2006 Catalan regional election
A regional election was held in Catalonia on Wednesday, 1 November 2006, to elect the 8th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. Unlike other occasions, the election was held on a public holiday during the workweek, All Saints' Day.
The Socialists' Party of Catalonia, Republican Left of Catalonia and Initiative for Catalonia Greens–United and Alternative Left had formed a coalition government in 2003 under Pasqual Maragall as Catalan president, in the first left-from-centre cabinet in Catalonia since the Spanish transition to democracy, colloquially dubbed as the "three-party" or "tripartite" alliance. Maragall oversaw the drafting of a new statute of autonomy for Catalonia, which aimed at further expanding the authority of the regional institutions, but negotiations between the national government of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party —the PSC's sister party—and the Catalan nationalist Convergence and Union and ERC were uneasy. ERC left the coalition in May 2006 over disagreements on the final statutory draft approved by the Spanish parliament, thus leaving Maragall in minority. Following the statute being ratified in a referendum on 18 June 2006, Maragall announced a snap election for 1 November and his decision not to run for a second term in office.
The election saw the first undisputed win for Artur Mas's CiU since 1995, which in 1999 and 2003 had narrowly lost the popular vote to the PSC. However, the left-wing bloc formed by the latter—running under the former industry minister of Spain, José Montilla—together with ERC and ICV–EUiA, was able to secure a reduced but still working majority. The People's Party under Josep Piqué held its ground with a similar result as previous, but remained irrelevant in the government formation process. Citizens–Party of the Citizenry, a new party formed under young lawyer Albert Rivera in opposition to Catalan nationalism and statutory reform, gained parliamentary representation by being able to clear the electoral threshold in the constituency of Barcelona.
Overview
Under the 2006 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 vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president. As a result of no regional electoral law having been approved since the re-establishment of Catalan autonomy, the electoral procedure came regulated under transitory provisions, supplemented by the provisions within the national electoral law.Electoral system
Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Catalonia 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 Parliament of Catalonia was entitled to a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 150 seats, with electoral provisions setting its size at 135. All members were elected in four multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona, with each being allocated a fixed number of seats—using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional voting system, with a threshold of three percent of valid votes being applied in each constituency. The use of the electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold based on the district magnitude and the distribution of votes among candidacies.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats:
| Seats | Constituencies |
| 85 | Barcelona |
| 18 | Tarragona |
| 17 | Girona |
| 15 | Lleida |
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 Parliament of Catalonia expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the scheduled date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Journal of the Government of Catalonia, with election day taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication. The previous election was held on 16 November 2003, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 16 November 2007. The election decree was required to be published in the DOGC no later than 23 October 2007, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible date for election day on Sunday, 16 December 2007.The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Catalonia and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since 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 8 September 2006 with the publication of the dissolution decree in the DOGC, setting election day for 1 November.
Outgoing parliament
The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.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 one 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; 68 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Catalonia.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.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.Preferred President
The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become president of the Government of Catalonia.;All candidates
;Montilla vs. Mas
;Maragall vs. Mas