Disenchanted voters with the Socialist government that did not see AP as a credible opposition alternative went on to centrist Democratic and Social Centre (CDS), which saw a significant increase of its vote share and entered the General Junta with 8 seats. United Left (IU), the new incarnation of the Communist Party of Spain and its allies, lost 1 seat despite achieving more votes than in 1983.
Voting for the General Junta was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Asturias and in full enjoyment of their political rights. The 45 members of the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed listproportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes[c]—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, which were established by law as follows:
Each constituency was allocated an initial minimum of two seats, with the remaining 39 being distributed in proportion to their populations.[2]
The use of the D'Hondt method might result in a higher effective threshold, depending on the district magnitude.[3]
Election date
The term of the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias expired four years after the date of its previous election. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias (BOPA), with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication and set so as to make it coincide with elections to the regional assemblies of other autonomous communities. The previous election was held on 8 May 1983, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 8 May 1987. The election decree was required to be published in the BOPA no later than 14 April 1987, with the election taking place no later than the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the General Junta on Saturday, 13 June 1987.[1][2][4]
The General Junta could not be dissolved before the date of expiry of parliament except in the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot. In such a case, the General Junta was to be automatically dissolved and a snap election called, with elected deputies merely serving out what remained of their four-year terms.[1]
Parliamentary composition
The General Junta of the Principality of Asturias was officially dissolved on 14 April 1987, after the publication of the dissolution decree in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias.[5] The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the General Junta at the time of dissolution.[6]
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition 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.[2][4]
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:
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; 23 seats were required for an absolute majority in the General Junta of the Principality of Asturias.