Valencia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

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Location of Valencia electoral district in Spain
Location of Valencia electoral district in Spain

Valencia 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. Aside from Valencia city, where a third of the electorate live, the largest municipalities are Torrent, Gandia and Sagunto. There are no other municipalities with electorates over 50,000.

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[edit] Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [1] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Valencia 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% of the total vote (which includes votes "en blanco" i.e. for none of the above) can be considered. 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 of 1977, 1979 and 1982 Valencia returned 15 members. That figure was increased to 16 members for the 1986 general election and has remained at that level ever since.

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 Valencia. In 2004 for example Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy [4]. In Valencia however the number of voters per deputy was 117,788 [5] in contrast to the smallest provinces of Teruel and Soria where the ratio was 38,714 and 26,177 respectively. [6] [7]

[edit] Party strength by municipality

In recent elections the People's Party (PP) has polled best in Valencia City, with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) polling best in the satellite towns, particularly to the immediate West of Valencia in the region known as "L'Horta Oest". While the PP enjoyed a lead of 3.5% overall, PSOE polled strongly in Quart de Poblet where they led the PP by over 20%. They led by 15% in the neighbouring municipality of Alaquàs and had leads of 10% in the nearby towns of Aldaia and Xirivella.

Electoral areas of Valencia city
Electoral areas of Valencia city

PP led by almost 10% in Valencia city and this was strongly concentrated in the central districts of Valencia city. In four districts in particular - Extramurs, L'Eixample, Ciutat Vella and El Pla del Real - PP polled between 60 and 67% and led PSOE by between 31 and 41%.

At neighbourhood level the differences were even more pronounced. While Carmen and Russafa districts were close to the city average, the PP polled nearly 80% of the vote in the central neighbourhoods of Sant Francesc and El Pla del Remei (in the latter they had polled 84.1% against 8.7% for the PSOE in the year 2000.) PSOE's best performances came in the outlying neighbourhood of Ciutat Fallera where they led by 20% and they also polled well in parts of Benimaclet and the Malvarosa area, adjacent Valencia port.

United Left (IU) generally failed to break the 10% barrier in most areas but polled best in the town of Bunyol where they received 18.6% of the vote. Bloc Nacionalista Valencia's best performance came in the town of Albalat dels Tarongers where they polled almost 12%.

Source: [8]

[edit] Summary of seats won 1977-2008

1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 7 7 10 9 8 6 6 6 7 7
Democratic Centre Union (UCD) 5 6
United Left (IU) 1 2 1 2 2 1 1
Popular Socialist Party (PSP) 1
People's Party (PP) 1 5 5 4 7 7 9 8 9
Valencian Union (UV) 1 2 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 - including those won as part of an electoral alliance with the Valencian Union (UV) in 1982. Seats shown for United Left include seats won by the Communist Party of Spain before 1986.

PP formed an unofficial electoral pact with UV for the 2004 election, under which the UV leader was elected to the Spanish Senate as part of the PP ticket. This proved controversial with the membership and led to a split in the party. [9]

[edit] Vote share Summary 1977-2008

1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 36.7 36.7 53.5 46.8 40.1 37.2 37.0 33.2 42.2 40.8
Democratic Centre Union (UCD) 31.0 33.9 4.4
United Left (IU) 9.8 13.5 5.3 5.1 9.9 11.4 12.1 6.5 5.4 2.8
Popular Socialist Party (PSP) 5.4
People's Party (PP) 5.6 4.4 29.5 27.5 24.2 37.9 42.0 50.5 45.7 51.8
Valencian Union (UV) 5.1 11.5 7.5 5.6 3.9
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 2.4 8.3 6.5 1.4 0.1 0.1 0.2

[edit] 2008 Election

The current Deputy Prime Minister and Madrid deputy María Teresa Fernández de la Vega [10] headed the PSOE list at the 2008 election. Isaura Navarro was deselected by the regional federation of United Left (IU) on 18th November being replaced by Antonio Montalbán. The Federal Executive Praesidium of IU annulled this result one month later, citing irregularities in membership registration. In the event Navarro resigned from IU and stood unsuccessfully as part of a joint list which included Bloc Nacionalista Valencia. An increase in the PP vote saw them gain a seat at the expense of the smaller left wing parties.

[edit] Results

[edit] 2004 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Valencia.
Parties and alliances Votes % Seats Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular) 665,526 45.75 8 Eduardo Zaplana, Joaquin Calomarde*, Susana Camarero, Ignacio Gil, Vicente Martínez-Pujalte, José María Michavila, María Oltra, María Angels Ramón-Llin
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) 613,833 42.19 7 Carmen Alborch, Maria Antonia Armengol, Cipriá Císcar, Carmen Montón, Margarita Pin, Josep Santamaría, Ricardo Torres
Entesa United Left of the Land of Valencia-Valencian Left 78,515 5.40 1 Isaura Navarro
Bloc Nacionalista Valencia-Esquerra Verda 27,050 1.86 0
Greens Ecopacifists 11,127 0.76 0
Legalise and Normalise Cannabis 9,604 0.66 0
Others 27,763 3.38 0

Source:[11]

* Calomarde resigned from the PP in April 2007, and now sits in the mixed group. [12]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Spanish Constitution
  2. ^ Spanish Constitution
  3. ^ General features of Spanish electoral system
  4. ^ 2004 Spanish election
  5. ^ 2004 Valencia election
  6. ^ 2004 Teruel election
  7. ^ 2004 Soria election
  8. ^ Valencia City Council election results breakdown, table 12
  9. ^ La voz digital :: Diario de Valencia :: noticias de actualidad - Unió Valenciana califica a José María Chiquillo de tránsfuga y marioneta del PP
  10. ^ Maria Fernandez to head PSOE list in 2008
  11. ^ Interior ministry link to election results
  12. ^ Calomarde quits PP.
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