# 1997 Galician regional election

The 1997 Galician regional election was held on Sunday, 19 October 1997, to elect the 5th Parliament of the autonomous community of Galicia. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

## Overview
### Electoral system

The Parliament of Galicia was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Galicia, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Galician Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president. Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Galicia and in full enjoyment of their political rights.
The 75 members of the Parliament of Galicia were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of La Coruña, Lugo, Orense and Pontevedra, with each being allocated an initial minimum of 10 seats and the remaining 35 being distributed in proportion to their populations.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats:
| Seats | Constituencies |
| 24 | La Coruña |
| 22 | Pontevedra$^{(+1)}$ |
| 15 | Lugo |
| 14 | Orense$^{(–1)}$ |
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 Parliament of Galicia expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. 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 Journal of Galicia (DOG), with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication. The previous election was held on 17 October 1993, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 17 October 1997. The election decree was required to be published in the DOG no later than 23 September 1997, with the election taking place up to the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Saturday, 22 November 1997.
The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Galicia and call a snap election, provided that it did not occur 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 Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called.

## 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) | | Manuel Fraga | Conservatism Christian democracy | 52.14% | 43 | Y | |
| | PSdeG– PSOE/EU– EG/OV | List Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdeG–PSOE) United Left–Galician Left (EU–EG) The Greens of Galicia (OVG) | | Abel Caballero | Social democracy | 27.07% | 19 | N | [6] [7] |
| | BNG | List Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) – Galician People's Union (UPG) – Socialist Collective (CS) – Galician Nationalist Party–Galicianist Party (PNG–PG) – Nationalist Left (EN) – Inzar (Inzar) – Galician Unity (UG) | | Xosé Manuel Beiras | Galician nationalism Left-wing nationalism Socialism | 18.38% | 13 | 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; 38 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Galicia.

### Color key

Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Turnout | | | BNG | | Lead |
| 1997 regional election | 19 Oct 1997 | — | 62.5 | 52.2 42 | 19.5 15 | 24.8 18 | 0.9 0 | 27.4 |
| PP | 17 Oct 1997 | ? | ? | ? 42/43 | ? 14/15 | ? 18 | – | ? |
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo | 6–9 Oct 1997 | 1,000 | ? | 50.0– 52.0 40/42 | 22.0– 24.0 16/19 | 20.0– 22.0 15/18 | 2.0– 3.0 0 | 28.0 |
| Demoscopia/El País | 3–8 Oct 1997 | 2,500 | 63–64 | 51.5 41/42 | 23.1 16/18 | 22.8 16/18 | 1.1 0 | 28.4 |
| PP | 7 Oct 1997 | ? | ? | 52.3 41/42 | 24.5 17/19 | 20.5 15/16 | – | 27.8 |
| Opina/La Vanguardia | 3–4 Oct 1997 | 1,000 | 65 | 50.7 39/40 | 25.1 21/22 | 21.5 14/15 | 1.2 0 | 25.6 |
| PP | 29 Sep 1997 | ? | ? | ? 40/41 | ? 18/19 | ? 16/17 | – | ? |
| Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia | 28 Sep 1997 | ? | ? | ? 39 | ? 19 | ? 17 | – | ? |
| DECO/PSOE | 23–28 Sep 1997 | 2,265 | ? | 46.1 37/38 | 31.6 23/25 | 19.3 13/14 | – | 14.5 |
| CIS | 19–26 Sep 1997 | 2,196 | 69.3 | 51.5 41/42 | 25.2 19/20 | 20.5 14 | 1.4 0 | 26.3 |
| Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia | 26 Jul 1997 | 2,904 | ? | 50.0 40 | 24.0 20 | 19.0 15 | – | 26.0 |
| Infortécnica | 20 Jun–8 Jul 1997 | 3,091 | ? | ? 37/41 | ? 19/23 | ? 15/16 | – | ? |
| DECO/PSOE | 10–20 Apr 1997 | 2,000 | ? | ? 36/37 | ? 25/26 | ? 12/13 | – | ? |
| Obradoiro de Socioloxía/PP | 1–4 Apr 1997 | 1,400 | ? | 48.0 40 | 20.0 18 | 20.0 17 | – | 28.0 |
| Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia | 22 Nov 1996 | 3,200 | ? | ? 37 | ? 23 | ? 15 | – | ? |
| 1996 general election | 3 Mar 1996 | — | 71.4 | 48.3 (40) | 33.5 (27) | 12.9 (8) | 3.6 (0) | 14.8 |
| 1995 local elections | 28 May 1995 | — | 67.9 | 47.9 | 26.7 | 13.1 | 2.8 | 21.2 |
| 1994 EP election | 12 Jun 1994 | — | 50.3 | 54.6 (47) | 24.8 (19) | 11.4 (7) | 5.1 (2) | 29.8 |
| 1993 regional election | 17 Oct 1993 | — | 64.2 | 52.1 43 | 23.7 19 | 18.4 13 | 3.0 0 | 28.4 |

## Results
### Overall

← Summary of the 19 October 1997 Parliament of Galicia 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) | 832,751 | 52.19 | +0.05 | 42 | –1 |
| | Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) | 395,435 | 24.78 | +6.40 | 18 | +5 |
| | Socialists' Party–Galician Left–The Greens (PSdeG–PSOE/EU–EG/Os Verdes)$^1$ | 310,508 | 19.46 | –7.61 | 15 | –4 |
| | United Left (IU) | 13,964 | 0.88 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Galician Democracy (DG) | 11,538 | 0.72 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Galician People's Front (FPG) | 3,395 | 0.21 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Humanist Party (PH) | 2,543 | 0.16 | –0.01 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Party of Self-employed and Professionals (AUTONOMO) | 2,136 | 0.13 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Social Democratic Party of Law (SDD) | 1,129 | 0.07 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | The Move (Movida) | 939 | 0.06 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Galician Phalanx of the CNSO (FG–JONS) | 392 | 0.02 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 20,937 | 1.31 | +0.40 | | |
| Total | Total | 1,595,667 | | | 75 | ±0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,595,667 | 99.50 | –0.02 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 8,064 | 0.50 | +0.02 | | |
| Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | 1,603,731 | 62.51 | –1.68 | | |
| Abstentions | Abstentions | 961,638 | 37.49 | +1.68 | | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 2,565,369 | | | | |
| Sources |||||||
| Footnotes: $^1$ Socialists' Party–Galician Left–The Greens results are compared to the combined totals of the Socialists' Party of Galicia, United Left–Galician Unity and The Greens of Galicia in the 1993 election. |||||||
Popular vote
PP
52.19%
BNG
24.78%
PSdeG/EG/OV
19.46%
Others
2.26%
Blank ballots
1.31% :
Seats
PP
56.00%
BNG
24.00%
PSdeG/EG/OV
20.00% :

### Distribution by constituency

| Constituency | PP | PP | BNG | BNG | PSdeG | PSdeG |
| Constituency | % | S | % | S | % | S |
| La Coruña | 49.8 | 13 | 26.3 | 6 | 20.1 | 5 |
| Lugo | 57.7 | 9 | 19.8 | 3 | 18.9 | 3 |
| Orense | 56.7 | 8 | 21.3 | 3 | 19.6 | 3 |
| Pontevedra | 50.8 | 12 | 26.7 | 6 | 18.8 | 4 |
| Total | 52.2 | 42 | 24.8 | 18 | 19.5 | 15 |
| Sources |||||||

## Aftermath
### Government formation

Investiture Manuel Fraga (PP) :
| Ballot → | Ballot → | 3 December 1997 |
| Required majority → | Required majority → | 38 out of 75 Y |
| | Yes • PP (42) | 42 / 75 |
| | No • BNG (18) • PSdeG (13) • EU–EG (2) | 33 / 75 |
| | Abstentions | 0 / 75 |
| | Absentees | 0 / 75 |
| Sources |||

### 2001 motion of no confidence

Motion of no confidence Xosé Manuel Beiras (BNG) :
| Ballot → | Ballot → | 29 January 2001 |
| Required majority → | Required majority → | 38 out of 75 N |
| | Yes • BNG (18) | 18 / 75 |
| | No • PP (41) | 41 / 75 |
| | Abstentions • PSdeG (13) • EU–EG (2) | 15 / 75 |
| | Absentees • PP (1) | 0 / 75 |
| Sources |||