Murcia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

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Location of Murcia electoral district in Spain.
Location of Murcia electoral district in Spain.

Murcia 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. Murcia and Cartagena are the largest towns and together account for almost half of the electorate. Lorca is the only other municipality with more than 50,000 voters.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [1] the boundaries must be the same as the autonomous community of Murcia 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

From the 1977 General Election onwards Murcia returned eight members. It gained a ninth seat for the 1989 General Election and will elect ten 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. [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.

In 2004 Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy [4]. In Murcia the ratio was 104,572.[5]

[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 5 5 5 4 3 3 3 3
People's Party (PP) 3 3 3 4 5 6 6 7
United Left (IU) 1 1
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 1

Seats shown for the People's Party include seats won by their predecessors, the Popular Alliance and the Popular Coalition before 1989.

[edit] Results

Murcia has been one of the best districts for the PP in recent years. In the most recent election it produced their third best result in percentage terms after Ávila and Ceuta. Overall, in the 2004 election, the PP vote dropped by 7.8% and the PSOE vote increased by 8.4% , in Murcia the PP vote dropped by only 0.7% and the PSOE vote grew by just 2.6% .

In 2004 in the largest municipalities, Cartagena produced a result close to the average. PP did better in Murcia municipality where they led PSOE by 30%. Lorca produced a better result for PSOE as they were only 7% behind the PP.

[edit] 2004 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Murcia.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) 413,902 57.42 6
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 252,246 35.00 3
United Left (Izquierda Unida) 30,787 4.27 0
Los Verdes 7,074 0.98 0
Others 6,435 0.90 0

Source: [6]

[edit] 2000 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Murcia.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) 389,564 58.08 6
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 217,179 32.38 3
United Left 41,842 6.24 0
Los Verdes 6,555 0.98 0
Others 8,359 1.20 0

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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