Sevilla (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

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Location of Sevilla electoral district in Spain.
Location of Sevilla electoral district in Spain.

Sevilla (English: Seville) 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 the fourth largest district in terms of electorate.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [1] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Seville 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 from 1977 until 1993 Sevilla returned 12 members. For the 1996 and 2000 elections it returned 13 members. At the most recent General Election in 2004 it lost a seat and returned to its former representation of 12 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 Sevilla.

In 2004 Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy [4]. In Sevilla the ratio was 119,336.[5] In contrast the ratio was 38,714 and 26,177 respectively in the smallest provinces of Teruel [6] and Soria. [7]

[edit] Summary of seats won 1977-2008

1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 5 4 8 8 8 8 7 7 8 8
Democratic Centre Union (UCD) 5 4
United Left (IU) 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 1
Andalusian Party (PA) 2 1
People's Party (PP) 3 3 2 3 4 5 4 4

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 PSOE has topped the poll at every election since the restoration of democracy in 1977. IU lost their solitary seat in 2004, the first time that they have failed to win a seat in the district.

[edit] 2004 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Sevilla.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 639,293 58.27 8 Emilio Amuedo, Antonio Cuevas, Susana Díaz, Francisco de Asís Garrido, Alfonso Guerra, Carmen Hermosín, Miguel Millán, María Pozuelo
People's Party (Partido Popular) 306,464 27.93 4 Juan Albendea, Francisco Arenas, Adolfo González, Patricia del Pozo
United Left (Izquierda Unida) 73,344 6.68 0
Andalusian Party (Partido Andalucista) 45,005 4.10 0
Others 13,090 1.22 0

Source: [8]

[edit] 2000 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Sevilla.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 476,277 49.02 7
People's Party (Partido Popular) 339,879 34.98 5
United Left 80,455 8.28 1 Felipe Alcaraz
Andalusian Party (Partido Andalucista) 49,342 5.08 0
Others 4,296 0.86 0

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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