Ávila (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

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Location of Ávila electoral district in Spain
Location of Ávila electoral district in Spain

Ávila is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciónes) used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the nine electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castile and León. Ávila is the largest town with only 40,000 voters. There are no other municipalities with electorates over 10,000.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [1] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Ávila and under Article 140 this can only be altered with the approval of congress. Voting is on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The electoral system used is closed list proportional representation with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. Only lists which poll 3% or more of all valid votes cast, including votes "en blanco" i.e. for "none of the above" can be considered for seats. Under article 12 of the constitution, the minimum voting age is 18.

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[edit] Eligibility

Article 67.3 of the Spanish Constitution prohibits dual membership of the Cortes and regional assemblies, meaning that candidates must resign from Regional Assemblies if successfully elected. Article 70 also makes active judges, magistrates, public defenders, serving military personnel, active police officers and members of constitutional and electoral tribunals ineligible. [2]

[edit] Number of members

Ávila has returned three members at every election since the restoration of democracy.

Under Spanish electoral law, all provinces are entitled to a minimum of 2 seats with a remaining 248 seats apportioned according to population. [3] These laws are laid out in detail in the 1985 electoral law. (Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General) The practical effect of this has been to overrepreseent smaller provinces like Ávila at the expense of larger provinces. Ávila had a ratio of 47,881 voters per deputy in 2004 [4] a figure below the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy [5] and the third smallest ratio of all after Teruel and Soria.

[edit] Summary of seats won 1977–2008

1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD) 3 3
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 1 1 1
Popular Alliance / People's Party (PP) 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

[edit] Results

Ávila has traditionally been the strongest district for the centre right and the PP has their best result here in percentage terms in 2004.

[edit] 2004 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Ávila.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) 67,622 59.54 2 Ángel Acebes, Sebastián González Vázquez
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 38,640 34.02 1 Pedro Muñoz González
United Left 3,598 3.17 0
Others 1,725 1.50 0

Source: [6]

[edit] 2000 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Ávila.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) 70,058 65.31 2 Ángel Acebes, Feliciano Blázquez
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 28,596 26.66 1 Jerónimo Nieto
United Left 5,117 4.77 0
Others 1,665 1.60 0

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Spanish Constitution
  2. ^ Spanish Constitution
  3. ^ General features of Spanish electoral system
  4. ^ Ávila election result 2004
  5. ^ 2004 Spanish election
  6. ^ Interior ministry link to election results
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Electoral districts of the Spanish Congress of Deputies