28 May 1995 1999 → Turnout 706,954 (71.1%)
6.5 pp 15 February 1995 12 July 1991 | Registered 993,975 3.9% 24 September 1993 15 February 1995 17 seats, 20.7% 30 seats, 40.3% | |
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The 1995 Aragonese parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 28 May 1995, to elect the 4th democratically elected Courts of Aragon, the regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Aragon. At stake were all 67 seats in the Courts, determining the President of the Government of Aragon.
Contents
The election saw a marked increase for the People's Party (PP), which went on to win the election doubling its 1991 vote and gaining ten seats. Much of the increase came at the expense of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), at the moment beset by corruption scandals. The Aragonese Party (PAR) lost ground for the second consecutive election and was displaced to 3rd place. United Left (IU) improved its position while the left-wing regionalist Aragonese Union (CHA) won seats in the Courts for the first time.
The new legislature elected Santiago Lanzuela as the first PP President of Aragon by 41 votes to 26. The PP and PAR deputies backed Lanzuela while PSOE, CHA and IU voted against. Lanzuela headed a PP administration with the initial support of the PAR.
Electoral system
The number of seats in the Aragonese Courts was set to a fixed-number of 67. All Courts members were elected in 3 multi-member districts, corresponding to Aragon's three provinces, using the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation system. Each district was entitled to an initial minimum of 13 seats, with the remaining 28 seats allocated among the three provinces in proportion to their populations, on the required condition that the number of inhabitants per seat in each district did not exceed 2.75 times those of any other. For the 1995 election, seats were distributed as follows: Huesca (18), Teruel (16) and Zaragoza (33).
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.
Background
The previous legislature had been tightly divided between the left and right blocs, with an independent, former PP deputy holding the balance of power. This had resulted in a coalition between the PP and PAR being replaced by a PSOE administration in 1993. However, legal difficulties had forced the resignation of the PSOE Aragonese President José Marco in January 1995, being replaced by party colleague Ramón Tejedor. The PSOE Federal Executive designated Marcelino Iglesias as candidate for President in the 1995 election, marginalizing Marco from the election of the regional candidates.