2010 Catalan regional election
A regional election was held in Catalonia on Sunday, 28 November 2010, to elect the 9th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. This was the first election held in Catalonia after the Constitutional Court of Spain struck down parts of the regional 2006 Statute of Autonomy that granted new powers of self-rule to the region. The ruling came after four years of deliberation concerning a constitutional appeal filed by the conservative People's Party under Mariano Rajoy and was met with anger and street protests throughout the region.
The election resulted in a resounding victory for the Convergence and Union federation under Artur Mas, whose 62 seats—six short of an absolute majority—virtually ensured that no alternative government was mathematically possible, as the left-wing alliance which had formed the government of Catalonia for the previous seven years fell to a bare 48 seats. The coalition formed by the Socialists' Party of Catalonia, Republican Left of Catalonia and Initiative for Catalonia Greens was already at the brink of split going into the election, with political disagreements between the former allies having led Catalan president José Montilla to announce that he would not seek a third alliance with ERC and ICV even if election numbers favored such a possibility. The election saw a collapse in support for all three parties and Montilla's retirement from the PSC leadership shortly afterwards.
The PP had one of its best showings in a Catalan regional election, with 12.4% of the vote and 18 seats. Albert Rivera's Citizens party saw a slight increase in its vote share, whereas the pro-Catalan independence Catalan Solidarity for Independence led by former FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta secured 4 seats in the Parliament.
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 1 November 2006, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 1 November 2010. The election decree was required to be published in the DOGC no later than 8 October 2010, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible date for election day on Wednesday, 1 December 2010.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 5 October 2010 with the publication of the dissolution decree in the DOGC, setting election day for 28 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. Amendments to the electoral law in 2007 introduced requirements for 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 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.| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | PxC | RI.cat | SI | Other/ None | Lead | |||||||
| Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Other/ None | Lead | ||||||||||
| Opina/Cadena SER | 8–9 Nov 2010 | 1,200 | 66.7 | 12.8 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | – | 0.0 | 0.3 | – | 15.6 | 53.9 |
| CIS | 15 Oct–4 Nov 2010 | 2,966 | 56.9 | 14.1 | 0.5 | 5.5 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | – | 0.1 | 22.4 | 42.8 |
Preferred President
The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become president of the Government of Catalonia.;All candidates
;Mas vs. Montilla