1976 Spanish political reform referendum
Introduction A '''referendum on political reform''' was held in Spain on Wednesday, 15 December 1976, to gauge support for either the ratification or repealing of the Political Reform Act which had been approved by the Cortes Españolas on 18 November 1976.The question asked was "Do you approve of the Political Reform Bill?" (). The referendum resulted in 97.4% of valid votes in support of the bill on a turnout of 77.7%.
Purpose The Political Reform Act () was the last of the Fundamental Laws of the Realm and was approved by the Cortes on 18 November 1976.Its aim was to move away from the dictatorship of the Franco era and turn Spain into a constitutional monarchy with a parliament system based on representative democracy. It had been drafted by the President of the Cortes Españolas, Torcuato Fernández-Miranda (including changes that would replace the Cortes Españolas with a Cortes Generales), and supported by Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez and King Juan Carlos. The law provided for the legalisation of political parties and a democratic election to Constituent Cortes, a committee of which then drafted the Constitution.
Opinion polls The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading choice's colour. The "Lead" columns on the right show the percentage-point difference between the "Yes" and "No" choices in a given poll. Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Total  Considering onlyYes/No totals Yes No Invalid/Blank   Lead Yes No Lead '''1976 referendum''' 15 Dec 1976  '''73.2''' 2.0 2.5 22.3 – 71.2 '''97.4''' 2.6 94.8 IFOP 29 Nov–6 Dec 1976 1,439 '''80.0''' 4.0 16.0 – – 76.0 '''95.0''' 5.0 90.0
Results ===Overall=== Question ===Results by region=== Region Electorate Turnout Yes No Votes % Votes % Andalusia 3,622,509 81.90 '''2,840,336''' '''98.16''' 53,219 1.84 Aragon 798,926 85.32 '''642,779''' '''97.80''' 14,464 2.20 Asturias 740,394 73.02 '''502,438''' '''95.82''' 21,905 4.18 Balearic Islands 379,205 84.22 '''303,624''' '''98.21''' 5,522 1.79 Basque Country 1,277,885 53.86 '''627,499''' '''96.47''' 22,956 3.53 Canary Islands 740,781 75.51 '''537,626''' '''98.34''' 9,099 1.66 Cantabria 282,506 78.22 '''198,337''' '''93.05''' 14,812 6.95 Castile and León 1,687,294 82.52 '''1,305,391''' '''97.26''' 36,744 2.74 Castilla–La Mancha 1,052,985 84.71 '''840,286''' '''96.21''' 33,058 3.79 Catalonia 3,710,652 74.10 '''2,567,147''' '''97.79''' 58,146 2.21 Extremadura 675,902 81.97 '''532,170''' '''97.96''' 11,067 2.04 Galicia 1,837,841 69.84 '''1,225,329''' '''98.04''' 24,547 1.96 La Rioja 140,606 87.15 '''133,862''' '''98.30''' 2,312 1.70 Madrid 2,612,402 78.21 '''1,883,630''' '''95.91''' 80,304 4.09 Murcia 540,602 82.41 '''427,251''' '''97.70''' 10,046 2.30 Navarre 318,797 73.63 '''217,879''' '''96.99''' 6,766 3.01 Valencian Community 2,149,069 85.72 '''1,745,436''' '''97.58''' 43,286 2.42 Total 22,644,290 77.72 16,573,180 97.36 450,102 2.64 Sources
References
External links * Text of political reform law