Under the
1979 Statute of Autonomy, the
Parliament of Catalonia was the
unicameral legislature of the
homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in
devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a
regional president. The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by
national law provisions.
Date The term of the Parliament of Catalonia expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was
dissolved earlier. The election was required to be called no later than 15 days before the scheduled expiration date of parliament, with
election day taking place within 60 days from the call. The
previous election was held on 17 October 1999, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 17 October 2003. The election was required to be called no later than 2 October 2003, setting the latest possible date for election day on 1 December 2003. The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Catalonia at any given time and call a
snap election, provided that no
motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year after a previous one under this procedure. In the event of an
investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called. The Parliament of Catalonia was officially dissolved on 23 September 2003 with the publication of the corresponding
decree in the Official Journal of the Government of Catalonia (DOGC), setting election day for 16 November.
Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on
universal suffrage, comprising all
Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Catalonia and with full
political rights, provided that they had not been
deprived of the right to vote by a final
sentence, nor were
legally incapacitated. The Parliament of Catalonia had a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 150 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 135. All were elected in four
multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the
provinces of
Barcelona,
Girona,
Lleida and
Tarragona, each of which was assigned a fixed number of seats—using the
D'Hondt method and
closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent-
threshold of valid votes (including
blank ballots) in each constituency. The use of this electoral method resulted in a higher
effective threshold depending on
district magnitude and vote distribution. As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats: The law did not provide for
by-elections to fill
vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the
party lists or, when required, by designated
substitutes.
Outgoing parliament The table below shows the composition of the
parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution. ==Parties and candidates==