Teruel (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

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Location of Teruel electoral district in Spain
Location of Teruel electoral district in Spain

Teruel 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. It is one of the three electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Aragon. Teruel is the largest town with only 24,000 voters. There are no other municipalities with electorates over 15,000. Teruel has been a political bellwether as the party that has won most seats in the district has gone on to form the government.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [1] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Teruel 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

Teruel has returned three members at every election since the restoration of democracy.

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 has been to overrepreseent smaller provinces like Teruel at the expense of larger provinces. Teruel had a ratio of 38,714 voters per deputy in 2004 [4] a figure below the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy and the second smallest ratio of all after Soria.

[edit] Summary of seats won 1977–2004

1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004
Democratic Centre Union (UCD) 2 2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2
Popular Alliance / People's Party (PP) 1 1 1 1 2 2 1

Note: The PP ran in an electoral alliance with the Aragonese Party (Partido Aragonés) in 1996.

[edit] Results

Teruel produced one of the closest results of the most recent election with PSOE gaining a seat from the PP by just 232 votes.

[edit] 2004 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Teruel.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 36,152 41.09 2
People's Party (Partido Popular) 35,920 40.83 1
Aragonese Party (Partido Aragonés) 7,000 7.96 0
Aragonese Council (Chunta Aragonesista) 4,463 5.07 0
United Left-Confederation of the Greens 2,514 2.86 0
Others 584 0.60 0

Source: [5]

[edit] 2000 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Teruel.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) 40,383 47.93 2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 28,488 33.81 1
Aragonese Party (Partido Aragonés) 8,294 9.84 0
Aragonese Council (Chunta Aragonesista) 2,831 3.36 0
United Left 2,438 2.89 0
Others 625 0.70 0

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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