IUCyL) | 69,872 | 4.87 | +1.79 | 1 | +1 | ||
| Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) | 47,040 | 3.28 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Leonese People's Union (UPL) | 26,660 | 1.86 | –0.87 | 1 | –1 | ||
| Party of Castile and León (PCAL)1 2 | 13,537 | 0.94 | –0.06 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| The Party of Castile and León–Independent Candidacy (PCL–CI) | 10,796 | 0.75 | –0.33 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Anti-Bullfighting Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) | 5,368 | 0.37 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Social Alternative Movement (MASS) | 4,777 | 0.33 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Leonese Autonomist Party–Leonesist Unity (PAL–UL) | 3,925 | 0.27 | –0.06 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Yes for Salamanca (UPSa–C's)3 | 3,718 | 0.26 | –0.26 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Citizens for Blank Votes (CenB) | 3,545 | 0.25 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Zamoran Independent Electors–Zamoran People's Union (ADEIZA–UPZ) | 3,322 | 0.23 | +0.02 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Greens of Salamanca (LV)2 | 2,822 | 0.20 | –0.07 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Initiative for the Development of Soria (IDES) | 2,680 | 0.19 | –0.06 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| The Greens–Green Group (LV–GV) | 2,619 | 0.18 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Party of El Bierzo (PB) | 2,401 | 0.17 | +0.08 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| National Democracy (DN) | 2,102 | 0.15 | +0.05 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Citizens of Burgos for Old Castile (CiBu) | 2,001 | 0.14 | +0.06 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Regionalist Party of the Leonese Country (PREPAL) | 1,965 | 0.14 | +0.03 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Greens and Castilians (LV–PCAL)4 | 1,553 | 0.11 | –0.06 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Civiqus (Civiqus) | 1,527 | 0.11 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) | 1,522 | 0.11 | +0.03 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Regionalist Unity of Castile and León (URCL) | 1,428 | 0.10 | +0.04 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Internationalist Solidarity and Self-Management (SAIn) | 1,302 | 0.09 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Communist Party of the Castilian People (PCPC) | 1,254 | 0.09 | +0.02 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Independents for San Andrés (IxSA) | 859 | 0.06 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Merindades of Castile Initiative (IMC) | 854 | 0.06 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Left Segovia (SdI) | 760 | 0.05 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Regionalist Party of El Bierzo (PRB) | 657 | 0.05 | –0.02 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Humanist Party (PH) | 529 | 0.04 | +0.01 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Communist Unification of Spain (UCE) | 492 | 0.03 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Family and Life Party (PFyV) | 238 | 0.02 | New | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Blank ballots | 47,008 | 3.28 | +1.30 | ||||
| Total | 1,434,412 | 84 | +1 | ||||
| Valid votes | 1,434,412 | 98.09 | –1.11 | ||||
| Invalid votes | 27,985 | 1.91 | +1.11 | ||||
| Votes cast / turnout | 1,462,397 | 67.50 | –3.20 | ||||
| Abstentions | 703,988 | 32.50 | +3.20 | ||||
| Registered voters | 2,166,385 | ||||||
| Sources[34] [35] [36] | |||||||
| Constituency | PP | PSOE | IUCyL | UPL | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S |
| Ávila | 59.1 | 5 | 23.7 | 2 | 5.3 | − | |||||||||
| Burgos | 50.7 | 7 | 27.2 | 4 | 4.5 | − | |||||||||
| León | 44.7 | 8 | 31.8 | 5 | 3.8 | − | 8.9 | 1 | |||||||
| Palencia | 53.0 | 4 | 32.8 | 3 | 4.4 | − | |||||||||
| Salamanca | 56.7 | 7 | 29.2 | 4 | 3.2 | − | |||||||||
| Segovia | 54.3 | 5 | 31.5 | 2 | 4.3 | − | |||||||||
| Soria | 52.0 | 3 | 32.9 | 2 | 3.1 | − | |||||||||
| Valladolid | 50.2 | 9 | 29.1 | 5 | 7.8 | 1 | |||||||||
| Zamora | 54.0 | 5 | 30.7 | 2 | 4.6 | − | 1.2 | − | |||||||
| Total | 51.6 | 53 | 29.7 | 29 | 4.9 | 1 | 1.9 | 1 | |||||||
| Sources | |||||||||||||||
| Investiture Juan Vicente Herrera (PP) | |||
| Ballot → | 23 June 2011 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Required majority → | 43 out of 84 | ||
| Abstentions | |||
| Absentees | |||
| Sources | |||