Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

26 November 2012

The results of the elections to the Regional Parliament of Catalonia (Spain)

held on 25 November 2012

Total electorate in 2012:  5 257 252  (5 363 688 in 2010)

Turnout (percentage of total electorate who cast valid votes)  : 69.6 % in 2012 (58.8 % at the last Catalan elections in 2010).

The following is the outcome for the seven political parties which won seats in the Catalan parliament in the 2012 elections together with their performance in 2010:

1. Convergència i Unió  (CiU) [conservative party, Catalan nationalist, pro-independence]:

2012:    1 112 341 votes               30.68 % of votes cast    50 seats

201o:    1 202 830 votes               38.4 % of votes cast        62 seats

2. Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya – Catalunya Sí  (ERC-Cat Sí) [leftwing, Catalan nationalist, pro-independence]:

2012:    496 292 votes                 13.68 % of votes cast       21 seats

2010:      219 173 votes                      7 % of votes cast             10 seats

3. Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya  (PSC) [centre-left, Spanish nationalist, anti-independence]:

2012:      523 333  votes                  14.43 % of votes cast      20 seats

2010:      575 233  votes                    18.4  % of votes cast         28 seats

4. Partit Popular Català  (PPC) [rightwing, Spanish nationalist, anti-independence]:

2012:      471 197  votes                     12.99 % of votes cast       19 seats

2010:       387 066  votes                     12.4 % of votes cast          18 seats

5. Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds – Esquerra Unida i Alternativa (ICV-EUiA) [Greens, centrist, anti-independence]:

2012:     358 857 votes                         9.89 % of votes cast       13 seats

2010:      230 824 votes                           7.4    % of votes cast        10 seats

6. Ciutadans – Partit de la Ciutadania  (C’s)  [centrist, anti-corruption, Spanish nationalist, anti-independence]:

2012:    274 925  votes                            7.58  % of votes cast     9 seats

2010:     106 154   votes                              3.4   % of votes cast       3 seats

7. Candidatures d’Unitat Popular (CUP)   [leftwing , alternative,  anti-capitalist, anti-austerity, anti-privatisation, anti-corruption, anti-European Union, pro-independence]:

2012:    126 219 votes                                 3.48 % of votes cast    3 seats

2010:    CUP did not stand in this election

For further details, readers can check out the following websites: 

Wikipedia    and    Generalitat de Catalunya

ELECTORAL PROCEDURE

The 135 seats in the Catalan Parliament are distributed among four electoral districts: 85  in Barcelona , 17 in Girona , 15 in Leida and 18 in Tarragona.  In each district seats are allocated to parties which secure at least 3% of the votes in that district in accordance with the D’Hondt method of allocating seats in a party-list system of  proportional representation.

Antigone1984:

The gamble taken by Artur Mas, the Catalan President, failed to pay off. He had called the elections with the hope of increasing the parliamentary representation of his political party, Convergència I Unió (CiU), which wants to hold a referendum in Catalonia within the next four years to find out whether Catalans are in favour of their region seceding from Spain. In the event, the party gained only 50 of the 135 seats in the Parliament, compared to its tally of 62 in the outgoing Parliament. Mas needed a minimum of 68 seats to have an absolute majority. He will now need to form a coalition government. His most likely partner is the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) party, which had only 10 seats in the outgoing parliament but gained 21 in yesterday’s elections. The problem is that CiU is a conservative party, whereas ERC is leftwing. However, against the wishes of the national government in Madrid, both parties want Catalonia to secede from Spain and form a new independent state within the European Union. Some hard bargaining is in the offing.

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You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts.  For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice  (4 July 2012) 

5.Ladder  (21 June 2012)

 6. A tale of two cities (1)  (6 June 2012)

 7. A tale of two cities (2)  (7 June 2012)

 8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

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