Barcelona (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
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Barcelona 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. When first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election, Barcelona was the largest electoral district in Congress in terms of electorate. However by the time of the 1989 election, Madrid had overtaken it.
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[edit] Boundaries and electoral system
Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [1] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Barcelona 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
In the general elections of 1977, 1979, 1982 and 1986 Barcelona returned 33 members. That figure was reduced to 32 members for the 1989 General Election. It lost a further seat in the 1990s and from the 1996 election onwards has elected 31 members.
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 law has been to overrepresent smaller provinces at the expense of larger provinces like Barcelona.
In 2004 for example Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy [4]. In Barcelona however the number of voters per deputy was 129,269 - the highest ratio of all 52 constituencies. In contrast the ratio was only 38,714 and 26,177 respectively in the smaller provinces of Teruel [5] and Soria. [6]
[edit] Summary of seats won 1977–2008
| 1977 | 1979 | 1982 | 1986 | 1989 | 1993 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSC-PSOE) | 11 | 12 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| United Left-Initiative for Catalonia Greens (IU-ICV) | 7 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) | 6 | |||||||||
| Convergence and Union (CiU) | 6 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 7 | |
| Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC) | 2 | |||||||||
| Democratic Centre Union (UCD) | 5 | 6 | ||||||||
| Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | ||
| People's Party (PP) | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 |
| Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 1 | 1 |
Note: Seats shown for the PP include seats won by their predecessors, the Popular Alliance and Popular Coalition before 1989. They ran in an electoral alliance with a smaller regional grouping (Convivencia Catalana) in 1977.
PSOE has contested elections under the label Socialist Party of Catalonia (Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya).
Democratic Convergence of Catalonia contested the 1977 election under the label Democratic Pact for Catalonia (Pacte Democràtic per Catalunya). After 1977 they have contested elections as part of an alliance with Democratic Union of Catalonia called Convergence and Unity (Convergència i Unió).
Prior to 1986, the equivalent of United Left was the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya).
Republican Left of Catalonia contested the 1977 election as part of an electoral alliance called Catalan Left - Electoral Democratic Front (Esquerra de Catalunya-Front Electoral Democràtic) as openly republican parties were unable to contest the 1977 elections. [7]
Democratic Centre Union fought the 1979 election as part of an alliance called Catalan Centrists (Centristes de Catalunya.)
[edit] Party strength in largest muncipalities
| Municipality | PSOE | CiU | PP | ERC | ICV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona (province) | 41.7 | 19.3 | 16.0 | 14.1 | 6.5 |
| Barcelona | 38.1 | 20.0 | 18.1 | 14.6 | 6.9 |
| L'Hospitalet de Llobregat | 52.9 | 10.6 | 18.2 | 8.2 | 7.0 |
| Badalona | 49.4 | 13.6 | 16.6 | 10.2 | 7.2 |
| Sabadell | 46.7 | 17.8 | 13.0 | 12.9 | 7.2 |
| Terrassa | 45.6 | 18.5 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 6.7 |
| Santa Coloma de Gramenet | 56.9 | 8.3 | 17.2 | 6.3 | 8.0 |
| Mataró | 41.1 | 19.8 | 17.5 | 12.6 | 6.4 |
| Cornellà de Llobregat | 56.1 | 8.7 | 16.1 | 7.5 | 8.7 |
| Sant Boi de Llobregat | 53.8 | 11.3 | 15.0 | 9.3 | 7.3 |
| Manresa | 33.6 | 26.9 | 11.4 | 21.6 | 4.7 |
| El Prat de Llobregat | 54.2 | 10.5 | 15.6 | 8.6 | 8.2 |
Only municipalities with more than 50,000 voters shown.
[edit] Results
[edit] 2004 General Election[8]
| Parties and alliances | Votes | % | Seats | Members elected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socialists' Party of Catalonia/Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) | 1,268,028 | 41.66 | 14 | Carme Chacón, Maritxell Batet, Monserrat Colldeforns, Juan Carlos Coorcuera, Esperança Esteve, Daniel Fernández Gonzalez, Isabel Lopez y Chamosa, Elisenda Maralet, Jordi Marsal, Manuel Mas, Lourdes Muñoz, Joan Oms (Greens)*, Jordi Pedret,Maria Dolores Puig |
| Convergence and Union (Convergència i Unió) | 586,854 | 19.28 | 6 | Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, Carles Campuzano, Jordi Jane, Mercè Pigem, Josep Sánchez i Llibre, Jordi Vilajoana |
| People's Party (Partido Popular) | 485,504 | 15.95 | 5 | José Luis Ayllón, Jorge Moragas, Maria Dolors Nadal, Jorge Fernandez Díaz, Alicia Sánchez-Camacho |
| Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya) | 428,986 | 14.09 | 4 | Agustí Cerdà i Argent, Georgina Oliva, Joan Tarda, Rosa María Bonas |
| Initiative for Catalonia Greens-United and Alternative Left | 198,116 | 6.51 | 2 | Joan Herrera, Carme Garcia |
| Los Verdes | 26,739 | 0.88 | 0 | |
| Others | 21,629 | 0.70 | 0 |
* for the 2004 elections the Confederation of the Greens reached an agreement with PSOE to run on their lists.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Spanish Constitution
- ^ Spanish Constitution
- ^ General features of Spanish electoral system
- ^ 2004 Spanish election
- ^ Teruel 2004 election results
- ^ Soria 2004 elections results
- ^ http://www.esquerra.cat/web_nova/arxius/Hangles.pdf
- ^ Interior ministry link to election results
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