A general election was held in Spain on 14 March 2004 to elect the members of the 8th 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.
Since 2000, the ruling People's Party (PP) had governed with an absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies, allowing it to renegue from its previous agreements with peripheral nationalist parties. This period saw sustained economic growth, but the controversial managementâÂÂand, at times, attempted cover-upâÂÂof a number of crises affected the standing of Aznar's government and fostered perceptions of arrogance: this included the Gescartera case, the Prestige oil spill and the Yak-42 plane crash. A reform of unemployment benefits led to a general strike in 2002, and the unpopular decision to intervene in the Iraq War sparked massive protests across Spain. The incumbent prime minister, José MarÃÂa Aznar, renounced to seek a third term at the 2002 party congress, being replaced as candidate by the first deputy prime minister, Mariano Rajoy. The opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) elected José Luis RodrÃÂguez Zapatero as new leader in July 2000, under a platform of party renewal. The fight against terrorism (particularly from the Basque separatist ETA group) and the need for political change were themes that dominated party campaigns going into the election.
The electoral outcome was heavily influenced by the Madrid train bombings on 11 March, which saw Aznar's government blaming ETA for the attacks in spite of mounting evidence suggesting Islamist authorship. The ruling PP was accused by the opposition of staging a disinformation campaign to prevent the blame on the bombings being linked to Spain's involvement in Iraq. Results saw Zapatero's PSOE securing an unprecedented 11 million votes, with a net gain of 39 seats up to 164, whereas the PP (which had been predicted by opinion polls to secure a diminished but still commanding victory) was left in shock as it unexpectedly lost 35 seats in the worst defeat for a sitting Spanish government up to that point since 1982. Republican Left of Catalonia benefitted from the impact of the Carod caseâÂÂthe revelation that party leader Josep-LluÃÂs Carod-Rovira had held a meeting with ETA shortly after joining the new Catalan regional government of Pasqual MaragallâÂÂwhich gave the party publicity to the detriment of Convergence and Union. The 75.7% voter turnout was among the highest since the Spanish transition to democracy and was attributed to public shock and grief caused by the Madrid attacks, with no subsequent general election having exceeded such figure. The number of votes cast, at 26.1 million votes, remained the highest figure in gross terms for any Spanish election until April 2019.
The election result was described by some media as an "unprecedented electoral upset". Perceived PP abuses and public rejection at Spain's involvement in Iraq were said to help fuel a wave of discontent against the incumbent ruling party, with Aznar's mismanagement of the 11M bombings serving as the final catalyst for change to happen. Zapatero announced his will to form a minority PSOE government, seeking the parliamentary support of other parties once elected.
The People's Party (PP) secured an absolute majority of seats for the first time ever in the 2000 general election, which allowed José MarÃÂa Aznar to be re-elected for a second term in office as prime minister of Spain. The defeat of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) prompted the resignation of party leader JoaquÃÂn Almunia and a leadership contest being triggered. A dark horse candidate, José Luis RodrÃÂguez Zapatero, emerged as new leader in a surprise victory over the president of CastillaâÂÂLa Mancha, José Bono, by adhering to a "New Way" position that proposed party renewal and internal reforms.
With a low unemployment under Spanish standards and the country's economy growing at a steady pace, Aznar's government continued its liberalization policy in a wide range of activities (including sectors previously subject to state monopoly), as well as the completion of the privatization of the Iberia airline (postponed several times over pilots' opposition, adverse economic conditions and failed acquisition talks). Together with the continued inflow of European funds, this provided Spain with extraordinary revenues that contributed to curb the fiscal deficit and reduce public debt, though the Spanish government's overreliance on housing as an economic locomotive generated a real estate bubble due to a rise in speculation. The cash rounding resulting from the final replacement of the Spanish peseta by the euro on 1 January 2002 also led to a rise in the inflation rate.
Domestically, Aznar had to deal with the mad cow crisis early into his second term, with the first confirmed case of the disease in Spain. In the summer of 2001, it was unveiled that the Gescartera investment company had engaged in profit-making activities by defrauding its clients through the misappropriation of funds and influence peddling; the scandal saw the resignations of the then treasury state secretary, Enrique Giménez-Reyna (brother to Gescartera's chairwoman) and the president of the National Securities Market Commission. On the issue of immigration, Aznar's government reformed the Aliens Law to curtail some migrants' rights and introduce harsher entry restrictions, a faster deportation process, and tighter conditions for travel visas. An attempt by the government to tighten unemployment benefits and other working conditions through decree-law led to a general strike in 2002, forcing the proposalâÂÂwhich would later be struck by the Constitutional Court of Spain in 2007âÂÂto be watered down. The Perejil Island crisis in July 2002, which saw a squad of the Royal Moroccan Navy temporarily occupy the uninhabited island, was resolved after a bloodless intervention by the Spanish military. Finally, a proposal for a water transfer from the Ebro river to south-eastern provinces to supply tourism and agriculture was criticized as poorly planned and met with mass protests, particularly in Aragon and Catalonia.
Terrorism was a major issue during Aznar's second tenure as prime minister, as the ETA group conducted major attacks such as the killings of Ernest Lluch (a former health minister), the October 2000 Madrid bombing which killed a Supreme Court judge, or the 2001 Madrid bombing injuring 99. PP and PSOE signed the 2000 Anti-Terrorist Pact as a show of unity in response, and a new Political Parties Law was approved in 2002 which allowed the banning of the Batasuna party over its links and support to ETA's actions. The increase of counterterrorism cooperation with France and the European Union, together with renewed police action, eroded ETA's operational capacity. Concurrently, and in opposition to Aznar's hardline position against ETA violence, the Basque Nationalist Party under Lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe sought to resolve the Basque conflict through sovereigntism and broad-based talks, a position which received the endorsement of voters in the snap 2001 Basque election. Following failed talks with the Spanish government, Ibarretxe laid out a peace scheme in 2003âÂÂdubbed the Ibarretxe PlanâÂÂthat envisaged a referendum to decide on a proposed reform of the Basque Statute of Autonomy which, if approved, would turn the Basque Country into an associated state on an equal footing with Spain (including a right to self-determination).
This period also saw the controversial management of a number of crises by Aznar's government; criticism over the perceived cover-up nature of its actionsâÂÂfrequently through denialism and diffusion of responsibilityâÂÂnegatively affected its public standing and fostered a perception of arrogance in the exercise of power. The Prestige oil spill in November 2002 saw extensive damage to the coast of Galicia in what was described as Spain's biggest environmental crisis. The Spanish government was criticized for its decision to tow the ailing wreck out to sea (where it split in two) rather than allow it to take refuge in a sheltered port, which was seen as a major contributing factor to the scale of the disaster. The Yak-42 plane crash in May 2003, with the death of all 75 occupants, saw a misidentification of bodies (with some remains being returned to the wrong relatives and others being mixed-up) as well as questions on the plane's poor condition and the pilots' readiness.
At the international level, the election of George W. Bush as U.S. president and the 9/11 attacks in 2000 saw Spain aligning closer to the United States, with Aznar voicing his support to Bush's missile shield, war on terror and invasion of Afghanistan, in exchange for U.S. support to Spain's fight against ETA's terrorism. Spain's rapprochement to the United States and Tony Blair's United Kingdom, and their unsuccessful attempts to secure a new UN Security Council resolution that could lead to warâÂÂsuperseding Resolution 1441âÂÂculminated in the Azores Summit on 16 March 2003, which led to the subsequent invasion of Iraq under the alleged aim of disarming Saddam Hussein's regime of "weapons of mass destruction". The Spanish government's decision to intervene in the Iraq War proved highly unpopular among the public, sparking massive anti-war protests across the country. Aznar had also hinted at withdrawing from politics after two consecutive terms, a decision he confirmed at the 2002 PP congress, while also rejecting a new run as MP. The first deputy prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, was selected to succeed him as the party's prime ministerial candidate in September 2003.
Despite the growing unpopularity of Aznar's government, the PP was able to come out of the 2003 local and regional elections with limited losses. The outcome of the regional election in Madrid was significant as it hinted at the formation of a left-wing coalition government in Spain's capital region. However, a parliamentary scandal seeing two PSOE MPs refusing to follow party discipline (which would be referred to as the Tamayazo) prevented the regional PSOE leader from becoming president, forcing a repeat election in October in which PP's Esperanza Aguirre secured a majority. The Catalan election in November 2003 saw the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC)âÂÂPSOE's sister partyâÂÂoust the nationalist Convergence and Union from the regional government after 23 years of uninterrupted rule, with a tripartite cabinet between PSC, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia Greens being formed under Pasqual Maragall. The new Catalan government came under fire in January 2004 after it was unveiled that its deputy head, ERC's Josep-LluÃÂs Carod-Rovira, had held a secret meeting with ETA to negotiate a Catalonia-limited ceasefire, in what became known as the Carod case; while Carod-Rovira denied all claims of deal-seeking, the public backlash prompted him to apologize and resign from his government posts.
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, terrorism or other crimes against the state). 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 12 March 2000, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 12 March 2004. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 17 February 2004, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible date for election day on 11 April 2004.
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.
On 9 January 2004, it was announced that the general election would be held in March, with the election date being agreed with Andalusian president Manuel Chaves to make it being held concurrently with the 2004 Andalusian regional election.
The were officially dissolved on 20 January 2004 with the publication of the dissolution decree in the BOE, setting election day for 14 March and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 2 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 Socialists' Party of Catalonia, ERC and Initiative for Catalonia Greens agreed to continue with the Catalan Agreement of Progress alliance for the Senate with the inclusion of United and Alternative Left. In the Balearic Islands, PSMâÂÂNationalist Agreement, United Left of the Balearic Islands, The Greens of the Balearic Islands and ERC formed the Progressives for the Balearic Islands alliance. A proposal for an all-left electoral alliance for the Senate in the Valencian Community, comprising the PSOE, United Left of the Valencian Country and the Valencian Nationalist Bloc, was ultimately discarded.
The issues of terrorism and the State's model (with a particular focus on the major parties' relationship with peripheral nationalisms) featured predominantly in the campaign, particularly over the crisis in the Catalan government following the Carod case and the political row in the Basque Country over the Ibarretxe Plan. Unemployment and economic progress were also campaign themes. On the issue of the Iraq War, the PSOE vowed to withdraw the 1,300 Spanish troops destined for the occupation of the country, whereas the PP advocated for a continued military presence and declined to reveal whether they would double the contingent of soldiers.
No leaders' debates were held in the 2004 general election campaign due to the PP's refusal to have one, particularly a face off between prime ministerial candidates Rajoy and Zapatero requested by the latter. Instead, the PP proposed having a debate with all twelve parties with parliamentary representation in the Congress of Deputies, but it was considered logistically complex. Previously, Rajoy had demanded an electoral debate with the leaders of the PSOE, IU and ERC. Las noticias del guiñol, a satirical news programme on Canal+, aired on 2 March a fictional debate between Rajoy and Zapatero using latex puppets.
During the peak of Madrid rush hour on the morning of Thursday, 11 March 2004, ten explosions occurred aboard four commuter trains (cercanÃÂas) between Alcalá de Henares and Atocha station, killing 193 people and injuring around 2,500, in what would become the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of Spain and the deadliest in Europe since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988.
In response to the bombings, political parties announced the suspension of their campaigns. At first, politicians from all partiesâÂÂincluding the PSOE, CiU, IU, PNV, and ERCâÂÂblamed ETA. The Spanish government immediately declared three days of national mourning and claimed ETA's responsibility, with Prime Minister José MarÃÂa Aznar personally phoning newspaper editors to uphold this version at noon on the day of the attacks while dismissing any other authorship. Aznar's government also sent messages to all Spanish embassies abroad ordering that they uphold the version that ETA was responsible. However, ETA denied any involvement in the attacks, and evidence obtained by police and security forces started pointing to an Islamist authorship by the afternoon of 11 March; particularly, the discovery of a van containing a tape with Qur'anic verses and an al-Qaeda claim of responsibility being published by the Al-Quds Al-Arabi London Arabic-language newspaper. The government insisted on the ETA's authorship claim into 12 March (despite the discovery that day of a detonator that did not match those used by ETA) and, on the eve of the election, PP candidate Mariano Rajoy claimed in an El Mundo interview that he had "the moral conviction that it was ETA". By that point, however, interior minister ÃÂngel Acebes had publicly acknowledged that the government had not "closed off any line of investigation".
In the days previous to the election, millions of Spaniards took to the streets in massive demonstrations across the country to condemn terrorism and express solidarity for the victims, but also to demand answers about the attacksâÂÂwith cabinet members at the Madrid demonstration on 12 March being met with booing and shouts of "Who did it?"âÂÂamid growing concerns that the government was deliberately concealing evidence from the public to seek political advantage in the election.
During the day of election silence on 13 March, spontaneous cell phone messages ending in the catchphrase (Spanish for "pass it on") invoked thousands to unofficial demonstrations in front of the ruling PP's headquarters in major cities throughout the country, blaming the attacks on Aznar's decision to engage in the Iraq War (with shouts of "your war, our dead" and "murderers"). On the evening of that day, the Spanish government announced the arrest of three Moroccans and two Indians, concurrently with the discovery of a videotape from a purported al-Qaeda official claiming responsibility for the attacks. This stirred further anti-government unrest throughout the country demanding to "being told the truth", which prompted Rajoy to issue a statement denouncing that the "illegal" protests constituted "undemocratic acts of pressure on tomorrow's election", and accusing the opposition PSOE of staging them. PSOE's campaign manager, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, replied in a press briefing rejecting Rajoy's accusations and condemning the government's handling of the crisis, revealing that party leaders had been aware for many hours that the main line of police investigation into the attacks was now pointing to IslamismâÂÂinformation which the government withheld from its public statementsâÂÂand that they were never going to "use terrorism for political purposes", while uttering that "the Spanish people deserve a government that doesn't lie to them, that always tells them the truth". By the end of the night, the entire opposition was accusing the PP government of manipulating and concealing information on the bombings.
In the ensuing years, several sources would claim that the prospective electoral influence of the bombings was discussed in an emergency government meeting held on 11 March, which focused on the massacre's authorship: if ETA was proven to be responsible, it would favour the PP's hardline campaign on terrorism in a rally 'round the flag effect, but if an Islamist group appeared to have caused the blasts, people would link them to the Spanish intervention in the Iraq War and blame the PP for earning Spain enemies. Along these lines, a statement allegedly made in the meetingâÂÂand attributed by some accounts to Aznar's chief advisor, Pedro ArriolaâÂÂclaimed that "if it was ETA, we'll win [by a landslide]; if it was the Islamists, the PSOE shall win".
The table below shows registered voter turnout on election day, without including non-resident citizens.
Legislation
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