A regional election was held in the Balearic Islands on 26 May 2019 to elect the 10th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 59 seats in the Parliament were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in eleven other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain, as well as the 2019 European Parliament election.
Background The previous election saw a left-wing majority in the Parliament of the Balearic Islands for the first time. After the election, on 30 June 2015, Francina Armengol was elected president, forming a government with the Socialist Party of the Balearic Islands (PSIB), More for Mallorca (Més) and More for Menorca (MpM), with the external support of We Can (Podemos) and the representative of People for Formentera (GxF). Xelo Huertas, of Podem, took office as the Parliament's speaker, the second authority of the region.
In November 2016, Podemos decided to cease two party deputies, including Huertas, for trying to benefit another party member's personal interests. On 25 January 2017, Huertas resigned as Speaker, although she continued in the Mixed Group as an independent deputy, along with Montse Seijas, the other expelled Podemos deputy. The parties of the pact, with some disputes, agreed to vote for Podemos deputy Baltasar Picornell to become new Speaker on 14 February 2017.
In March 2017, a fraudulent contract to the campaign manager of Més made by the regional vice president, Gabriel Barceló, appeared in the media. This fact created a crisis in the Government and ended up with the resignation of transparency minister Ruth Mateu and the withdrawal of her party, MpM, from the government, although remaining as an outer supporter.
In June 2017, the People's Party (PP) member Álvaro Gijón resigned from the party but continued as a deputy in the Mixed Group. The cause was a fraudulent contract for a municipal company in Palma made by the time Gijón was deputy mayor, also involving part of his family.
In December 2017, Barceló was accused of accepting a personal travel as a gift. This fact, along with controversies and internal disputes since March, made him resign as regional vice president and tourism minister. Barceló was relieved by Bel Busquets, of Més.
Overview Under the 2007 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of the Balearic Islands was the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a regional president.. The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions..
Date The term of the Parliament of the Balearic Islands 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 25 days before the scheduled expiration date of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands (BOIB), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication.; ( by ). The previous election was held on 24 May 2015, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 24 May 2019. The election decree was required to be published in the BOIB no later than 30 April 2019, setting the latest possible date for election day on 23 June 2019.
The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of the Balearic Islands at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year after a previous one under this procedure.; . In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a 60-day period from the first ballot, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called..
The Parliament of the Balearic Islands was officially dissolved on 2 April 2019 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOIB, setting election day for 26 May..
Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the Balearic Islands and with full political rights, provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence.; ( by ). Additionally, non-resident citizens were required to apply for voting, a system known as "begged" voting ()..
The Parliament of the Balearic Islands had 59 seats. All were elected in four multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera, each of which was assigned a fixed number of seats—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a five percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency.; . The use of this electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats:; .
Seats Constituencies 33 Mallorca 13 Menorca 12 Ibiza 1 Formentera
The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes. ( by ).
Outgoing parliament The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.
+ Parliamentary composition in April 2019 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group PP 19 19 Socialist Parliamentary Group PSIB–PSOE 14 14 We Can Balearic Islands Parliamentary Group Podemos 7 7 More for Mallorca Parliamentary Group Més 5 6 ERC 1 El Pi–Proposal for the Isles Parliamentary Group El Pi 3 3 More for Menorca Parliamentary Group MxMe 3 3 Mixed Parliamentary Group Cs 2 7 GxF 1 INDEP 4
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 were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 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. ( by ). Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required 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 alliances which contested the election:
Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PP Biel Company ConservatismChristian democracy 28.3% PSIB–PSOE Francina Armengol Social democracy 18.9% Podemos–EUIB Juan Pedro Yllanes Left-wing populismDirect democracyDemocratic socialism 16.4% Més Miquel Ensenyat Left-wing nationalismDemocratic socialismGreen politics 13.8% El Pi Jaume Font RegionalismLiberalism 7.4% MxMe Josep Castells Left-wing nationalismDemocratic socialismGreen politics 1.5% Cs Marc Pérez-Ribas Liberalism 6.4% GxF Silvia Tur EnvironmentalismDemocratic socialism 0.5% Vox–ACTUABaleares Jorge Campos Right-wing populismUltranationalismNational conservatism colspan="2"
The main opposition party, the People's Party (PP), held its regional congress in March 2017, electing Biel Company as new party leader over former regional president José Ramón Bauzá, who had resigned as the PP leader after the 2015 election. On 23 January 2019, Bauzà announced his withdrawal as PP member, resigning from his senator post, accusing his former party of "sowing and watering a [Catalan] nationalism" allegedly "exploited" by left-wing parties. It was later revealed that Bauzà would be running for Citizens (Cs) in the 2019 European Parliament election.
In May 2017, More for Menorca (MpM) was transformed into a party, electing 2015 candidate Nel Martí as its coordinator. In December 2018, Josep Castells was elected as its 2019 candidate. In June 2018, president of the Island Council of Mallorca Miquel Ensenyat won the More for Mallorca (Més) primaries to become its candidate.
In November 2018, We Can (Podemos) chose that its candidate would be Juan Pedro Yllanes, who was member of the Congress of Deputies at the time. In March 2019, Cs held its primaries, having Marc Pérez-Ribas winning over the regional leader and 2015 candidate Xavier Pericay.
Campaign Party slogans Party or alliance Original slogan English translation PP « Ho farem bé » "We will do it the right way" PSIB–PSOE « Sempre endavant » "Always forward" Podemos–EUIB « La vida en el centro » "Life at the centre" Més « La teva decisió » "Your decision" El Pi « Ara toca Balears » "Now it's time for the Balearics" MxMe « Tenim projecte. Som futur » "We have a project. We are the future" Cs « ¡Vamos! » "Come on!" GxF « Formentera en bones mans » "Formentera in good hands" Vox « Tu voz en Baleares » "Your voice in the Balearics"
Debates + 2019 Balearic regional election debates Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s) PP PSIB UP Més El Pi Cs MxMe GxF Vox PACT Audience 15 May IB3 Neus AlbisElena Gregori NI NI 3.3% 16 May Canal4 TV Cristina Roig S S NI NI — 20 May Última Hora Nekane Domblás NI NI — 21 May Student Council of the UIB Joan March S S S S S A NI NI NI NI — 21 May Student Council of the UIB Rafel Gallego S S S S S S NI NI NI NI — 21 May IB3 Elena Serra NI NI NI NI NI NI NI NI — 22 May Diario de Mallorca Marisa Goñi NI NI NI —
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 (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 30 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of the Balearic Islands.