Navarra (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

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Location of Navarra electoral district in Spain
Location of Navarra electoral district in Spain

Navarra (also called Navarre in English and Nafarroa in Basque) 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. The largest city is Pamplona where a third of the electorate live.

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 Navarra 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

Navarra has returned five members in all elections since the restoration of democracy in 1977.

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.

Navarra had a ratio of 93,237 voters per deputy in 2004 [4] a figure slightly below the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy [5].

[edit] Results

The PP has usually stood here as part of an electoral coalition with a sister party, the Navarrese People's Union (UPN). In the most recent election their vote dropped by 12.3% here, their biggest drop in any district in the entire election. As a result they lost a seat to Nafarroa Bai, a new coalition which is made up of Eusko Alkartasuna (Basque Solidarity), Aralar, Batzarre and the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (Basque Nationalist Party) in order to advance a Basque nationalist agenda.

[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 1 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
People's Party (Partido Popular) - Navarrese People's Union (UPN) 1 2 2 3 3 2 3 2 2
Herri Batasuna 1
United Left-Nafarroa Ezker Batua 1
Navarre Yes (Nafarroa Bai) 1 1


[edit] 2004 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Navarra.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) - Navarrese People's Union (UPN) 127,653 37.60 2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 113,906 33.55 2
Navarre Yes (Nafarroa Bai) 61,045 17.98 1
United Left-Nafarroa Ezker Batua 19,899 5.86 0
Others 10,266 3.00 0

Source: [6]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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