Soria 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 has the third smallest electorate of all the 52 districts, with only the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla having fewer voters, which resulted in it losing a seat for the 2008 election.
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Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [1] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Soria 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. Under article 12 of the constitution, the minimum voting age is 18.
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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]
Soria returned three members to the Spanish Congress when it was recreated for the 1977 General Election, a figure that was reduced to two members for the 2008 general election. This was the first time since the restoration of democracy that any province elected just two members, the legal minimum representation for a province. [2]
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 Madrid and Barcelona. Soria has been the main beneficiary of this law. In 2004 for example Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy [4]. In Soria however the ratio was 26,177 voters per deputy, the lowest ratio of all 52 districts. In contrast in the two largest provinces, the number of voters per deputy was 129,269 in Barcelona [5] and 127,377 in Madrid. [6]
| 1977 | 1979 | 1982 | 1986 | 1989 | 1993 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Centre Union (UCD) | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| People's Party (PP) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Seats shown for the People's Party include seats won by their predecessors, the Popular Alliance and the Popular Coalition before 1989.
| 1977 | 1979 | 1982 | 1986 | 1989 | 1993 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Centre Union (UCD) | 58.6 | 57.2 | 18.7 | |||||||
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) | 17.9 | 25.6 | 35.3 | 35.8 | 33.0 | 36.8 | 34.3 | 32.0 | 38.8 | 42.6 |
| Independent (Ind) | 7.5 | |||||||||
| People's Party (PP) | 6.3 | 10.0 | 37.3 | 42.1 | 47.9 | 50.7 | 55.2 | 58.5 | 50.8 | 49.8 |
| Popular Socialist Party (PSP) | 4.8 | |||||||||
| United Left (IU) | 2.0 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 2.6 | 5.1 | 5.6 | 7.9 | 4.3 | 2.1 | 2.2 |
| Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) | 4.7 | 14.1 | 9.4 | 3.7 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 0.1 | |||
| Soria Development Initiative (IDS) | 5.1 |
Soria produced the same result at every election from 1986 to 2004, with the Partido Popular winning two seats and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party winning one seat. The reduction in representation which took effect for the 2008 election resulted in the PP losing their second seat.
| Parties and alliances | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| People's Party (Partido Popular) | 27,905 | 49.80 | 1 |
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) | 23,868 | 42.60 | 1 |
| United Left | 1,253 | 2.24 | 0 |
| Union, Progress and Democracy | 1,106 | 1.97 | 0 |
| Others | 929 | 1.69 | 0 |
| Parties and alliances | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| People's Party (Partido Popular) | 29,184 | 50.80 | 2 |
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) | 22,287 | 38.79 | 1 |
| Soria Development Initiative | 2,934 | 5.11 | 0 |
| United Left | 1,230 | 2.14 | 0 |
| Others | 566 | 3.16 | 0 |
Source: [7]
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