8 May 1983 1987 → Turnout 566,326 (60.5%) 1983 1979 | Registered 936,245 1977 1983 27 17 | |
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The 1983 Canarian parliamentary election was held on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st Canarian Parliament, the unicameral regional legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of the Canary Islands. At stake were all 60 seats in the Parliament, determining the President of the Canary Islands.
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) emerged as the largest party in the archipelago with 27 seats (4 short of an overall majority), following the disintegration and dissolution of the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), former ruling party of Spain in the 1977-1982 period which had achieved virtually unopposed victories in the islands in the 1977 and 1979 general elections. As a result, the centre and centre-right vote became split between several small parties and splits from the UCD, such as the Democratic and Social Centre of former Spanish Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez, which entered Parliament with 6 seats; the Independents' Gomera Group (AGI), with 2 seats or the Canarian Nationalist Convergence (CNC), with 1 seat.
The People's Coalition, a party coalition comprising the People's Alliance (AP), the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL) became the second largest party and the main opposition force in the Parliament with 17 seats, while the also-nationwide Communist Party of Spain (PCE) obtained 1 seat.
Electoral system
The 60 members of the Canarian Parliament were elected in 7 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 for each of the main islands to become a district of its own.
As the community had not passed an electoral law of its own at the time, the electoral system came regulated under the Autonomous Statute of Autonomy, as well as under Royal Decree 453/1983, which distributed the Parliament seats as follows: El Hierro (3), Fuerteventura (7), Gran Canaria (15), La Gomera (4), La Palma (8), Lanzarote (8) and Tenerife (15).
Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. Only lists polling above 20% of the total vote in each district or above 3% in all of the community (which include blank ballots—for none of the above) were entitled to enter the seat distribution.