1976 Spanish political reform referendum
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Do you approve of the Political Reform Bill? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Results | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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A Spanish political reform referendum was held on Wednesday, 15 December 1976, to gauge support for either the ratification or repealing of the Political Reform Act which had been approved by the Spanish Cortes on 18 November 1976. The question asked was "Do you approve of the Political Reform Bill?" (Spanish: "¿Aprueba el Proyecto de Ley para la Reforma Política?"). The referendum resulted in 97.4% of voters supporting the bill on a turnout of 77.7%.[1]
Purpose
The Political Reform Act (Spanish: Ley 1/1977 de 4 de enero) was the last of the Fundamental Laws of the Realm and was approved by the Cortes on 18 November 1976. Its aim was to move away from the dictatorship of the Franco era and turn Spain into a constitutional monarchy with a parliament system based on representative democracy. It had been drafted by Torcuato Fernández Miranda, then President of the Cortes, and supported by Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez and King Juan Carlos. The law provided for the legalisation of political parties and a democratic election to Constituent Cortes, a committee of which then drafted the Constitution.[2]
Opinion polls
On the referendum
Pollsters started using the actual referendum question ("Do you want Catalonia to be an independent state in the form of a republic?") once it was revealed.
Polling firm/Commissioner | Fieldwork date | Sample size | Yes | No | Other/ Abst. |
Lead | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1976 referendum | 15 Dec 1976 | — | 94.5 | 2.6 | 3.0 | — | 91.9 |
IFOP[3] | 29 Nov–6 Dec 1976 | 1,439 | 80.0 | 4.0 | 16.0 | — | 76.0 |
Results
Overall
Question: "Do you approve of the Political Reform Bill?" | |||
Choice | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Yes | 16,573,180 | 97.36 | |
No | 450,102 | 2.64 | |
Total | 17,023,282 | 100.00 | |
Valid votes | 17,023,282 | 96.73 | |
Invalid or blank votes | 576,280 | 3.27 | |
Votes cast / turnout | 17,599,562 | 77.72 | |
Abstentions | 5,044,728 | 22.28 | |
Registered voters | 22,644,290 | ||
Source: Ministry of the Interior |
Results by region
Region | Electorate | Turnout | Yes | No | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
Andalusia | 3,622,509 | 81.90 | 2,840,336 | 98.16 | 53,219 | 1.84 | |
Aragon | 798,926 | 85.32 | 642,779 | 97.80 | 14,464 | 2.20 | |
Asturias | 740,394 | 73.02 | 502,438 | 95.82 | 21,905 | 4.18 | |
Balearic Islands | 379,205 | 84.22 | 303,624 | 98.21 | 5,522 | 1.79 | |
Basque Country | 1,277,885 | 53.86 | 627,499 | 96.47 | 22,956 | 3.53 | |
Canary Islands | 740,781 | 75.51 | 537,626 | 98.34 | 9,099 | 1.66 | |
Cantabria | 282,506 | 78.22 | 198,337 | 93.05 | 14,812 | 6.95 | |
Castile-La Mancha | 1,052,985 | 84.71 | 840,286 | 96.21 | 33,058 | 3.79 | |
Castile and León | 1,687,294 | 82.52 | 1,305,391 | 97.26 | 36,744 | 2.74 | |
Catalonia | 3,710,652 | 74.10 | 2,567,147 | 97.79 | 58,146 | 2.21 | |
Extremadura | 675,902 | 81.97 | 532,170 | 97.96 | 11,067 | 2.04 | |
Galicia | 1,837,841 | 69.84 | 1,225,329 | 98.04 | 24,547 | 1.96 | |
La Rioja | 140,606 | 87.15 | 133,862 | 98.30 | 2,312 | 1.70 | |
Madrid | 2,612,402 | 78.21 | 1,883,630 | 95.91 | 80,304 | 4.09 | |
Murcia | 540,602 | 82.41 | 427,251 | 97.70 | 10,046 | 2.30 | |
Navarre | 318,797 | 73.63 | 217,879 | 96.99 | 6,766 | 3.01 | |
Valencian Community | 2,149,069 | 85.72 | 1,745,436 | 97.58 | 43,286 | 2.42 | |
Total | 22,644,290 | 77.72 | 16,573,180 | 97.36 | 450,102 | 2.64 |
References
- ^ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1824 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ^ 1978: Spain set to vote for democracy BBC News
- ^ "El 80% votará «sí» en el referéndum". El País (in Spanish). 15 December 1976.