Murcian parliamentary election, 1983
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The 1983 Murcian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st Regional Assembly of Murcia, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of the Region of Murcia. At stake were all 43 seats in the Assembly, determining the President of the Region of Murcia.
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) went on to win a comfortable absolute majority of both seats and votes, emerging as the largest party in the Region. The People's Coalition, an electoral alliance led by the right-wing People's Alliance (AP), which included the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL), became the second political force and the main opposition party, whereas the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) also entered the Assembly, obtaining 1 seat.
As a result of the election, Socialist Andrés Hernández Ros, who since 1979 had been the President of the Regional Council of Murcia (the pre-autonomic regional government), became the first democratically-elected President of the region.
Electoral system
The number of seats in the Regional Assembly of Murcia was set to 43 for the 1983-1987 period. All Assembly members were elected in 5 multi-member districts using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Unlike other regions, districts did not coincide with provincial limits, being determined by law as such:
- District One, comprising the municipalities of: Lorca, Aguilas, Puerto Lumbreras, Totana, Alhama de Murcia, Librilla, Aledo and Mazarrón.
- District Two, comprising the municipalities of: Cartagena, La Unión, Fuente Alamo de Murcia, Torre-Pacheco, San Javier and San Pedro del Pinatar.
- District Three, comprising the municipalities of: Murcia, Alcantarilla, Beniel, Molina de Segura, Alguazas, Las Torres de Cotillas, Lorquí, Ceutí, Cieza, Abarán, Blanca, Archena, Ricote, Ulea, Villanueva del Río Segura, Ojós, Fortuna, Abanilla and Santomera.
- District Four, comprising the municipalities of: Caravaca, Cehegín, Calasparra, Moratalla, Bullas, Pliego, Mula, Albudeite and Campos del Río.
- District Five, comprising the municipalities of: Jumilla and Yecla.
As the community had not passed an electoral law of its own at the time, the electoral system came regulated under Decree 16/1983, which distributed the Regional Assembly seats as follows: District One (7), District Two (10) District Three (19), District Four (4) and District Five (3).
Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 3% of valid votes in each district (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.[1]
Results
Overall
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| Party | Vote | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Won | +/− | ||
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) | 238,968 | 52.23 | − | 26 | − | |
| People's Coalition (AP-PDP-UL) | 162,074 | 35.42 | − | 16 | − | |
| Communist Party of Spain (PCE) | 32,113 | 7.02 | − | 1 | − | |
| Cantonal Party (PCAN) | 12,967 | 2.83 | − | 0 | − | |
| Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 5,224 | 1.14 | − | 0 | − | |
| Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) | 3,603 | 0.79 | − | 0 | − | |
| Blank ballots | 2,608 | 0.57 | − | |||
| Total | 457,557 | 100.00 | 43 | − | ||
| Valid votes | 457,557 | 98.99 | − | |||
| Invalid votes | 4,655 | 1.01 | − | |||
| Votes cast / turnout | 462,212 | 68.47 | − | |||
| Abstentions | 212,870 | 31.53 | − | |||
| Registered voters | 675,082 | |||||
| Source(s): Argos Information Portal | ||||||
References
| Elections in the Region of Murcia | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary elections | |
| General elections | |