Chamber:
	Congreso de los Diputados
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	3 March 1996
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the elective seats in Parliament following premature dissolution of this body on 9 January 1996. General elections had previously been held in June 1993.
Background and outcome of elections:
	On 28 December 1995, following loss of allied parliamentary support which prevented passage of the country's 1996 budget, Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez Marquez (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party - PSOE) announced that the general elections would be held 15 months early, in March 1996. Ten days earlier, after some hesitation, Mr. Gonzalez had agreed to seek a fifth term in the office he had held since 1982. The campaign officially began on 16 February. As in recent elections, the PSOE's main challenge came from the conservative People’s Party (PP) headed by Mr. José Maria Aznar. Since there were no major differences in the platforms of the two groups, including economic policies, the emphasis lay as much on the personalities of the two leaders. Mr. Aznar called for a change after years of Socialist rule, while the charismatic Mr. Gonzalez, running an emotional campaign, claimed he was best fit to govern. Pre-election polls had the PP clearly ahead of the scandal - ridden PSOE minority Government. This margin proved less than expected on voting day, as the conservatives fell short of the targeted absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies and the Socialists' share of the popular vote fell but 1.3%. In this context, Mr. Aznar was obliged to look for support among the smaller regional parties, especially the Catalan-based Convergence of Union of Mr. Jordi Pujol, who had prompted the polling in the first place by abandoning his party's informal alliance with the PSOE and thus deprived it of a working majority. The Basque and Catalan nationalist parties ultimately agreed to support the PP and, on 5 May, Mr. Aznar was sworn in as Prime Minister; he announced his 14-member Cabinet the same day.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (3 March 1996): Elections results
Number of registered electors	32,531,833
Voters	25,202,106 (77,46%)
Valid votes	25,078,874

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Candidates	Votes	%
People's Party (PP)	350	9,716,006	38.74
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	350	9,425,678	37.58
United Left (IU)	350	2,639,774	10.52
Convergence and Union (CiU)	46	1,151,633	4.59
Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)	24	318,951	1.27
Canarian Coalition	14	220,418	0.87
Galician Nationalist Party (BNG)	25	220,147	0.87
Herri Batasuna	24	181,304	0.72
Others	141	959,068	3.86

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total	Gain/Loss
People's Party (PP)	156	+15
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	141	-18
United Left (IU)	21	+3
Convergence and Union (CiU)	16	-1
Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)	5	=
Canarian Coalition	4	=
Galician Nationalist Party (BNG)	2	+2
Herri Batasuna	2	=
Others	3	=

Comments:
	Two of the 350 Deputies (both belonging to Herri Batasuna) did not present their credentials and other documents, nor fulfilled their duty of promising or swearing respect for the Constitution. This means that their rights (vote, speaking, allowances etc.) as members of the House have been suspended and that all quorums and proportional distributions are made on the basis of 348 Deputies.

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	273
Women:	75

Distribution of seats according to age:
21 - 30 years	8
31 - 40 years	73
41 - 50 years	163
51 - 60 years	84
61 - 70 years	20
Distribution of seats according to profession:
Lawyers	74
Teachers	73
Civil servants	72
Employees	28
Engineers	19
Businessmen	18
Doctors	16
Others	48