1983 Aragonese regional election
8 May 1983
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 66 seats in the Cortes of Aragon 34 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion polls | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Registered | 919,295 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 613,550 (66.7%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Constituency results map for the Cortes of Aragon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A regional election was held in Aragon on Sunday, 8 May 1983, to elect the 1st Cortes of the autonomous community. All 66 seats in the Cortes were up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.
The autonomy process in Aragon had seen the then ruling party in Spain, the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), attempt to limit the scope of devolution so that decentralization to regions happened at a slower pace. This was met with the opposition of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the Regionalist Aragonese Party (PAR) and the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), leading to an inter-party agreement in 1981—not joined by the PAR—in favour of the application of the "slow-track" procedure for autonomy provided in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, in exchange for Aragon being guaranteed the maximum level of devolution within five years. Subsequently, the PSOE won a landslide victory in the 1982 Spanish general election with the UCD being wiped out, ultimately leading to the latter's dissolution in February 1983.
In the regional election, the PSOE came out in first place by securing exactly half the seats—33 out of 66—one short of an overall majority. The People's Coalition, a coalition of centre-right parties comprising the People's Alliance (AP), the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL), came second with 18 seats, while the PAR finished third closely behind with 13 seats. The PCE and the newly-established Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) both obtained one seat each. The PSOE had initially obtained 34 seats, the absolute majority, but a new count in Zaragoza following a number of claims resulted in the PSOE's 17th seat in the constituency being awarded to the People's Coalition by few votes.
As a result of the election, PSOE candidate Santiago Marraco was elected by the Cortes as new president of the General Deputation of Aragon. The election remains the only occasion to date in which a party has obtained 50% or more of seats on its own in an Aragonese regional election.