Almería (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Location of Almeria electoral district in Spain.
Location of Almeria electoral district in Spain.

Almeria 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 one of eight districts which correspond to the provinces of Andalusia. Almería is the only town with over 100,000 voters accounting for nearly a third of the electorate. The next largest municipalities are El Ejido and Roquetas de Mar.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [1] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Almería 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.

Spain

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Spain
Other countries · Atlas
 Politics Portal
view • talk • edit

[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

From the 1977 until 2004 Almería returned five members. This figure will be increased to six members for the 2008 election. [3]

Under Spanish electoral law, all provinces are entitled to a minimum of 2 seats with a remaining 248 seats apportioned according to population. [4] 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 [5]. In Almería the ratio was below that at 85,462.[6]

[edit] Summary of seats won 1977-2008

1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD) 3 3
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 2 2 4 4 4 3 3 2 3 3
People's Party (PP) 1 1 1 2 2 3 2 3

Seats shown for the People's Party include seats won by their predecessors, the Popular Alliance and the Popular Coalition before 1989. Seats shown for United Left include seats won by the Communist Party of Spain before 1986.

[edit] Results

The PP led the PSOE in all the three largest municipalities, leading by 3% in Almería, 7% in Roquetas de Mar and 15% in El Ejido. Despite this, the PSOE regained the seat that they had lost to the PP four years earlier.

[edit] 2004 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Almería.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 145,868 47.69 3
People's Party (Partido Popular) 135,434 44.28 2
United Left (Izquierda Unida) 9,522 3.11 0
Andalusian Party (Partido Andalucista) 7,190 2.35 0
Others 3,625 1.20 0

Source: [7]

[edit] 2000 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Almería.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) 135,531 48.67 3
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 117,685 42.26 2
United Left 11,749 4.22 0
Andalusian Party (Partido Andalucista) 6,569 2.36 0
Others 2,997 1.10 0

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Spanish Constitution
  2. ^ Spanish Constitution
  3. ^ representation increased
  4. ^ General features of Spanish electoral system
  5. ^ 2004 Spanish election
  6. ^ Almería 2004 election results
  7. ^ Interior ministry link to election results
v • d • e
Electoral districts of the Spanish Congress of Deputies