# 1995 Castilian-Leonese regional election

The 1995 Castilian-Leonese regional election was held on Sunday, 28 May 1995, to elect the 4th 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.

## Overview
### Electoral system

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. 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.
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.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Cortes constituency was entitled the following seats:
| Seats | Constituencies |
| 15 | León |
| 14 | Valladolid |
| 11 | Burgos, Salamanca |
| 8 | Zamora |
| 7 | Ávila, Palencia |
| 6 | Segovia |
| 5 | Soria |
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.

### Election date

The term of the Cortes of Castile and León 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 26 May 1991, setting the election date for the Cortes on Sunday, 28 May 1995.
The Cortes of Castile and León could not be dissolved before the date of expiry of parliament except in the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot. In such a case, the Cortes were to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called, with elected procurators merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.

## Parliamentary composition

The Cortes of Castile and León were officially dissolved on 4 April 1995, after the publication of the dissolution decree in the Official Gazette of Castile and León. The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the Cortes at the time of dissolution.
Parliamentary composition in April 1995 :
| Groups | Groups | Parties | Parties | Legislators | Legislators |
| Groups | Groups | Parties | Parties | Seats | Total |
| | People's Parliamentary Group | | PP | 45 | 45 |
| | Socialist Parliamentary Group | | PSOE | 34 | 34 |
| | Democratic and Social Centre's Parliamentary Group | | CDS | 3 | 3 |
| | Mixed Parliamentary Group | | IU | 1 | 2 |
| | Mixed Parliamentary Group | | INDEP | 1 | 2 |

## 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.
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:
| Candidacy | Candidacy | Parties and alliances | Leading candidate | Leading candidate | Ideology | Previous result | Previous result | Gov. | Ref. |
| Candidacy | Candidacy | Parties and alliances | Leading candidate | Leading candidate | Ideology | Votes (%) | Seats | Gov. | Ref. |
| | PP | List People's Party (PP) | | Juan José Lucas | Conservatism Christian democracy | 43.52% | 43 | Y | |
| | PSOE | List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) | | Jesús Quijano | Social democracy | 36.44% | 35 | N | |
| | IU | List United Left (IU) | | Antonio Herreros | Socialism Communism | 5.36% | 1 | N | |
| | UPL | List Leonese People's Union (UPL) | | Conchi Farto | Regionalism Autonomism | 0.83% | 0 | N | |

## Campaign
### Election debates

1995 Castilian-Leonese regional election debates :
| Date | Organisers | Moderator(s) | P Present  S Surrogate  NI Not invited  A Absent invitee | P Present  S Surrogate  NI Not invited  A Absent invitee | P Present  S Surrogate  NI Not invited  A Absent invitee | P Present  S Surrogate  NI Not invited  A Absent invitee | P Present  S Surrogate  NI Not invited  A Absent invitee |
| Date | Organisers | Moderator(s) | PP | PSOE | IU | Audience | Ref. |
| 17 May | Club de Opinión Libertad y Progreso | Jesús Fonseca | P Lucas | P Quijano | P Herreros | — | [8] [9] |

## 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; 43 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Castile and León.

### Color key

Exit poll
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Turnout | | | | | UPL | Lead |
| 1995 regional election | 28 May 1995 | — | 73.5 | 52.2 50 | 29.7 27 | – | 9.6 5 | 2.6 2 | 22.5 |
| Eco Consulting/RTVE | 28 May 1995 | ? | ? | 51.9 49/53 | 28.6 24/27 | – | 10.5 5/6 | ? 1/2 | 23.3 |
| Vox Pública–ODEC/Antena 3 | 28 May 1995 | ? | ? | ? 43/47 | ? 23/27 | – | – | – | ? |
| Demoscopia/El País | 10–15 May 1995 | 1,600 | ? | 54.0 54/55 | 27.1 21/22 | 2.1 0 | 10.9 7/9 | – | 26.9 |
| CIS | 26 Apr–11 May 1995 | 3,001 | 64.8 | 57.6 | 28.2 | 1.3 | 9.2 | – | 29.4 |
| 1994 EP election | 12 Jun 1994 | — | 62.0 | 53.7 (54) | 28.8 (25) | 1.8 (0) | 11.0 (5) | – | 24.9 |
| Sigma Dos/Ical | 15 Dec 1993 | ? | ? | 51.8 47/50 | 32.1 29/32 | 1.5 0 | 10.1 5 | – | 19.7 |
| 1993 general election | 6 Jun 1993 | — | 78.3 | 47.4 (46) | 36.7 (34) | 4.1 (1) | 7.7 (3) | 0.8 (0) | 10.7 |
| 1991 regional election | 26 May 1991 | — | 67.6 | 43.5 43 | 36.4 35 | 8.1 5 | 5.4 1 | 0.8 0 | 7.1 |

## Results
### Overall

← Summary of the 28 May 1995 Cortes of Castile and León election results → :
| Parties and alliances | Parties and alliances | Popular vote | Popular vote | Popular vote | Seats | Seats |
| Parties and alliances | Parties and alliances | Votes | % | ±pp | Total | +/− |
| | People's Party (PP) | 805,553 | 52.20 | +8.69 | 50 | +7 |
| | Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) | 458,447 | 29.71 | –6.73 | 27 | –8 |
| | United Left of Castile and León (IU) | 147,777 | 9.58 | +4.22 | 5 | +4 |
| | Leonese People's Union (UPL) | 39,425 | 2.55 | +1.72 | 2 | +2 |
| | Commoners' Land–Castilian Nationalist Party (TC–PNC) | 9,494 | 0.62 | +0.48 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Independent Solution (SI) | 9,107 | 0.59 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Independent Group of Ávila (AIAV) | 8,159 | 0.53 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Party of El Bierzo (PB) | 6,646 | 0.43 | +0.11 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Regionalist Unity of Castile and León (URCL)$^1$ | 6,318 | 0.41 | –0.03 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Platform of Independents of Spain (PIE) | 4,630 | 0.30 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | People's Palentine Group (APP) | 4,071 | 0.26 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Regionalist Party of the Leonese Country (PREPAL) | 3,744 | 0.24 | +0.09 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Independents for León (IPL) | 3,290 | 0.21 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Independent Candidacy of Valladolid (CIV) | 2,148 | 0.14 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | The Greens–Green Group (LV–GV) | 1,423 | 0.09 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | The Alternative Greens (LVA) | 1,374 | 0.09 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) | 1,102 | 0.07 | +0.01 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Provincialist Party of El Bierzo (PPB) | 909 | 0.06 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) | 746 | 0.05 | –0.01 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Sorian Progressive Union (US) | 417 | 0.03 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | n/a | n/a | –8.14 | 0 | –5 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 28,284 | 1.83 | +0.17 | | |
| Total | Total | 1,543,064 | | | 84 | ±0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,543,064 | 99.11 | +0.04 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 13,911 | 0.89 | –0.04 | | |
| Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | 1,556,975 | 73.46 | +5.89 | | |
| Abstentions | Abstentions | 562,523 | 26.54 | –5.89 | | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 2,119,498 | | | | |
| Sources |||||||
| Footnotes: $^1$ Regionalist Unity of Castile and León results are compared to the combined totals of Regionalist Democracy of Castile and León and Palentine Unity in the 1991 election. |||||||
Popular vote
PP
52.20%
PSOE
29.71%
IU
9.58%
UPL
2.55%
Others
4.12%
Blank ballots
1.83% :
Seats
PP
59.52%
PSOE
32.14%
IU
5.95%
UPL
2.38% :

### Distribution by constituency

| Constituency | PP | PP | PSOE | PSOE | IU | IU | UPL | UPL |
| Constituency | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S |
| Ávila | 58.4 | 5 | 23.8 | 2 | 8.2 | − | | |
| Burgos | 52.8 | 7 | 24.9 | 3 | 12.7 | 1 | | |
| León | 45.1 | 7 | 30.4 | 5 | 6.7 | 1 | 12.7 | 2 |
| Palencia | 52.3 | 4 | 31.9 | 3 | 8.4 | − | | |
| Salamanca | 54.3 | 6 | 32.9 | 4 | 8.3 | 1 | | |
| Segovia | 56.7 | 4 | 26.5 | 2 | 10.5 | − | | |
| Soria | 59.2 | 4 | 28.3 | 1 | 8.2 | − | | |
| Valladolid | 51.1 | 8 | 30.7 | 4 | 13.6 | 2 | | |
| Zamora | 55.7 | 5 | 33.9 | 3 | 6.6 | − | | |
| Total | 52.2 | 50 | 29.7 | 27 | 9.6 | 5 | 2.6 | 2 |
| Sources |||||||||

## Aftermath

Investiture Juan José Lucas (PP) :
| Ballot → | Ballot → | 4 July 1995 |
| Required majority → | Required majority → | 43 out of 84 Y |
| | Yes • PP (50) | 50 / 84 |
| | No • PSOE (26) • IU (5) • UPL (2) | 33 / 84 |
| | Abstentions | 0 / 84 |
| | Absentees • PSOE (1) | 1 / 84 |
| Sources |||