Alicante (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

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Location of Alicante electoral district in Spain.
Location of Alicante electoral district in Spain.

Alicante is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciones) used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is the fifth largest district in terms of electorate after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla. It has been one of the fastest growing districts in recent years with the electorate growing by 20% between 1993 [1] and 2004 [2] compared to the Spanish average of 11% growth in electorate [3] [4] and consequently gained an extra seat for the 2008 general election. [5]

Alicante is the largest town with over 230,000 voters in the year 2008. With 162,000 voters Elche was the only other municipality with an electorate over 100,000. The next largest municipalities were Alcoy, Elda, Benidorm and Orihuela all with between 40,000 and 50,000 voters out of the total electorate of just over 1,170,000.[6]

Contents

[edit] Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [7] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Alicante 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. [8]

[edit] Number of members

In the general elections of 1977, 1979 and 1982 Alicante returned nine members. That figure was increased to ten members for the 1986 election and it gained an eleventh seat for the 1996 election. It will elect twelve members from the 2008 election onwards.

Under Spanish electoral law, all provinces are entitled to a minimum of 2 seats with a remaining 248 seats apportioned according to population. [9] These laws are laid out in detail in the 1985 electoral law. (Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General) The practical effect of this law has been to overrepresent smaller provinces at the expense of larger provinces.

In 2004 Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy [10]. In Alicante the ratio was slightly above that at 104,976.[11]

[edit] Summary of seats won 1977-2008

1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD) 4 4
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 4 4 6 6 5 4 5 4 5 5
United Left (IU) 1 1 1 1 1
People's Party (PP) 3 3 3 5 5 7 6 7
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 1 1

Seats shown for the People's Party include seats won by their predecessors, the Popular Alliance and the Popular Coalition before 1989 including those won as part of an electoral alliance with the Valencian Union (UV) in 1982. Seats shown for United Left include seats won by the Communist Party of Spain before 1986.

[edit] Summary of seats won 1977-2008

1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 38.8 39.4 54.1 49.3 43.8 40.0 40.1 34.8 42.1 41.1
Democratic Centre Union (UCD) 35.9 37.5 7.2
United Left (IU) 9.2 11.2 4.1 4.9 9.0 10.3 10.6 5.3 3.9 2.3
People's Party (PP) 6.5 5.2 29.0 29.5 29.4 43.5 45.7 54.3 48.9 52.4
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 2.6 9.6 10.0 1.9 0.2 0.1 0.2


[edit] Results

[edit] 2008 General Election

In terms of percentage vote increase, Alicante was one of the PP’s ten best performances. This resulted in the party gaining the additional seat which the province had been granted for the election.

At municipal level, Alicante, Elche and Benidorm produced results very close to the average. However PP had their lead in Elda cut to two percent. Alcoy also went against the provincial trend, with PSOE increasing their lead over the PP to eight percent.

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 9 March 2008 Congress of Deputies election results in Alicante.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) 489,831 52.43 7
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 384,156 41.12 5
United Left 21,087 2.26 0
Others 31,704 3.40 0

Source: [12]


[edit] 2004 General Election

While Alicante and Elda produced results very close to the average, PP had a narrower lead in Elche and Benidorm. PSOE led PP by five percent in Alcoy.

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Alicante.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) 434,812 48.88 6 Federico Trillo, Miguel Campoy, María Ferrando, Macarena Montesinos, Francisco Murcia, María Seller
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 374,631 42.12 5 Herick Campos, Carlos González Serna, Agustín Jiménez, Juana Serna, Clemencia Torrado
United Left 34,774 3.91 0
Others 32,963 3.70 0

[edit] 2000 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Alicante.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) 436,740 54.26 7 Federico Trillo, Miguel Campoy, María Ferrando, Francisco Murcia, María Seller, María Díez, Íñigo Herrera
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 280,085 34.79 4 Justo González Serna, Juana Serna, Clemencia Torrado, Leire Pajín
United Left 42,998 5.34 0
Others 35,826 4.40 0

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Alicante 1993 electorate
  2. ^ Alicante 2004 electorate
  3. ^ Spain 1993 total electorate
  4. ^ Spain 2004 total electorate
  5. ^ Alicante representation increased
  6. ^ electorates by municipality
  7. ^ Spanish Constitution
  8. ^ Spanish Constitution
  9. ^ General features of Spanish electoral system
  10. ^ 2004 Spanish election
  11. ^ Alicante 2004 election results
  12. ^ Interior ministry link to election results
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Electoral districts of the Spanish Congress of Deputies