Albacete (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Albacete 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 is one of the five electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castilla La Mancha. Albacete is the largest town accounting for almost half the electorate and there are no other municipalities with electorates over 25,000.

Boundaries and electoral system

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

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 elected. Article 70 also makes active judges, magistrates, public defenders, serving military personnel, active police officers and members of constitutional and electoral tribunals ineligible.^[1]

Number of members

Albacete has returned four 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.^[2] 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 Albacete at the expense of larger provinces. Alabcete had a ratio of 74,695 voters per deputy in 2004 ^[3] a figure below the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy ^[4].

Summary of seats won 1977–2008

Generally Alabacete has been balanced with the PSOE winning two seats and the main party of the centre right winning two. In the 1980s however, the PSOE won three seats leaving the Popular Party and predecessors with just one seat.

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

Vote share summary 1977-2008

Results

2008 General Election

2004 General Election

Source: ^[5]

2000 General Election

• ^{^}Aguilar was replaced by Jesús Perea on 27 June 2000.
• ^#Valentín was replaced by Juan Solera on 17 June 2003

External links

• List of members by year
• Number of voters by Municipality

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Spanish Constitution
2. ^ General features of Spanish electoral system
3. ^ Albacete election result 2004
4. ^ 2004 Spanish election
5. ^ Interior ministry link to election results