2003 Extremaduran regional election

A regional election was held in Extremadura on Sunday, 25 May 2003, to elect the 6th Assembly of the autonomous community. All 65 seats in the Assembly were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, which in this election ran in coalition with the Extremaduran Coalition, enlarged its absolute majority from 34 to 36 seats, at the cost of the opposition People's Party, which fell to 26 and lost ground for the first time since the 1987 election. United Left, which formed a coalition with the Independent Socialists of Extremadura, maintained its 3 seats but was unable to make gains.
Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra was elected for his sixth and last term in office as President of the Regional Government of Extremadura, as he would announce in September 2006 he would not stand for re-election in 2007.

Overview

Under the 1983 Statute of Autonomy, the Assembly of Extremadura was the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president.

Electoral system

Voting for the Assembly was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Extremadura and in full enjoyment of their political rights, provided that they were not sentenced—by a final court ruling—to deprivation of the right to vote, nor being legally incapacitated.
The Assembly of Extremadura was entitled to a maximum of 65 seats, with the electoral law setting its size at that number. All members were elected in two multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Badajoz and Cáceres, with each being allocated an initial minimum of 20 seats and the remaining 25 being distributed in proportion to their populations—using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional voting system, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes being applied in each constituency. Alternatively, parties failing to reach the threshold in one of the constituencies were also entitled to enter the seat distribution as long as they ran candidates in both districts and reached five percent regionally.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Assembly constituency was entitled the following seats:

Seats	Constituencies
35	Badajoz
30	Cáceres

The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacated seats; instead, any vacancies that occurred after the proclamation of candidates and into the legislative term were to be covered by the successive candidates in the list and, when required, by the designated substitutes.

Election date

The term of the Assembly of Extremadura expired four years after the date of its previous ordinary election, with election day being fixed for the fourth Sunday of May every four years. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the fifty-fifth day prior to the scheduled election date and published on the following day in the Official Journal of Extremadura. The previous election was held on 13 June 1999, setting the date for election day on the fourth Sunday of May four years later, which was 25 May 2003.
The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Assembly of Extremadura and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no nationwide election was due and some time requirements were met: namely, that dissolution did not occur either during the first legislative session or within the parliament's last year ahead of its scheduled expiry, nor before one year had elapsed since a previous dissolution. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Assembly was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called. Any snap election held as a result of these circumstances would not alter the period to the next ordinary election, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their original four-year term.
The election to the Assembly of Extremadura was officially called on 1 April 2003 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the DOE, setting election day for 25 May.

Outgoing parliament

The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of the election call.

Parties and candidates

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 ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least two percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:

Opinion polls

The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll.

Voting intention estimates

The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below the percentages in a smaller font; 33 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Assembly of Extremadura.

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Victory preferences

The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size				Other/ None		Lead
Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size				Other/ None		Lead
CIS	22 Mar–28 Apr 2003	1,238	48.5	22.2	5.6	1.2	22.5	26.3

Victory likelihood

The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size				Other/ None		Lead
Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size				Other/ None		Lead
CIS	22 Mar–28 Apr 2003	1,238	69.6	6.9	0.3	0.0	23.2	62.7

Preferred President

The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become president of the Regional Government of Extremadura.

Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size				Other/ None/ Not care		Lead
Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size				Other/ None/ Not care		Lead
Polling firm/Commissioner	Fieldwork date	Sample size	Ibarra	Floriano	Cañada	Other/ None/ Not care		Lead
CIS	22 Mar–28 Apr 2003	1,238	51.7	19.1	5.3	1.2	22.8	32.6