Congress of Deputies (Spain)

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El Congreso de los Diputados
The Congress of Deputies

Type

Lower house

Houses

Congreso de los Diputados

President

José Bono Martínez, PSOE
since 2008

Members

350

Political groups

PSOE, PP, CiU, PNV, ERC-IU-ICV, Mixto

Last elections

2008

Meeting place

El Palacio del Congreso de los Diputados, Carrera de San Jerónimo, Madrid

Web site

www.congreso.es

The Spanish Congress of Deputies (Spanish: Congreso de los Diputados) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. It has 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation in constituencies matching the Spanish provinces using the D'Hondt method. Deputies serve four-year terms. The President of the Congress of Deputies is the analogue to a Speaker and presides over debates in Spain's lower chamber of parliament. The composition of the 9th term Congress, to serve no further than 2012, is:

Composition for the 9th term. IU and ERC lost their parliamentary groups after their electoral losses left them under caucus threshold.

Political party/group		Dep.
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	169
	People's Party	154
	Convergencia i Unió	10
	Basque Nationalist Party	6
	Republican Left of Catalonia-United Left-Initiative for Catalonia Greens	5
	Mixed Group, composed by: BNG, CC, UPyD, NaBai	6
Total		350

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[edit] Elections

[discuss] – [edit]
**Summary of the 9 March 2008 **Congress of Deputies** election results**
Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Change	Seats	Change
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)	11,288,698	43.87	+1.28	169	+5
People's Party (Partido Popular)	10,277,809	39.94	+2.22	154	+6
United Left (Izquierda Unida)	969,871	3.77	-1.19	2	-3
Convergence and Union (Convergència i Unió) Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya) Democratic Union of Catalonia (Unió Democràtica de Catalunya)	779,425	3.03	–0.20	10	±0
Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco/Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea)	306,128	1.19	–0.44	6	–1
Union, Progress and Democracy (Unión, Progreso y Democracia)	306,078	1.19	—	1	+1
Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya)	298,139	1.16	–1.36	3	–5
Galician Nationalist Bloc (Bloque Nacionalista Galego) Union of the Galician People (Unión do Povo Galego) Nationalist Left (Esquerda Nacionalista) Galician Unity (Unidade Galega) Socialist Collective (Colectivo Socialista) Inzar Galician Nationalist Party–Galeguista Party (Partido Nacionalista Galego–Partido Galeguista)	212,543	0.83	+0.02	2	±0
Canarian Coalition (Coalición Canaria)	174,629	0.68	–0.23	2	–1
Navarre Yes (Nafarroa Bai) Basque Solidarity (Eusko Alkartasuna) Aralar Batzarre Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco/Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea)	62,398	0.24	±0.0	1	±0
Basque Solidarity (Eusko Alkartasuna)	50,371	0.20	–0.12	0	–1
Aragonese Union (Chunta Aragonesista)	38,202	0.15	–0.22	0	–1
Total (turnout %)				350	0^[1]
Source: Spanish Interior Ministry election results database

[edit] History

The allegorical front of the building

The building, Congreso de los Diputados, has a neoclassical style. It was designed by Narcisco Pascual y Colomer, and built between 1843 and 1850. It sits by the Carrera de San Jerónimo, in Madrid.