2008 Spanish general election

Under the 1978 Constitution, the Spanish were conceived as an imperfect bicameral system. The Congress of Deputies held greater legislative power than the Senate, having the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a prime minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority. Nonetheless, the Senate retained a limited number of specific functions—such as ratifying international treaties, authorizing cooperation agreements between autonomous communities, enforcing direct rule, regulating interterritorial compensation funds, and taking part in constitutional amendments and in the appointment of members to the Constitutional Court and the General Council of the Judiciary—which were not subject to override by Congress. Date The term of each chamber of the —the Congress and the Senate—expired four years from the date of their previous election, unless they were dissolved earlier. The election decree was required to be issued no later than 25 days before the scheduled expiration date of parliament and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication. The previous election was held on 14 March 2004, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 14 March 2008. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 19 February 2008, setting the latest possible date for election day on 13 April 2008. The prime minister had the prerogative to propose the monarch to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no state of emergency was in force and that dissolution did not occur before one year after a previous one. Additionally, both chambers were to be dissolved and a new election called if an investiture process failed to elect a prime minister within a two-month period from the first ballot. Barring this exception, there was no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections to the Congress and the Senate. Still, as of , there has been no precedent of separate elections taking place under the 1978 Constitution. In November 2007, it was announced by Andalusian president Manuel Chaves that he had agreed with Zapatero to hold the regional election in Andalusia simultaneously with the 2008 Spanish general election in March. The were officially dissolved on 15 January 2008 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOE, setting election day for 9 March and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 1 April. Electoral system Voting for each chamber of the was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age 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 Congress of Deputies had a minimum of 300 and a maximum of 400 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 350. Of these, 348 were elected in 50 multi-member constituencies corresponding to the provinces of Spain—each of which was assigned an initial minimum of two seats and the remaining 248 distributed in proportion to population—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 remaining two seats were allocated to Ceuta and Melilla as single-member districts elected by plurality voting. 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 Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats: 208 Senate seats were elected using open-list partial block voting: voters in constituencies electing four seats could choose up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, up to two; and in single-member districts, one. Each of the 47 peninsular provinces was allocated four seats, while in insular provinces—such as the Balearic and Canary Islands—the districts were the islands themselves, with the larger ones (Mallorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife) being allocated three seats each, and the smaller ones (Menorca, Ibiza–Formentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma) one each. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each. Additionally, autonomous communities could appoint at least one senator each and were entitled to one additional seat per million inhabitants. 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 tables below show the composition of the parliamentary groups in both chambers at the time of dissolution. ==Candidates==

Nomination rules Spanish citizens with the right to vote could run for election, provided that they had not been criminally imprisoned by a final sentence or convicted—whether final or not—of offences that involved loss of eligibility or disqualification from public office (such as rebellion, terrorism or other crimes against the state). Additional causes of ineligibility applied to the following officials: • Members of the Spanish royal family and their spouses; • Holders of a number of senior public or institutional posts, including the heads and members of higher courts and state institutions; the Ombudsman; the State's Attorney General; high-ranking officials of government departments, the Office of the Prime Minister and other state agencies; government delegates in the autonomous communities; the director-general of RTVE; the director of the Electoral Register Office; the governor and deputy governor of the Bank of Spain; the heads of official credit institutions; and members of electoral commissions and of the Nuclear Safety Council; • Heads of diplomatic missions abroad; • Judges and public prosecutors in active service; • Members of the Armed Forces and law enforcement bodies in active service. Other ineligibility provisions also applied to a number of territorial officials in these categories within their areas of jurisdiction, as well as to employees of foreign states and members of regional governments. • A number of senior public or institutional posts, including the presidency of the National Commission on Markets and Competition; and leadership positions in RTVE, government offices, public authorities (such as port authorities, hydrographic confederations, or highway concessionary companies), public entities and state-owned or publicly funded companies; • Any other paid public or private position, except university teaching. Parties and lists The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list. Amendments in 2007 required a balanced composition of men and women in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition. Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election: In the Canary Islands, an alliance was formed between New Canaries (NC) and Nationalist Canarian Centre (CCN), two splinter groups from Canarian Coalition. In the Valencian Community, Valencian People's Initiative (IdPV)—splinter from United Left of the Valencian Country (EUPV)—joined a coalition with the Valencian Nationalist Bloc (Bloc) and The Greens–Ecologist Left of the Valencian Country (EVEE). Unity for the Isles, an electoral alliance based in the Balearic Islands, was formed by PSM–Nationalist Agreement (PSM–EN), Majorcan Union (UM), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), Agreement for Majorca (ExM) and The Greens of Menorca (EV–Me). ==Campaign==

Timetable The key dates are listed below (all times are CET. The Canary Islands used WET (UTC+0) instead): • 14 January: The election decree is issued with the countersign of the prime minister, after deliberation in the Council of Ministers, ratified by the King. • 15 January: Formal dissolution of parliament and start of prohibition period on the inauguration of public works, services or projects. • 18 January: Initial constitution of provincial and zone electoral commissions with judicial members. • 21 January: Division of constituencies into polling sections and stations. • 25 January: Deadline for parties and federations to report on their electoral alliances. • 28 January: Deadline for electoral register consultation for the purpose of possible corrections. • 4 February: Deadline for parties, federations, alliances, and groupings of electors to present electoral lists. • 6 February: Publication of submitted electoral lists in the Official State Gazette (BOE). • 9 February: Deadline for non-resident citizens (electors residing abroad (CERA) and citizens temporarily absent from Spain) to apply for voting. • 11 February: Official proclamation of validly submitted electoral lists. • 12 February: Publication of proclaimed electoral lists in the BOE. • 13 February: Deadline for the selection of polling station members by sortition. • 21 February: Deadline for the appointment of non-judicial members to provincial and zone electoral commissions. • 22 February: Official start of electoral campaigning. • 28 February: Deadline to apply for postal voting. • 4 March: Start of legal ban on electoral opinion polling publication; deadline for CERA citizens to vote by mail. • 5 March: Deadline for postal and temporarily absent voting. • 7 March: Last day of electoral campaigning; • 3 May: Deadline for the publication of definitive election results in the BOE. Party slogans Although the official electoral campaign period in Spain only lasts for the 15 days before the election, (with the exception of the day just before the election), many parties, especially the PP and PSOE, start their "pre-campaigns" months in advance, often before having finalised their electoral lists. The first phase campaign was done under the slogan "Con Z de Zapatero" (With Z of Zapatero), a joke based on the Prime Minister and socialist candidate's habit of tending to pronounce words ending with D as if they ended with Z. The campaign was linked to terms like equality (Igualdad-Igualdaz) or solidarity (Solidaridad-Solidaridaz), emphasizing the policies carried out by the current government. The second phase was done under the slogan "La Mirada Positiva" (The Positive outlook), emphasising the future government platform, and "Vota con todas tus fuerzas" (Vote with all of your strength), aiming to mobilize the indecisive or potentially abstaining voters. Another common slogan through all the campaign was "Motivos para creer" (Reasons to believe in). For the pre-campaign the PP used the slogan "Con Rajoy es Posible" (With Rajoy it's Possible). Usually emphasizing PP's campaign proposals, such as "Llegar a fin de mes, Con Rajoy es Posible" (Making ends meet, With Rajoy it's Possible). IU accused PP of copying its slogan from the last municipal elections IU chose the pre-campaign slogan "LlamazarES + Más Izquierda" (LlamazarES (is) More Left), calling attention to their position as the third national party. Events and issues The economy became a major campaign issue due to a number of factors: • A slowing down in the housing market, with prices even beginning to fall in some areas. • Sharp increases in prices of some basic commodities. • Global instability as a result of market uncertainty. • A rise in unemployment. The sudden emergence of the economy as a political issue came after several years of steady economic growth, and led some observers to suggest that maybe the government would have benefitted from calling an earlier election. In addition to those factors both the PP and the PSOE made competing proposals on taxation. Debates ;Opinion polls ==Opinion polls==

The table below shows registered voter turnout during the election. Figures for election day do not include non-resident citizens, while final figures do. ==Results==

Congress of Deputies Senate Maps File:2008 Spanish general election map.svg|Election results by constituency (Congress). File:2008 Spanish election - Results.svg|Vote winner strength by constituency (Congress). File:2008 Spanish election - AC results.svg|Vote winner strength by autonomous community (Congress). ==Aftermath==

Government formation ==Notes==