2005 Spanish European Constitution referendum

{{unreferenced section|date=February 2013}}

Both the governing Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the main opposition People's Party (PP) campaigned for a "Yes" vote. They were joined by the Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ–PNV) and the Catalan nationalist Convergence and Union (CiU). Among the parties campaigning for a "No" vote were United Left (IU), the Bloque Nacionalista Galego (BNG, Galician National Block), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV), the social democratic Aragonese Council (CHA), the Basque nationalist social democratic Eusko Alkartasuna, and the Trade Unions Confederación Intersindical Galega (CIG) and CGT.

Amidst widespread apathy surrounding the constitutional treaty, and ignorance of its contents (in a government poll, 90% of voters admitted to having little or no knowledge of its provisions), the government hired celebrities to read excerpts from the text in daily television broadcasts, and five million copies (without annexes) were sent out with Sunday papers. While many felt that the result of the referendum was a foregone conclusion, it was feared that turnout could be as low as 40 to 50% of the electorate. This turned out to be the case.

In late January 2005, several bodies campaigning for a "No" vote complained to Spain's independent National Electoral Commission about the government's planned information campaign:

• On 14 January, ERC demanded that the National Electoral Commission should block what it saw as unfair promotion of the treaty by the government.
• On 19 January, the Tomás Moro Centre for Juridical Studies (CJSTM) and Another Democracy is Possible complained to the National Electoral Commission about what they saw as the unfair nature of the government's campaign.

In response to these complaints, the Commission ruled that the government's campaign must be purely informative, and banned several of its campaign slogans:

The campaign to be carried out by the Government as part of the present referendum process must inform objectively on the contents of the Treaty… All value judgements and slogans previously used in TV, on websites and other media, e.g. 'We are first with Europe', and statements that could, direct or indirectly, influence the position or attitude of the citizens, must be removed.

{{Referendum graph

| yespct = 81.84

| nopct = 18.16

| turnoutpct = 41.77

}}

{{Referendum results

|for=11057563

|against=2453002

|invalid=981187

|electorate=34692491

|source=Ministry of the Interior{{cite web |url=http://www.infoelectoral.mir.es/min/busquedaAvanzadaAction.html?vuelta=1&codTipoEleccion=1&codPeriodo=200502&codEstado=99&codComunidad=0&codProvincia=0&codMunicipio=0&codDistrito=0&codSeccion=0&codMesa=0 |title=Electoral Results Consultation. Referendum. February 2005. National totals |language=es |website=infoelectoral.mir.es |publisher=Ministry of the Interior |access-date=1 September 2019}}

}}

File:YesVoteSpainReferendum.png

File:TurnoutSpainReferendum.png

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060228005127/http://www.europarl.es/constitucion_2004/resultados_electorales/default.html Election results] (in Spanish)
• [http://www.constitucioneuropea.es/ Government's European Constitution site] (in Spanish)
• [http://www.constitucioneuropea.es/foro Government's online forum] (in Spanish)
• News coverage:
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4280531.stm BBC: Spain's hard sell to win EU Yes]
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4281879.stm BBC: Madrid voters differ over charter]
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4280841.stm BBC: Spain voters approve EU charter]
• [http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/02/20/spain.eu/index.html CNN: Spain voters back EU constitution]
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4285901.stm BBC: Spain gives uncertain lead to EU]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050223150213/http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/050220114411.9vwkcuna EUbusiness: Zapatero calls for stronger Europe as Spaniards kick off EU votes]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050223150215/http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/050220192414.1ulul9bp EUbusiness: Spain says resounding yes to European constitution]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050911212618/http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c95c2dda-853f-11d9-a172-00000e2511c8.html Financial Times: Lessons from Spain's rushed poll]

{{Spanish elections}}

Spain

European

Category:Referendums in Spain

Referendum on the European Constitution, Spanish

Spain

European

Spain

Category:Spain and the European Union

Spain