European Parliament election, 2009 (Spain)
The European elections in Spain in 2009 was held on June 7, 2009. She was part of the EU-wide European elections in 2009, with 50 of the 736 seats were awarded in the European Parliament in Spain. Should the Lisbon Treaty during the legislative period 2009-2014 to come into force, four other Spanish MEP will move up in the Parliament. Polling stations were open 9-20 clock.
Electoral system
The European election takes place in Spain to the system of proportional representation in the D' Hondt method. All Spain is a single electoral district, it is no threshold applied.
Political pre-election
As in other countries in the European elections was perceived in 2009 in Spain, mainly as a national " test vote ". It was little more than a year after the Spanish general election in March 2008, in which the PSOE minority government was re-elected under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Both the PSOE and the conservative opposition party PP had it easily gained at the expense of smaller parties. The president of the PP, Mariano Rajoy, was after the elections within the party as struck. Although he was confirmed at a party congress in mid-2008 in office, his political future in the media has often been associated with a good showing in the European elections.
In the following months, Spain suffered as a result of the international financial crisis and a national real estate crisis, an economic slump and strongly rising unemployment, which would put a poor performance of the ruling party PSOE, which was often criticized for a lack of vigor in combating the crisis in public. In fact, the PP was first in the polls ahead. However, several high-ranking members of the PP were in February 2009 in a corruption scandal that involved the so-called belt case, why were initially opened an investigation of investigating judge Baltasar Garzón. In May 2009, the affair reached, among others, the PP- Prime Minister of the Valencia region, Francisco Camps, who was heard on May 20, as a suspect. As a result, the PSOE took up again in the polls. The small parties did not benefit from the weakness of the two major parties in the polls.
Choice advertiser parties and lists
The Spanish party system is characterized by a large number of regional parties. These parties can form the majority in specific regions, but come spain far only on results of 3 % or less. In order for the European elections - as opposed to national elections not the provinces are in the constituencies, but the whole country a single constituency - to increase their chances of mandates, regional and other small parties form that joint electoral lists. However, these are only alliances of convenience, which shall be negotiated prior to each European election between the new parties in general. Although the parties a list usually have certain programmatic overlaps, they belong to the European level often different European parties.
Specifically, the following electoral lists were to:
PSOE
On the list of the PSOE and its sister party, the Catalan PSC approached. Both parties belong to the European level of the Party of European Socialists (PES ). The Spanish countryside ( Confederación de Los Verdes ), who had not yet formed in the 2004 European elections, a joint list with the PSOE, occurred in 2009 in another election alliance to.
PP
The PP, which belongs to the European level of the European People's Party ( EPP), went alone to the election. The Navarrese regional party UPN, which until 2008 had a firm alliance with the PP, did not occur at the European elections and announced that they would also make no choice recommendation for a specific list.
Coalition por Europe ( CEU )
The Coalition por Europe ( " Coalition for Europe " ) includes the great bourgeois- conservative regional parties from Catalonia (CDC, UDC ) and the Basque Country ( PNV ). The Galician BNG, who had also entered into a covenant with these parties in the European elections of 2004, decided not to participate in the 2009 list, but her various other, smaller regional parties joined. At European level, the parties to the list completely different party groupings are: UDC belongs to the European People's Party ( EPP), CDC and UM are part of the European Liberal, Democratic and Reform Party (ELDR), the PNV is a member of the European Democratic Party ( EDP) and the PA of the European Free Alliance (EFA ). The other parties to the list belong to any European party.
Europe de los Pueblos - Verdes ( EdP -V)
The list of Europe de los Pueblos - Verdes ( " Europe of nations - Green " ) comprises mainly the left nationalist parties. Several of them, ERC, BNG, EA and CHA belong at European level the European Free Alliance (EFA ). The Confederación de Los Verdes is a member of the European Green Party ( EGP), which forms a common fraction with the EFA in the European Parliament. In the European elections of 2004, the Confederación was begun on a joint list with the PSOE.
La Izquierda
The list La Izquierda ( "The Left " ) is the common list of spain wide left party IU and its Catalan sister party EUiA (both part of the European Left ) and the Catalan Green Party ICV, Member of the European Green Party ( EGP).
Unión Progreso y Democracia
The Party 2007 newly founded UPyD, which sees itself as a centrist alternative to PP and PSOE and the heavy weight of regional parties in Spain criticized, took only for the European elections.
Libertas Ciudadanos de España
The list Libertas Ciudadanos de España ( " Libertas citizens of Spain" ) is dominated by the Catalan party 's C, which criticized the Catalan nationalism. C's had initially UPyD proposed a joint election list, which was rejected by UPyD. Then made C's along with some other small parties a joint list called Ciudadanos de España, which subsequently came to an agreement with the European party Libertas and as its Spanish offshoot occurred. Under this agreement, the non-party Miguel Durán Campos, former President of the ONCE lottery and the television station Telecinco, was presented as the new top candidate, the candidate of C's took second place in the list.
More lists
In addition to the above-mentioned lists that include all member parties, which are also represented in Spanish or in a regional parliament, nor were many other parties and party connections for choice: With a total of 35 nominations Spain was the country in which stood as a candidate most different groupings. The list of Iniciativa Internacional Ista was banned by the Spanish Supreme Court in mid-May, because in it a continuation of the activities of the banned Batasuna party was seen, but a week later, the Constitutional Court overturned the verdict on again.
Surveys
Result
After the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, drew two other Members of the PP, one of the PSOE and an electoral alliance of the CEU (namely Salvador Sedó, UDC ) to.
The electoral alliance EdP - V agreed that lessons seats of the list should under all the members who would have won in their respective regions, more than 40,000 votes, rotate. The result after that would have won a mandate therefore between ERC, BNG, Aralar and Confederación de Los Verdes rotate. It is expected that Oriol Junqueras (ERC ) occupying the seat in the first two and a half years, Ana Miranda ( BNG) and Iñaki Irazabalbeitia ( Aralar ) one year and Pura Peris (Los Verdes ) in the last six months of its term.