2004 Spanish general election

2004 Spanish general election

← 2000 14 March 2004 2008 →
All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 (of 259) seats in the Senate 176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Opinion polls
Registered	34,571,831 1.8%
Turnout	26,155,436 (75.7%) 7.0 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero Mariano Rajoy Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida Party PSOE PP CiU Leader since 22 July 2000 2 September 2003 24 January 2004 Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Barcelona Last election 125 seats, 34.2%[a] 183 seats, 44.5% 15 seats, 4.2% Seats won 164 148 10 Seat change 39 35 5 Popular vote 11,026,163 9,763,144 835,471 Percentage 42.6% 37.7% 3.2% Swing 8.3 pp 6.8 pp 1.0 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira Josu Erkoreka Gaspar Llamazares Party ERC EAJ/PNV IU Leader since 2 February 2004 2004 29 October 2000 Leader's seat Barcelona Biscay Madrid Last election 1 seat, 0.8% 7 seats, 1.5% 9 seats, 6.0%[b] Seats won 8 7 5 Seat change 7 0 4 Popular vote 652,196 420,980 1,284,081 Percentage 2.5% 1.6% 5.0% Swing 1.7 pp 0.1 pp 1.0 pp
Election results by Congress of Deputies constituency
Prime Minister before election José María Aznar PP Prime Minister after election José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero PSOE

The 2004 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 14 March 2004, to elect the 8th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 259 seats in the Senate.

The electoral outcome was heavily influenced by the aftermath of the Madrid train bombings on 11 March, as a result of which all parties suspended their electoral campaigns.^[1] For two days following the attacks, the People's Party (PP) government kept blaming the terrorist organization ETA for the bombings, even in spite of mounting evidence suggesting the involvement of Islamist groups. The government was accused of misinformation, as an Islamist attack would have been perceived as the direct result of Spain's involvement in the Iraq War, which had been highly unpopular among the public.^[2][3]

The election result was described by some media as an "unprecedented electoral upset". The perceived abuse of the PP's absolute majority throughout the legislature, with a focus on Spain's involvement in Iraq, was said to have helped fuel a wave of discontent against the incumbent ruling party, with the government's mismanagement on the bombings serving as the final catalyst for change to happen.^[4][5] At 11 million votes and 42.6%, the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) increased by 3.1 million its 2000 result, securing 164 seats—a net gain of 39. In contrast, the PP, which opinion polls earlier in the year had predicted would secure a diminished but still commanding victory, lost 35 seats and 7 percentage points, resulting in the worst defeat for a sitting government in Spain up to that point since 1982. The 75.7% turnout was among the highest since the Spanish transition to democracy, with no future general election having exceeded such a figure. The number of votes cast, at 26.1 million votes, remained the highest figure in gross terms for any Spanish general election until the April 2019 election.^[6][7]

The day after the election, Zapatero announced his will to form a minority PSOE government, supported by other parties in a confidence and supply basis. Two minor left-wing parties, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and United Left (IU), immediately announced their intention to support Zapatero's government. On 16 April 2004, Zapatero was elected as new prime minister by an outright majority of the new Congress, with 183 out of 350 members voting for him, being sworn in the next day.^[8]

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