A general election was held in Spain on 12 March 2000 to elect the members of the 7th under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 259 seats in the Senate. It was held concurrently with a regional election in Andalusia. At four years since the previous one, the 2000 election ended the longest legislative period up to that point since the Spanish transition to democracy.
The incumbent People's Party (PP) of Prime Minister José MarÃÂa Aznar had been able to access power (for the first time since the Spanish transition to democracy) through the Majestic Pact in 1996 with peripheral nationalist parties, namely: Convergence and Union (CiU), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Canarian Coalition (CC). In that period, Aznar's cabinet presided over an economic boomâÂÂtogether with a privatization of state-owned companiesâÂÂa reduction in unemployment and the introduction of the euro, as well as increasing public outcry at the ETA group's terrorist activity (reaching its peak with the killing of Miguel ÃÂngel Blanco in 1997), and an early social response to growing immigration to Spain, with the El Ejido riots in February 2000. The opposition was divided, with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) looking for stable leadership after the farewell of Felipe González at the 1997 party's congress, and a period of duumvirate between his successor, JoaquÃÂn Almunia, and prime ministerial nominee Josep Borrell (elected through primaries), until the latter's sudden resignation in May 1999. United Left (IU) descended into internal infighting and saw a number of splits, including that of Initiative for Catalonia (IC).
The election saw the PP securing an unexpected absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies, obtaining 183 out of 350 seats and increasing its margin of victory with the PSOE. A pre-election agreement between the PSOE and IU was unsuccessful, with such alliance being said to prompt tactical voting for Aznar, who also benefited from a moderate stance during his tenure. Almunia announced his resignation immediately after results were known, triggering a leadership election. Regional and peripheral nationalist parties improved their results, except for CiUâÂÂwhich had been in electoral decline for a decade following its support to Spanish ruling partiesâÂÂand the abertzale left-supported Euskal Herritarrok (EH), which urged its voters in the Basque Country and Navarre to boycott the election. The PNV benefitted from EH's absence and gained two seats, whereas both CC and the Galician Nationalist Bloc had strong showings in their respective regions. IC clung on to parliamentary representation but suffered from the electoral competition with United and Alternative Left, IU's newly-founded regional branch in Catalonia, which failed to secure any seat. This would be the only general election in which both parties would run separately.
This marked the first time that the PP secured a nationwide absolute majority, its best result in both popular vote share and seats up until then (only exceeded in 2011), as well as the first time that PP results exceeded the combined totals for PSOE and IU. In contrast, the PSOE got its worst election result in 21 years. This was the second time a party received more than 10 million votes, the previous one being in 1982. Voter turnout was one of the lowest for Spanish election standards up to that time, with only 68.7% of the electorate casting a vote.
On 5 May 1996, José MarÃÂa Aznar from the People's Party (PP) was able to form the first centre-right government in Spain since 1982 through confidence and supply agreements with Convergence and Union (CiU), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), and Canarian Coalition, in what came to be coined as the Majestic Pact. The relationship between the PP and its parliamentary allies became a focus of political interest due to its importance to government stability, the previous animosity between the PP and peripheral nationalism (particularly CiU and PNV) and diverging stances over the degree of devolution to be awarded to autonomous communities.
The new government focused its economic efforts on meeting the Maastricht criteria by reducing inflation, public debt and budget deficit, while reactivating the private sector through orthodox economics. In order to achieve this, it debuted by approving a package of spending cuts and a freeze on civil servants' wages for 1997, followed by the liberalization of key sectors (with the approval of new laws on the telecommunications industry and the property market) and the privatization of state-owned companies (such Telefónica, Tabacalera, Endesa and Repsol). The government also sought a deal with employers' organizations and trade unions to pass a labour market reform that introduced incentives for open-ended contracts in exchange for reduced severance payments. This allowed Spain to join the new European single currency (the euro) in 1999.
The implementation of Aznar's economic programme saw a decrease in unemployment and the Madrid Stock Exchange reaching record highs. This buoyancy was dubbed an "economic miracle" and served as a platform for Aznar to coin the slogan España va bien (Spanish for "Spain is doing well"), though these years would see the start of a property bubble with a rapid increase in real estate prices. This period also saw the emergence in Spain of social issues such as gender-based violence (following the murder of Ana Orantes) and euthanasia (a result of the taped suicide of Ramón Sampedro). Immigration was an issue, with a government's attempt to tighten conditions for illegal immigrants backfiring after the parliamentary opposition united to approve a new Aliens Law, regarded as respectful of migrants' rights. At the international level, Spain hosted the 1997 Madrid NATO summit (focused on the alliance's enlargement) and supported the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in the context of the Kosovo War.
The 1996 general election had seen the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) being forced into opposition for the first time since 1982. Felipe González announced his intention to step down from the PSOE's leadership at the 1997 party congress to give way to generational renewal, while also rejecting a new run as prime ministerial candidate. The party, divided at the time between González's supporters (renovadores, Spanish for "renovators") and those following the discipline of former deputy prime minister and PSOE deputy secretary-general Alfonso Guerra (guerristas), elected JoaquÃÂn Almunia, a "renovator" and former labour and public administrations minister, as new party leader. A primary election in April 1998 to elect the PSOE's next prime ministerial nominee saw Almunia, supported by González and prominent party "renovators", facing Josep Borrell (former public works minister), who received the backing of the guerrista faction. Borrell defeated Almunia, but the latter remained as the party's secretary-general in order to prevent an extraordinary congress. This situation prompted a "bicephaly" (duumvirate) which saw both Borrell and Almunia clashing for months on party direction and strategy issues. Borrell renounced as candidate in May 1999 after it was unveiled that two former aides were involved in a judicial investigation for tax fraud, resulting in Almunia being proclaimed candidate without opposition.
Disappointment with the 1996 election results saw United Left (IU) descend into crisis, which worsened over Julio Anguita's confrontational attitude with the PSOE. Anguita sought to prevent its Galician branch (EUâÂÂEG) from entering an electoral alliance with the Socialists ahead of the 1997 Galician election, a move criticized by Initiative for Catalonia (IC), with whom disagreements over IU's direction had been on the rise. The Democratic Party of the New Left (PDNI), constituted as an internal current critical of Anguita's leadership, was expelled from IU's governing bodies after it broke party discipline over the issue of labour reform in June 1997. September 1997 saw the PDNI's expulsion from IU as a whole and its regional-controlled leaderships in Cantabria and CastillaâÂÂLa Mancha dissolved, as well as the break up of relations with EUâÂÂEG and IC. The PDNI then sought electoral alliances with the PSOE, which materialized ahead of the 1999 local, regional and European Parliament elections. IC also entered into an alliance with PSOE's sister party in Catalonia ahead of the 1999 Catalan election. The ongoing IU crisis and health issues forced Anguita to resign from running in the next general election.
The Basque ETA group continued with its activity during these years, with its most relevant actions being the kidnapping of a Spanish prison officer, José Antonio Ortega Lara, and the assassination of PP's Ermua councillor Miguel ÃÂngel Blanco in July 1997. Blanco's killing had a deep social impact throughout Spain, with more than six million people across the country taking to the streets over four days to demand an end to ETA violenceâÂÂa spontaneous civic response dubbed the "Ermua spirit"âÂÂand even some of the group's supporters publicly condemned it. The signing of the Estella-Lizarra Declaration between the PNV and Herri Batasuna in September 1998, while opposed by the Spanish government, led ETA to announce an "indefinite ceasefire" four days later. Aznar authorized talks between his government and ETA, but a single meeting in Switzerland found the group no more willing to compromise on its core demands than it had been in the past; negotiations failed and ETA ended the truce in late 1999. In December 1999, the Civil Guard foiled a plot by ETA to bring 1,700 kg of explosives to Madrid to blow up the Picasso Tower (in what was dubbed "the convoy of death").
PP and CiU frequently clashed over the degree of fulfillment of their signed commitments, with Catalan president Jordi Pujol persistently threatening to terminate his party's support to Aznar. Mutual interest, with the stability of Pujol's government in Catalonia also dependant on continued support from the PP in the regional parliament, helped ensure that the legislative term reached its end, with both parties confirming the renewal of their agreements in January 1998. As a result of the PPâÂÂCiU alliance, Aznar's government oversaw a large transfer of powers to regionsâÂÂtraffic police, job creation, vocational training, port management and fiscal policy (including taxes on personal income, wealth, property transfers, documented legal acts, inheritance, gifts and gambling)âÂÂthe abolition of compulsory military service and the reform of the State's peripheral administration. Relations with the PNV worsened throughout the legislative term, particularly following the Estella declaration in September 1998, ultimately leading the party to withdraw all support to the government in 1999. Growing political differences between the PP and the Aragonese Party saw the latter allying with the PSOE in the aftermath of the 1999 Aragonese regional election, and its break up from the PP's parliamentary group in October 1999.
Under the 1978 Constitution, the Spanish were conceived as an imperfect bicameral system. The Congress of Deputies held greater legislative power than the Senate, having the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a prime minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority. Nonetheless, the Senate retained a limited number of specific functionsâÂÂsuch as ratifying international treaties, authorizing cooperation agreements between autonomous communities, enforcing direct rule, regulating interterritorial compensation funds, and taking part in constitutional amendments and in the appointment of members to the Constitutional Court and the General Council of the JudiciaryâÂÂwhich were not subject to override by Congress.
Voting for each chamber of the was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age 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 Congress of Deputies had a minimum of 300 and a maximum of 400 seats, with the electoral law fixing its size at 350. Of these, 348 were elected in 50 multi-member constituencies corresponding to the provinces of SpainâÂÂeach of which was assigned an initial minimum of two seats and the remaining 248 distributed in proportion to populationâÂÂusing the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency. The remaining two seats were allocated to Ceuta and Melilla as single-member districts elected by plurality voting. 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 Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:
208 Senate seats were elected using open-list partial block voting: in constituencies electing four seats, voters could choose up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, up to two; and in single-member districts, one. Each of the 47 peninsular provinces was allocated four seats, while in insular provincesâÂÂsuch as the Balearic and Canary IslandsâÂÂthe districts were the islands themselves, with the larger ones (Mallorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife) being allocated three seats each, and the smaller ones (Menorca, IbizaâÂÂFormentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma) one each. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each. Additionally, autonomous communities could appoint at least one senator each and were entitled to one additional senator for every million inhabitants.
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.
Spanish citizens of legal age and with the right to vote could run for election, provided that they had not been sentenced to imprisonment by a final court ruling or convictedâÂÂwhether final or notâÂÂof offences that involved loss of eligibility or disqualification from public office (such as rebellion or terrorism, when involving crimes against life, physical integrity or personal freedom). Additional causes of ineligibility applied to the following officials:
Other ineligibility provisions also applied to a number of territorial officials in these categories within their areas of jurisdiction, as well as to employees of foreign states and members of regional governments. Incompatibility rules further extended to a range of senior public officials, as well as prohibiting the simultaneous holding of the positions of deputy and senator or of a national and regional parliamentary seat.
The term of each chamber of the âÂÂthe Congress and the SenateâÂÂexpired four years from the date of their previous election, unless they were dissolved earlier. 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 State Gazette (BOE), with election day taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication. The previous election was held on 3 March 1996, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 3 March 2000. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 8 February 2000, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible date for election day on 2 April 2000.
The prime minister had the prerogative to propose the monarch to dissolve both chambers at any given timeâÂÂeither jointly or separatelyâÂÂand call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no state of emergency was in force and that dissolution did not occur before one year after a previous one. Additionally, both chambers were to be dissolved and a new election called if an investiture process failed to elect a prime minister within a two-month period from the first ballot. Barring this exception, there was no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections to the Congress and the Senate. Still, as of , there has been no precedent of separate elections taking place under the 1978 Constitution.
As part of the PPâÂÂCiU agreement, Aznar was required to give Pujol early notice in the event he decided to advance the election, with the latter warning about his ability to force one at any given time. Despite policy disagreements between both parties during the legislative term, Aznar warned that losing CiU's support would not necessarily translate into an early election. Pujol's initial aim to bring forward the 1999 election to earlier that year prompted Aznar to offer to coordinate both the regional and general elections, although this did not ultimately materialize. It was suggested that Aznar would be tempted to call a snap election after the introduction of the euro was effective at 1 January 1999, while speculation among PP ranks and government members was that an election would be called in the spring of 1999 or in June, to coincide with the scheduled local, regional and European Parliament elections. This possibility was fueled by some remarks by Pujol that a general election would be held in 1999âÂÂa remark that he was forced to rectify later onâÂÂcoinciding with a critical point in the PPâÂÂCiU relationship. Aznar himself repeteadly rejected all these claims.
In the summer of 1999, a new round of speculation emerged that Aznar was considering holding an early election in the autumn, but this was ended by Aznar re-assuring that it was his wish to exhaust the legislature and for the election to be held when due, in March 2000. On 23 December 1999, it was confirmed that the general election would be held in March, together with the 2000 Andalusian regional election. The dissolution of the was arranged for 17 January, thus ending the longest parliamentary term in Spanish democracy up until that point.
The were officially dissolved on 18 January 2000 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 12 March and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 5 April.
The tables below show the composition of the parliamentary groups in both chambers at the time of dissolution.
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 election was marked by the exploration of joint candidacies between the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and other parties in the left of the political spectrum. One such example was in Catalonia, where a left-wing alliance came to fruition between the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for CataloniaâÂÂGreens (ICâÂÂV) under the Catalan Agreement of Progress label, aiming to mirror the success of a similar alliance between the PSC and ICâÂÂV in the 1999 Catalan regional election. Ahead of the Senate election in Ibiza and Formentera, PSOE, United Left of the Balearic Islands (EUIB), The Greens (LV), Nationalist and Ecologist Agreement (ENE) and ERC formed the Pact for Ibiza and Formentera.
Various attempts at forming a joint left-wing candidacy for the Senate in the Valencian Community were unsuccessful, primarily due to disagreement over the label and format of such an alliance. Nationwide, an agreement was reached between the national leaderships of PSOE and United Left, under which both parties agreed to cooperate in the Senate elections for 27 constituencies: in those districts, and taking consideration of the Senate electoral system allowing up to three votes to each voter, the PSOE would field two candidates to one from IU, with the parties urging voters to cast their votes as if it were a joint list of three. The PSOE also offered IU a similar agreement for the Congress of Deputies, wherein IU would not run in 34 constituencies where it would unlikely win a seat on its own, with a later offer reducing the number to 14. These offers were both rejected.
Basque Citizens (EH), the Basque electoral coalition including Herri Batasuna, called for election boycott and urged its supporters to abstain.
Legislation
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