Referendum in Spain in 2005 on the European Constitution
On February 20, 2005, a referendum took place in Spain on the adoption of the planned European Constitution . 77% of those who voted supported the adoption of the draft constitution. The turnout was 41.8%.
prehistory
On October 29, 2004, the heads of state and government of the member states of the European Union signed the Treaty of Rome on the introduction of a European constitution. In Spain, all parties agreed to hold a referendum on the acceptance of the treaty. Most of the major parties were in favor of the planned European Constitution. Strong supporters included the ruling Socialists (PSOE) under Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero and the regional party in the Canary Islands Coalición Canaria . According to the official party line, the leading opposition party Partido Popular (People's Party, PP) , the Basque nationalist Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV), the Catalan regional party Convergència i Unió (CiU) and the Greens ( lot. ) Were also approving, but not entirely without differences within the party Verdes ).
A number of regional parties spoke out against the draft constitution. These included the Basque parties Izquierda Unida (IU) and Eusko Alkartasuna (EU), the Catalan Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), the Catalan Greens Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds (ICV), the Galician Bloque Nacionalista Galego (BNG), and the Aragonese Chunta Aragonesista (CHA).
The proponents argued above all with greater efficiency, which would be guaranteed by the constitution and which was necessary in view of the repeated enlargement of the EU. Above all, the opponents criticized the supposedly non-transparent and undemocratic centralism, which leaves too little room for regional solutions. Critics of the draft treaty noted that the financial resources were very unevenly distributed during the campaign before the referendum. In the official media, the critics hardly had their say, and the “yes” campaign, which was heavily supported by government officials, had hyped the referendum into a decision for or against Europe. There were hardly any open internal party discussions about the draft constitution.
referendum
The question put to the electorate and answered with “yes” or “no” was
"¿Aprueba usted el Tratado por el que se establece una Constitución para Europa?"
"Do you agree to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe?"
Nationwide result
The following table shows the nationwide results. Based on the number of votes cast, 76.96% voted “Yes”. The number of blank ballots and invalid votes was unusually high, totaling 6.82% nationwide. In relation to the number of evaluable votes, 82.48% voted “Yes”. The turnout of 41.77% was lower than in any election since the 1970s. In relation to the number of those entitled to vote, 31.87% had voted “Yes” and 7.07% “No”.
answer | be right | in percent |
---|---|---|
Yes | 11,057,563 | 76.96 |
No | 2,453,002 | 17.07 |
Yes and no votes together | 13,510,565 | 93.23 |
Blank ballot papers | 856.664 | 5.96 |
Valid votes | 14,367,229 | 99.14 |
Invalid votes | 124,523 | 0.86 |
Total votes | 14,491,752 | 100.0 |
Total eligible voters / turnout | 34,692,491 | 41.77 |
Results by region
In all regions, the majority voted “yes”. However, there were clear regional differences. The approval rate was lowest in the economically more developed regions (especially Catalonia, Basque Country, Madrid) and highest in the economically more underdeveloped regions (Extremadura, Andalusia). The turnout in none of the autonomous communities exceeded 50 percent.
Autonomous Community |
Yes (in%) |
No (in%) |
Voter turnout (in%) |
---|---|---|---|
Andalusia | 83.32 | 11.6 | 40.3 |
Aragon | 80.99 | 12.76 | 44.67 |
Asturias | 76.42 | 17.38 | 38.4 |
Balearic Islands | 77.69 | 15.98 | 33.14 |
Canaries | 86.33 | 9.78 | 36.53 |
Cantabria | 79.45 | 14.41 | 44.55 |
Castile-La Mancha | 82.0 | 11.76 | 45.77 |
Castile and Leon | 81.19 | 12.47 | 48.62 |
Catalonia | 64.84 | 27.92 | 40.6 |
Extremadura | 85.23 | 9.33 | 49.3 |
Galicia | 82.14 | 11.69 | 41.14 |
La Rioja | 82.37 | 11.94 | 48.83 |
Madrid | 74.11 | 19.27 | 41.89 |
Murcia | 81.83 | 12.87 | 41.24 |
Navarre | 65.6 | 28.94 | 41.23 |
Basque Country | 62.89 | 33.4 | 38.45 |
Valencia | 77.42 | 16.39 | 44.14 |
Ceuta | 81.48 | 13.42 | 27.91 |
Melilla | 84.59 | 11.96 | 26.36 |
Nationwide | 76.96 | 17.07 | 41.77 |
After the referendum: analysis and further development
After the referendum, the Spanish Chamber of Deputies ratified the treaty on April 28, 2005 with a large majority (319 “yes” against 19 “no”). On May 18, 2005, the Senate followed with 225 “yes” votes to 6 “no” votes with one abstention and on May 20, 2005 ratification was thus completed.
What was striking was the very low turnout of only 41.8%, which was untypical for elections in Spain up to now. In a post-election poll, around 30% of respondents said they did not feel adequately informed, 13% cited a general disinterest in politics and 28% cited “other reasons” that would have prevented them from voting on election day Vote had gone. The survey showed that the lower the level of knowledge about the European Constitution, the lower the voter turnout. The draft constitution was mainly rejected by younger voters. In the age group 18–24 years there was only 55% agreement, in the age group> 55 years it was 84%. With regard to party political preferences, there were high approval rates among supporters of PSOE (93% approval), CC (99%) and PP (75%). The draft constitution was rejected by a majority of supporters of the parties IU (61% rejection), BNG (77%), EA (61%), PNV (57%) and especially ERC (87%). 85% of respondents said Spain's membership of the European Union was a “good thing”. 61% of the no-voters also agreed with this statement.
Ultimately, the Treaty on the European Constitution did not come into force, as it was rejected by a majority of voters in France in a referendum on May 29, 2005 and subsequently also by a majority of Dutch voters in a referendum on June 1, 2005 .
literature
- Irene Delgado, Lourdes Lopez Niento: Spain. European Journal of Political Research 45: 1266–1269, 2006 doi: 10.1111 / j.1475-6765.2006.00683.x (overview of Spanish politics in 2006)
Web links
- Consulta de Resultados Electorales , Results at the Spanish Ministry of the Interior
- Spain: EU Related Referendums , results in the database for EU related elections, Ed .: Norsk samvunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste ( Bergen )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Spain, Portugal to Hold Referendums on EU Constitution. Deutsche Welle, June 24, 2004, accessed November 19, 2015 (English).
- ^ A b José I. Torreblanca, Alicia Sorroza: Spain and the European Union: Country Update for the EU / 25 Watch. (PDF) (No longer available online.) March 1, 2006, archived from the original on May 30, 2009 ; accessed on November 21, 2015 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ozgur Erkan: Spain's Referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty: A Quantitative Analysis Within the Conceptual Framework of First and Second Order Elections. (PDF) In: LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series. The London School of Economics, June 2010, accessed November 21, 2015 .
- ↑ Juan Carlos Madroñal: Spanish Referendum on the EU Constitution: Monitoring Report. (PDF) Mas Democracia and democracy international, March 2005, accessed on November 21, 2015 .
- ↑ a b c Consulta de Resultados Electorales. (No longer available online.) Spanish Ministry of the Interior, archived from the original on June 10, 2015 ; Retrieved November 19, 2015 (Spanish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ The European Constitution: post-referendum survey in Spain. (PDF) EU Commission (Flash Eurobarometer), February 22, 2005, accessed on November 21, 2015 (English).