# 1993 Galician regional election

The 1993 Galician regional election was held on Sunday, 17 October 1993, to elect the 4th Parliament of the autonomous community of Galicia. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.
The People's Party (PP) won with an increased absolute majority over 1989, resulting in Manuel Fraga being re-elected for a second term in office as President of Galicia. The Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdeG–PSOE) suffered from a crisis of leadership and from a desire of punishment to the national government of Felipe González, losing many votes in the way. Meanwhile, the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) began to appear as the main alternative to power thanks to its spokesman, Xosé Manuel Beiras', charisma.
The Galician Unity coalition of United Left (EU) and the Galician Socialist Party–Galician Left (PSG–EG) did not enter Parliament due to a change of the electoral law in 1991, which raised the electoral threshold from 3% to 5%. Galician Coalition (CG) also failed to enter Parliament, and only got 0.4% of the share.

## 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 |
| 21 | Pontevedra |
| 15 | Lugo, Orense |
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 December 1989, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 17 December 1993. The election decree was required to be published in the DOG no later than 23 November 1993, with the election taking place up to the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Saturday, 22 January 1994.
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 | 44.02% | 38 | Y | |
| | PSdeG– PSOE | List Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdeG–PSOE) | | Antolín Sánchez | Social democracy | 32.68% | 28 | N | |
| | 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) | | Xosé Manuel Beiras | Galician nationalism Left-wing nationalism Socialism | 9.33% | 5 | N | |
| | EU–UG | List United Left (EU) Galician Unity (UG) | | Camilo Nogueira | Socialism Communism | 5.27% | 2 | N | |
| | CG | List Galician Coalition (CG) | | César Quintián Noas | Galician nationalism Liberalism Christian democracy | 3.64% | 2 | 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.
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Turnout | | | BNG | | CG | | Lead |
| 1993 regional election | 17 Oct 1993 | — | 64.2 | 52.1 43 | 23.7 19 | 18.4 13 | | 0.4 0 | 3.0 0 | 28.4 |
| Demoscopia/El País | 10 Oct 1993 | 2,500 | 66 | 51.9 43 | 25.5 19/21 | 15.4 11 | | – | 3.8 0/2 | 26.4 |
| ICP–Research/Diario 16 | 10 Oct 1993 | ? | 61.9 | 47.0 39/43 | 27.8 22/24 | 13.3 9/10 | | – | ? 0/2 | 19.2 |
| Sigma Dos/El Mundo | 10 Oct 1993 | ? | ? | ? 39 | ? 24 | ? 11 | | – | ? 1 | ? |
| Eco Consulting/Faro de Vigo | 10 Oct 1993 | ? | ? | ? 40/42 | ? 20/22 | ? 11/12 | | – | ? 2 | ? |
| Ecom 6/El Correo Gallego | 10 Oct 1993 | ? | ? | ? 38/41 | ? 21/25 | ? 10/12 | | – | ? 0/2 | ? |
| Gallup/La Voz de Galicia | 10 Oct 1993 | ? | ? | ? 40/43 | ? 22 | ? 9 | | – | ? 2/3 | ? |
| Sondaxe/La Voz de Galicia | 3 Oct 1993 | ? | ? | 51.0 40 | 24.1 20/21 | 16.5 12 | | – | ? 1/2 | 26.9 |
| PP | 3 Oct 1993 | 1,800 | ? | ? 38/42 | ? 22/24 | ? 10/12 | | – | ? 0/1 | ? |
| ABC | 17 Sep 1993 | ? | ? | ? 38 | ? 23 | ? 13 | | – | ? 1 | ? |
| 1993 general election | 6 Jun 1993 | — | 69.6 | 47.1 (38) | 36.0 (29) | 8.0 (6) | | 0.3 (0) | 4.7 (2) | 11.1 |
| 1991 local elections | 26 May 1991 | — | 62.5 | 40.4 | 31.5 | 7.7 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 8.9 |
| IMOP | 18–29 May 1990 | ? | ? | 45.2 | 30.6 | 9.6 | – | – | – | 14.6 |
| 1989 regional election | 17 Dec 1989 | — | 59.5 | 44.0 38 | 32.7 28 | 8.0 5 | 3.8 2 | 3.6 2 | 1.5 0 | 11.3 |

## Results
### Overall

← Summary of the 17 October 1993 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) | 763,839 | 52.14 | +8.12 | 43 | +5 |
| | Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdeG–PSOE) | 346,831 | 23.68 | –9.00 | 19 | –9 |
| | Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG)$^1$ | 269,233 | 18.38 | +9.05 | 13 | +8 |
| | United Left–Galician Unity (EU–UG)$^2$ | 44,902 | 3.07 | –2.20 | 0 | –2 |
| | Galician Coalition (CG) | 6,098 | 0.42 | –3.22 | 0 | –2 |
| | Ruiz-Mateos Group–European Democratic Alliance (ARM–ADE) | 5,293 | 0.36 | –0.17 | 0 | ±0 |
| | The Greens of Galicia (Os Verdes) | 4,682 | 0.32 | +0.08 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Galician Alternative (AG) | 3,187 | 0.22 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | The Ecologists (LE) | 2,987 | 0.20 | –0.01 | 0 | ±0 |
| | Humanist Citizen Platform (PCH) | 2,508 | 0.17 | +0.11 | 0 | ±0 |
| | United People's Assembly (APU) | 1,492 | 0.10 | New | 0 | ±0 |
| | Coalition for a New Socialist Party (NPS)$^3$ | 503 | 0.03 | ±0.00 | 0 | ±0 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 13,355 | 0.91 | +0.51 | | |
| Total | Total | 1,464,910 | | | 75 | ±0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 1,464,910 | 99.52 | +0.34 | | |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 7,107 | 0.48 | –0.34 | | |
| Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | 1,472,017 | 64.19 | +4.69 | | |
| Abstentions | Abstentions | 821,152 | 35.81 | –4.69 | | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 2,293,169 | | | | |
| Sources |||||||
| Footnotes: $^1$ Galician Nationalist Bloc results are compared to the combined totals of Galician Nationalist Bloc and Galician Nationalist Party–Galicianist Party totals in the 1989 election.$^2$ United Left–Galician Unity results are compared to the combined totals of Galician Socialist Party–Galician Left and United Left totals in the 1989 election.$^3$ Coalition for a New Socialist Party results are compared to Alliance for the Republic totals in the 1989 election. |||||||
Popular vote
PP
52.14%
PSdeG–PSOE
23.68%
BNG
18.38%
EU–UG
3.07%
Others
1.83%
Blank ballots
0.91% :
Seats
PP
57.33%
PSdeG–PSOE
25.33%
BNG
17.33% :

### Distribution by constituency

| Constituency | PP | PP | PSdeG | PSdeG | BNG | BNG |
| Constituency | % | S | % | S | % | S |
| La Coruña | 49.0 | 13 | 24.6 | 6 | 19.6 | 5 |
| Lugo | 56.5 | 9 | 23.1 | 4 | 16.5 | 2 |
| Orense | 54.5 | 9 | 25.4 | 4 | 17.0 | 2 |
| Pontevedra | 53.0 | 12 | 22.0 | 5 | 18.4 | 4 |
| Total | 52.1 | 43 | 23.7 | 19 | 18.4 | 13 |
| Sources |||||||

## Aftermath

Investiture Manuel Fraga (PP) :
| Ballot → | Ballot → | 1 December 1993 |
| Required majority → | Required majority → | 38 out of 75 Y |
| | Yes • PP (43) | 43 / 75 |
| | No • PSdeG (19) • BNG (13) | 32 / 75 |
| | Abstentions | 0 / 75 |
| | Absentees | 0 / 75 |
| Sources |||