Teruel (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Teruel is one of the 52 electoral districts (Spanish: circunscripciones) 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. In terms of registered voters, the district is the fourth smallest overall with only Soria and the African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla having less voters.^[1] Teruel is the largest town with only 24,000 voters.^[1]There are no other municipalities with electorates over 15,000.^[1] Teruel has been a political bellwether as the party that has won most seats in the district has gone on to form the government.

Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution ^[2] 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.

Electoral procedures

The laws regulating the conduct and administration of elections are laid out in detail in the 1985 electoral law. (Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General. ^[3]) Under this law, the elections in Teruel, as in other districts, are supervised by the Electoral Commission (Junta Electoral), a permanent body composed of eight Supreme Court judges and five political scientists or sociologists appointed by the Congress of Deputies. The Electoral commission is supported in its work by the Interior Ministry. On election day, polling stations are run by electoral boards which consist of groups of citizens selected by lottery.^[4]

The format of the ballot paper is designed by the Spanish state, however, the law allows political parties to produce and distribute their own ballot papers, either by mailing them to voters or by other means such as street distribution, provided that they comply with the official model. The government then covers the cost of all printed ballot papers. These must then be marked by voters, either in the polling station or outside the polling station and placed inside sealed envelopes which are then placed inside ballot boxes in the polling station. Following the close of polls, the ballots are then counted in each individual polling station in the presence of representatives of the political parties and candidates. The ballots are then immediately destroyed, with the exception of those considered invalid or challenged by the candidates' representatives, which are retained for further scrutiny. The result is that full recounts are impossible.^[5]

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. ^[2] Additionally, under Article 11 of the Political Parties Law, June 2002 (Ley Orgánica 6/2002, de 27 de junio, de Partidos Políticos), parties and individual candidates may be prevented from standing by the Spanish Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo), if they are judged to have violated Article 9 of that law which prohibits parties which are perceived to discriminate against people on the basis of ideology, religion, beliefs, nationality, race, gender or sexual orientation (Article 9a), foment or organise violence as a means of achieving political objectives (Article 9b) or support or compliment the actions of "terrorist organisations" (Article 9c).^[6] Article 55, Section 2 of the 1985 electoral law also disqualifies director generals or equivalent leaders of state monopolies and public bodies such as the Spanish state broadcaster RTVE.^[3] Lastly, following changes to the electoral law which took effect for the 2007 municipal elections, candidates' lists must be composed of at least 40% of candidates of either gender and each group of five candidates must contain at least two males and two females.^[4]

Presenting candidates

Parties and coalitions of different parties which have registered with the Electoral Commission can present lists of candidates (Article 44, 1985 electoral law). Groups of electors which have not registered with the commission can also present lists, provided that they obtain the signatures of 1% of registered electors in a particular district (Article 169).^[3]

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. ^[7] 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 ^[8] a figure below the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy and the second smallest ratio of all after Soria.

Summary of seats won 1977–2004

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

Vote share summary 1977-2008

Results

Teruel produced one of the closest results of the 2004 election with PSOE gaining a seat from the PP by just 232 votes. PSOE increased their lead in 2008 however the district remains a PP target.

2008 General Election

2004 General Election

2000 General Election

1996 General Election

1993 General Election

^{* In June 1995, Velasco was replaced by María Lucía Gómez García}

^{Source: [9]}

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Number of voters by municipality 2008". Spanish census office. http://www.ine.es/censoe/censo_cerrado/cermun_08.xls. Retrieved 2009-08-04. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Spanish Constitution
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Law governing electoral procedures". http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Admin/lo5-1985.html. Retrieved 2009-08-04. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "OSCE observers task force report on 2008 Spanish election" (PDF). Organisation for security and cooperation in Europe OSCE. http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2008/02/29695_en.pdf. Retrieved 2009-08-04. 
5. ^ "OSCE observers task force report on 2004 Spanish election" (PDF). Organisation for security and cooperation in Europe, OSCE. http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2004/04/2777_en.pdf. Retrieved 2009-08-04. 
6. ^ "Law regarding registration of political parties". http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Admin/lo6-2002.html#c3. Retrieved 2009-08-04. 
7. ^ General features of Spanish electoral system
8. ^ Teruel election result 2004
9. ^ Interior ministry link to election results

External links

• List of members by year