The Development of Catalan Self-government from 1980 to 1990

Abstract

The first Catalan elections, held in March 1980, brought about a change in the internal correlation of political forces. Convergència i Unió¹ became the leading minority party, with 27.7 per cent of the votes, followed by the PSC—PSOE with 22.3 per cent, PSUC with 18.7 per cent, UCD with 10.5 per cent and ERC with 8.9 per cent. CiU had won over part of the former UCD and ERC electorate. It had also taken a number of votes from the PSC, and the Catalan Socialists suffered too from the abstention of certain voters who backed the PSOE in general elections. One negative factor for the new self-governing Catalonia was the fact that voter turn-out in regional elections was lower than in Spanish general elections.