A regional election was held in Castile and León on 10 June 1987 to elect the 2nd of the autonomous community. All 84 seats in the were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain, as well as the 1987 European Parliament election.
Expectations for the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) were low after the resignation in October 1986 of former president Demetrio Madrid, besieged by a judicial investigation on the alleged fraudulent sale of a former textile company of his property and by internal opposition from within his party. The election saw both the PSOE and the opposition People's Alliance (AP)âÂÂwhich ran on its own after the break up of the People's Coalition with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Party (PL) the previous yearâÂÂlose ground to the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) which, with 18 seats and 19.4% of the share, scored the best result for a third party in a Castilian-Leonese regional election to date. The PDP was able to win one seat by Segovia, with Castile and León becoming one of the only two autonomous communitiesâÂÂthe other being NavarreâÂÂin which the party was able to secure parliamentary representation. In Burgos, a breakway party, Independent Solution (SI), formed by the incumbent mayor of its capital city, José MarÃÂa Peña San MartÃÂn, obtained one seat in the regional .
As a result of the election, the support of PDP and SI procurators and the decisive abstention of the CDS, AP candidate José MarÃÂa Aznar was able to become President of the Regional Government of Castile and León, replacing Socialist José Constantino Nalda and starting an uninterrupted stay of over three decades in power for AP and its successor, the People's Party (PP). Aznar's presidency would last until 1989, when he would resign to Jesús Posada in order to become the PP's national leader and, in 1996, prime minister of Spain.
Under the 1983 Statute of Autonomy, the Cortes of Castile and León were the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a regional president.
Voting for the was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Castile and León and with full political rights, provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final court ruling, nor being legally incapacitated.
The of Castile and León had three seats per each multi-member constituencyâÂÂcorresponding to the provinces of ÃÂvila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and ZamoraâÂÂplus one additional seat per 45,000 inhabitants or fraction above 22,500. All were elected using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency. The use of this electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each constituency was entitled the following seats:
The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes.
The term of the of Castile and León expired four years after the date of their previous ordinary election. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the scheduled expiration date of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of Castile and León (BOCYL), with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication. The previous election was held on 8 May 1983, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 8 May 1987. The election decree was required to be published in the BOCYL no later than 14 April 1987, with the election taking place up to the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible date for election day on 13 June 1987.
The of Castile and León could not be dissolved before the expiration date 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 were to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called, with elected lawmakers serving the remainder of its original four-year term.
The election to the of Castile and León was officially called on 14 April 1987 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOCYL, setting election day for 10 June and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 2 July.
The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of the election call.
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance 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:
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.
The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.
The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.
The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.
The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become president of the Regional Government of Castile and León.
Opinion poll sources
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