Catalan regional election, 2006

Catalan regional election, 2006

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All 135 seats in the Parliament of Catalonia 68 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	5,321,274 0.3%
Turnout	2,982,108 (56.0%) 6.5 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Artur Mas José Montilla Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira Party CiU PSC–CpC ERC Leader since 7 January 2002 15 July 2006 25 November 1996 Leader's seat Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona Last election 46 seats, 30.9% 42 seats, 31.2% 23 seats, 16.4% Seats won 48 37 21 Seat change 2 5 2 Popular vote 935,756 796,173 416,355 Percentage 31.5% 26.8% 14.0% Swing 0.6 pp 4.4 pp 2.4 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Josep Piqué Joan Saura Albert Rivera Party PP ICV–EUiA C's Leader since 4 September 2003 26 November 2000 9 July 2006 Leader's seat Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona Last election 15 seats, 11.9% 9 seats, 7.3% Did not contest Seats won 14 12 3 Seat change 1 3 3 Popular vote 316,222 282,693 89,840 Percentage 10.7% 9.5% 3.0% Swing 1.2 pp 2.2 pp New party
Constituency results map for the Parliament of Catalonia
President before election Pasqual Maragall PSC–CpC Elected President José Montilla PSC–CpC

Pasqual Maragall
PSC–CpC

José Montilla
PSC–CpC

The 2006 Catalan regional election was held on Wednesday, 1 November 2006, to elect the 8th Parliament of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election.

The November 2006 Catalan parliament election was an early one (the original election date was due for the Fall of 2007, roughly one year after the actual early election took place). This was mostly a result of the uneasy and controversial drafting of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, which further expanded the authority of the Catalan Government.

The Statute amendment was approved in a referendum on June 18, 2006 in which 73.24% of voters were in favour of the new Statute, 20.57% of the votes were against. This referendum was noted for its huge abstention: only 48.85% of the electorate participated in it.

Since the 2003 elections a coalition of three left-wing parties, Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia Greens-United and Alternative Left (ICV-EUiA) had been in power, with Pasqual Maragall as President. However, in May 2006 ERC, following internal tensions, left the coalition due to its disagreement on the final draft of the Statute of Autonomy which they themselves had partially drafted, thus leaving Maragall without a majority and forcing him to call for this early election. On June 21, 2006 Maragall announced his intention to personally step down at the upcoming election, arguably due to the political erosion his government had suffered after an uneasy relationship with ERC.