The 2005 Autonomous Election in Galicia: the End of Conservative Hegemony1

Party Competition in the Spanish Regions

“…Although this election clearly confirmed PP as the largest regional party in electoral terms, it led to an alternative coalition government being formed between PSOE and the leftist BNG. This was an expected outcome of coalitional negotiations, because PSOE and BNG had previously allied at local levels to terminate PPled governments (Pallares et al, 2006a). In Catalonia, CiU was the sole party of government between 1980 and 2003, winning 6 consecutive regional elections and holding either an absolute (1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995) or relative (1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003) majority in the regional parliament.…”

“…Island-based parties are less unified in the Balearic Islands, where they include the Socialist Party of Mallorca and Menorca (PSM), as well as the centrist Mallorcan Union (UM). In Galicia the only NSWP to have endured is the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), a party federation that is nationalist in character and leftist in political orientation (Pallares and Keating, 2003;Pallares et al, 2006a). Aragon contains both centre-left and centre-right regionalist parties, the Chunta Aragonesista (CHA) and the Aragonese Party (PAR) respectively.…”

“…Although structures of competition in Galicia and Catalonia vary considerably from the Spanish level, they are also characterised by patterns of bipolarisation. In Galicia, PP and PSOE-BNG constitute competing blocs whose combined support accounts for virtually a totality of votes (Pallares et al, 2006a), especially since the disappearance of other NSWP and the collapse of IU Galicia (Alcantara and Martinez, 1998). In Catalonia competing blocs are formed around the largest parties, which are centre-left (PSC) and centre-right (CiU) in political orientation (Colome, 1996).…”

Refining vote choice in an ethno-regionalist context: Three-dimensional ideological voting in Catalonia and Quebec

“…Contemporary movements in regions such as Catalonia, Quebec and Scotland are real-world examples of how relations between a central state and its regions can be a very politically salient issue (Keating, 2001). For voters, this dimension provides extra political information for differentiating parties who may seem similar on the lefteright economic and progressiveeconservative social dimensions (Pallar es et al, 2006).…”

Did They Mind the Gap? Voter/Party Ideological Proximity between the BQ, the NDP and Quebec Voters, 2006–2011

“…For example, contemporary movements in areas such as Catalonia and Scotland show how relations between a central state and its regions can be politically salient (Keating, 2001). This centre/periphery dimension can provide additional information to voters, allowing them to distinguish between parties that may be similar on economic and social dimensions (Pallarés et al, 2006). That being said, parties are not necessarily always similar on economic and social dimensions.…”