Lugo (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Location of Lugo electoral district in Spain

Lugo 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 four districts which correspond to the provinces of Galicia. Lugo is the largest municipality and the only municipality with more than 75,000 voters. The district has been unusual in that, although the parties of the right have maintained the lead, it has shown a long term shift to the left relative to other districts (see results section below).

Boundaries and electoral system

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

From the 1977 General Election onwards Lugo returned five members. This figure was reduced to four members for the 1996 General Election and it has retained that allocation since then.

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 law has been to overrepresent smaller provinces at the expense of larger province.

In 2004 for example Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy.^[3] In Lugo however the number of voters per deputy was slightly below that at 86,859.^[4]

Summary of seats won 1977–2008

Seats shown for the Peoples Party include seats won by their predecessors the Popular Alliance in 1982 and the Popular Coalition in 1986.

Vote share summary 1977-2004

Vote share for IU includes results for their predecessors, The Communist Party of Spain (PCE) before 1986. Results for BNG include those for the Galician Coalition in 1986.

Results

Although, Lugo has long been a stronghold of the parties of the right, it has shown a long term shift to the left. In the 1977 election it was one of only five districts along with Orense, Ávila, Ceuta and Melilla where the PSOE failed to win a seat. Subsequently however the PSOE increased their share of the vote at every election up to and including 1996, despite losing ground nationally in the elections of 1986, 1989, 1993 and 1996.

The 2004 election saw PSOE produce their best ever result in the district, making it one of the few districts where they polled better than in their best year of 1982. In total, the PSOE vote grew by 14.3%, a figure above their national average increase of 8.4%. Consequently the swing from PP to PSOE was 11.3% - the second largest swing of the election between the two main parties (with Zaragoza producing the largest swing.) PSOE also succeeded in outpolling PP in Lugo municipality for the first time ever.

The 2008 continued this trend, with PSOE bettering their 2004 result and PP having their third biggest drop in the vote after Orense and Melilla.

With the exception of the 1977 election, Lugo has always been one of the worst districts for the far left and IU had their fourth worst showing overall here in 2004.

2004 General Election

Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Lugo

Source:^[5]

2000 General Election

Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Lugo

External links

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

References