Spanish general election, 2004
All 350 seats of the Congress of Deputies and 208 of 259 seats in the Senate
March 14, 2004
First party
Second party
Third party
Leader
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Mariano Rajoy Brey
Gaspar Llamazares Trigo
Party
PSOE
People's Party
United Left
Last election
125 seats
183 seats
8 seats, 5.45%
Seats won
164
148
5
Seat change
▲39
▼35
▼3
Popular vote
11,026,163
9,763,144
1,284,081
Percentage
43.3%
38.3%
4.96%

Province-level units won by
PSOE (red) and
PP (blue)
Spain
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Legislative elections were held in Spain on 14 March, 2004. At stake were all 350 seats in the lower house of the Cortes Generales, the Congress of Deputies, and 208 seats in upper house, the Senate. The governing People's Party (PP) was led into the campaign by Mariano Rajoy, successor to outgoing Prime Minister José María Aznar. In a result which defied most predictions, the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, won a plurality of seats in Congress of Deputies, and was able to form a government with the support of minor parties. The socialists received more votes than expected as a result of the government's handling of the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings. In the early moments following the attacks, the national government maintained the theory of the ETA responsibility; when evidence pointed to the possibility that an Islamic extremist group was behind the massacre, the ETA theory lost weight. If Islamic extremists were responsible, the attack could have been perceived by the electorate to be a consequence of the Spanish government's support of the invasion of Iraq. One of the explanations for the PSOE votes was that a certain number of voters, known as the original non voters (who did not intend to vote in the elections like in prior elections), went to the polls for PSOE. Also many members of IU switched sides and enlarged the PSOE votes and decreased those of IU.
The day after the election, Zapatero announced his intention to form a minority PSOE government, without a coalition, saying in a radio interview: "the implicit mandate of the people is for us to form a minority government negotiating accords on each issue with other parliamentary groups". Two minor left-wing parties, Republican Left of Catalonia and United Left, immediately announced their intention to support Zapatero's government.
Results
In the Congress of Deputies, the PP vote fell by 6.9 percent, and the party lost 39 seats. The PSOE vote rose by 8.5 percent, bringing a gain of 35 seats. On the left, the United Left (a coalition led by the Communist Party of Spain), lost four of its nine seats, but the leftwing Catalan party Republican Left of Catalonia gained seven seats. The conservative Catalan nationalist party, Convergence and Unity, which in the recent past has been allied with the PP, lost five of its 15 seats.
The PSOE's victory was celebrated in the street outside the party's headquarters in Calle Ferraz with shouts of "No war!" and "How happy we are, to live without Aznar", but also "Zapatero, don't fail us!". Consistent with the PSOE's long-standing opposition to the Iraq war, Rodríguez Zapatero had promised during the election campaign to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by June. Zapatero withdrew the troops shortly after taking office, a decision he justified on his belief that the United Nations was not likely to assume responsibility for Iraq after the U.S.-led occupation formally ended at the end of June, which was his criterion for allowing troops to stay. Subsequent events, indeed, bore out his prediction.
A feature of the result was the increased representation for the Republican Left of Catalonia, a minor left-wing party which has formed a coalition government with the PSOE in Catalonia. The Republican Left's leader, Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira, had recently held meetings with the Basque separatist group ETA in France, a revelation which had forced his exit from the recently formed Catalan regional government and had become a campaign issue in the general election.
e • d Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results
Parties and alliances
Votes
%
Seats
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
11,026,163
43.3
164
People's Party (Partido Popular)
9,763,144
38.3
148
United Left (Izquierda Unida)
1,359,190
5.3
2
ICV-EUA
2
Entesa
1
Convergence and Unity (Convergència i Unió)
835,471
3.3
10
Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya)
652,196
2.5
8
Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco/Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea)
420,980
1.6
7
Canarian Coalition (Coalición Canaria)
235,221
0.9
3
Galician Nationalist Bloc (Bloque Nacionalista Galego)
- Union of the Galician People (Unión do Povo Galego)
- Nationalist Left (Esquerda Nacionalista)
- Galician Unity (Unidade Galega)
- Socialist Collective (Colectivo Socialista)
- Inzar
- Galician Nationalist Party-Galeguista Party (Partido Nacionalista Galego-Partido Galeguista)
208,688
0.8
2
Andalucista Party (Partido Andalucista)
181,868
0.7
-
Aragonese Council (Chunta Aragonesista)
94,252
0.4
1
Basque Solidarity (Eusko Alkartasuna)
80,905
0.3
1
Navarra Yes (Nafarroa Bai)
61,045
0.2
1
Total (turnout %)
350
Source: El País Online
More detailed table of share of votes:
Partido Socialista Obrero Español
PSOE
11,026,163
43.27
164
Partido Popular
PP
9,763,144
38.31
148
Izquierda Unida-Los Verdes
IU-LV
1,359,190
5.33
5
Convergència i Unió
CiU
835,471
3.28
10
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
ERC
652,196
2.56
8
Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea-Partido Nacionalista Vasco
EAJ-PNV
420,980
1.65
7
Coalición Canaria
CC
235,221
0.92
3
Bloque Nacionalista Galego
BNG
208,688
0.82
2
Partido Andalucista
PA
181,868
0.71
Chunta Aragonesista
CHA
94,252
0.37
1
Eusko Alkartasuna
EA
80,905
0.32
1
Nafarroa Bai
Na-Bai
61,045
0.24
1
Bloc Nacionalista Valencià-Esquerra Verda
BLOC-EV
40,759
0.16
Ciudadanos en Blanco
CENB
40,208
0.16
Aralar-
Zutik
ARALAR-ZUTIK
38,560
0.15
Los Verdes-Ecopacifistas
LV-E
37,499
0.15
Partido Aragonés
PAR
36,540
0.14
Centro Democrático y Social
CDS
34,101
0.13
Els Verds-L'Alternativa Ecologista
EV-AE
30,528
0.12
Partido Socialista de Andalucía
PSA
24,127
0.09
Partido Humanista
PH
21,758
0.09
Izquierda Republicana
IR
16,993
0.07
Partido Cannabis por la Legalización y Normalización
PCANNABIS
16,918
0.07
Partido Familia y Vida
PFyV
16,699
0.07
Democracia Nacional
DN
15,180
0.06
Unión del Pueblo Leonés
UPL
14,160
0.06
Partido Comunista de los Pueblos de España
PCPE
12,979
0.05
Los Verdes-Grupo Verde
LV-GV
12,749
0.05
Falange Española de las JONS
FE de las JONS
12,266
0.05
Unió Mallorquina
UM
10,558
0.04
La Falange
FE
10,311
0.04
Tierra Comunera-Partido Nacionalista Castellano
TC-PNC
8,866
0.03
Partido Obrero Socialista Internacionalista
POSI
8,003
0.03
Movimiento Social Republicano
MSR
6,768
0.03
Partido Demócrata Español
PADE
5,677
0.02
Convergencia de Demócratas de Navarra
CDN
5,573
0.02
Falange Auténtica
FA
4,589
0.02
Partiu Asturianista
PAS
4,292
0.02
España 2000
ESPAÑA 2000
4,231
0.02
Partido Nacionalista Canario
PNC
4,092
0.02
Extremadura Unida
EU
3,916
0.02
Partido de los Autónomos y Profesionales
AUTONOMO
3,124
0.01
Iniciativa por el Desarrollo de Soria
IDES
2,934
0.01
Asamblea de Andalucía
A
2,930
0.01
Alternativa Popular Canaria
APCa
2,715
0.01
Grupo Verde Europeo
GVE
2,662
0.01
Candidatura Independiente-El Partido de Castilla y León
CI
2,421
0.01
Escons Insubmisos-Alternativa dels Demòcrates Descontents
Ei-ADD
2,332
0.01
Partido del Karma Democrático
PKD
2,300
0.01
Frente Popular Galega
FPG
2,257
0.01
Coalición Galega
CG
2,235
0.01
Alianza para el Desarrollo y la Naturaleza
ADN
2,215
0.01
Partido de los Trabajadores en Precario
PTPRE
2,115
0.01
Identidad Reino de Valencia
IRV
2,111
0.01
Partido de los Autónomos Jubilados y Viudas
PAE
2,082
0.01
Andecha Astur
AA
1,970
0.01
Unión del Pueblo Salmantino
UPSa
1,871
0.01
Els Verds-Alternativa Verda
EV-AV
1,836
0.01
Partido Carlista
PC
1,813
0.01
Partido del Mutuo Apoyo Romántico
PMAR
1,561
0.01
Conceju Nacionaliegu Cántabru
CNC
1,431
0.01
Salamaca. Zamora. León PREPAL
PREPAL
1,322
0.01
Otra Democracia es Posible
ODEP
1,302
0.01
Agrupación Social Independiente
ASI
1,237
0.00
Partit Socialdemocrata Independent de la Comunitat Valenciana
PSICV
1,096
0.00
Partido Republicano Federal
PRF
1,051
0.00
Alternativa por Gran Canaria
AxGC
957
0.00
Alianza por la Unidad Nacional
AUN
923
0.00
Asamblea de Izquierdas-Iniciativa por Andalucía
A-IZ
901
0.00
Partido Positivista Cristiano
PPCr
892
0.00
Izquierda Asturiana
IAS
854
0.00
Partido Socialista del Pueblo de Ceuta
PSPC
807
0.00
Unión Centrista Liberal
UCL
798
0.00
Partido Nacionalista Caló
PNCA
757
0.00
Zamora Unida
ZU
754
0.00
Unió Centristes de Menorca
UCM
751
0.00
Lucha Internacionalista
LI-LIT-CI
668
0.00
Frente Democrático Español
FDE
619
0.00
Unidad Castellana
Ud Ca
601
0.00
Partido Social-demócrata Andaluz
PSDA
583
0.00
Alternativa Maga Nacionalista
AMAGA
468
0.00
Unión del Pueblo Balear
UPB
411
0.00
Estado Nacional Europeo
N
410
0.00
Coalició Treballadors per la Democràcia
TD
407
0.00
Partido Nacional de los Trabajadores
PNT
379
0.00
Partido de la Gente
LG
378
0.00
Partido Regionalista de Guadalajara
PRGU
330
0.00
Unión Nacional
UN
318
0.00
Convergencia Ciudadana del Sureste
CCSE
308
0.00
Partido Demócrata Nacional de España
PDN
232
0.00
Grupo Político Honradez Absoluta Española
GPHAE
52
0.00
Development of voteshares and seats
The Congress of Deputies for the 7th term