The election saw the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) under former Mayor of Barcelona Pasqual Maragall achieve a razor-thin victory in the popular vote, the first time since 1980 that the Convergence and Union (CiU) alliance of incumbent president Jordi Pujol did not come out in top of voters' preferences.

However, as a result of the electoral system, CiU was able to retain first place in terms of seats, and together with the conservative People's Party (PP), secure a small majority of 68 seats in the Parliament of Catalonia, compared to the 67 garnered by the combined total of all three left-from-centre parties: the PSC, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia–Greens (IC–V).

Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Catalonia and in full enjoyment of their political rights.

The 135 members of the Parliament of Catalonia were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency.

[1] The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Catalonia and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since a previous one under this procedure.