Madrid (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Location of Madrid electoral district in Spain

Madrid 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 largest electorate of all the 52 districts. Madrid is the largest city. Other municipalities with an electorate over 100,000 are (in descending order) Móstoles, Leganés, Alcalá de Henares, Fuenlabrada, Alcorcón and Getafe.[1]

Traditionally the two main parties candidates for Prime Minister are the heads of the Madrid list for their respective parties.

Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [2] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Madrid 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.

Kingdom of Spain
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Spain

Politics portal

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]

Number of members

In the general elections of 1977, 1979 and 1982 Madrid returned 32 members. That figure was increased to 33 members for the 1986 General Election, to 34 members for the 1993 election and then to its current figure of 35 from the 2004 General Election.

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.

In 2004 for example Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy.[4] In Madrid however the number of voters per deputy was 127,377[5] the second largest ratio after Barcelona. In contrast the ratio was 38,714 and 26,177 respectively in the smallest provinces of Teruel [6] and Soria.[7]

Party strength by municipality

Generally certain patterns have emerged in recent elections. The Popular Party (PP) normally polls best in the City of Madrid, with the PSOE polling best in the smaller municipalities, particularly those in the 'sur metropolitano' (South Metropolitan region) area which consists of the satellite towns to the immediate south and of Madrid.[8]

Within the Madrid autonomous community, PP generally polled best in the municipalities in the north and west of the community, while PSOE does best in the south and east of the community. IU normally failed to break the 10% barrier, but did do relatively well in many of the smaller municipalities and in one of them, Berzosa del Lozoya, in the north of the autonomous community, outpolled the other parties, albeit by just one vote out of 106 cast.

Exactly the same pattern was evident in 2004 within Madrid city itself with PP polling best in the districts in the north western half of the city and PSOE doing best in the south eastern half. PP polled best in the districts of Chamartín (67.9%), Salamanca (67.7%) and Chamberí (64.9%) while PSOE's best vote shares came in the Vallecas districts where they polled 61.4% in Puente de Vallecas and 56.9% in Villa de Vallecas. IU's best result was in Centro where they polled 10.4%.[9]

Party strength in largest municipalities in 2004

Municipality PP PSOE IU
Madrid Autonomous Community 46.0 45.0 6.6
Madrid 48.7 42.7 6.4
Móstoles 39.0 51.7 6.5
Leganés 33.8 54.9 8.4
Alcalá de Henares 40.9 48.9 7.1
Fuenlabrada 31.5 59.0 6.5
Alcorcón 39.0 51.7 6.5
Getafe 33.8 53.7 9.8
Torrejón de Ardoz 38.0 50.1 7.0
Alcobendas 46.1 44.0 4.9
Coslada 32.9 52.1 9.8
Parla 26.5 62.3 7.0
Pozuelo de Alarcón 62.8 29.3 3.2

Only municipalities with more than 50,000 voters shown.

Source: [10]

Summary of seats won 1977-2008

1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008
Seats 32 32 32 33 33 34 34 34 35 35
Democratic Centre Union (UCD) 11 12 1
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 11 12 18 15 12 13 11 12 16 15
United Left (IU) 4 4 1 2 5 5 6 3 2 1
People's Party (PP) 3 3 11 11 12 16 17 19 17 18
Popular Socialist Party (PSP) 3
National Union (UN) 1
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 1 5 4
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) 1

Seats shown for the People's Party include seats won by their predecessors, the Popular Alliance and the Popular Coalition before 1989. Seats shown for United Left include seats won by the Communist Party of Spain before 1986.

Vote share summary 1977-2004

1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD) 32.0 33.1 3.4
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 31.7 33.3 52.1 40.8 33.5 34.5 31.4 33.1 44.1 39.7
United Left (IU) 10.7 13.5 5.0 6.0 15.4 14.6 16.4 9.1 6.4 4.7
People's Party (PP) 10.5 8.6 32.3 32.0 34.2 43.9 49.3 52.5 45.0 49.2
Popular Socialist Party (PSP) 9.2
National Union (UN) 4.8 0.8
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 4.1 13.9 11.0 3.0 0.4 0.1 0.2
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPD) 3.7

2008 Election

As traditionally the prime ministerial candidate of each party is the leader of the Madrid list, PSOE's, PP's and IU's lists were led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Mariano Rajoy and Gaspar Llamazares respectively. In many political parties it is usually the number two on these lists who are considered the leader and left for discussion within the regional party branches. The current Second Vice-President Pedro Solbes was offered this position [11] with confederal environment Secretary of the Workers' Commissions trade union, Joaquin Nieto being offered that position for IU [12] Manuel Pizzarro, former Chairman of ENDESA, was chosen to run as number two in the Madrid list of the Peoples' Party, his draft was announced at the time that current Mayor Madrid Alberto Ruiz Gallardón was rejected for taking part in the party list.

Results

2011 general election

Summary of the 20 November 2011 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Elect. +/−
People's Party (PP) 1,719,709 50.97 +1.78 19 +1
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 878,724 26.05 −13.63 10 −5
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) 347,354 10.30 +6.56 4 +3
United Left (IU) 271,209 8.04 +3.38 3 +2
EQUO (EQUO) 65,169 1.93 New 0 ±0
Others 56,547 1.68 0 ±0
Blank ballots 35,093 1.04 +0.09
Total 3,373,805 100.00 36 +1
Valid votes 3,373,805 98.96 −0.52
Invalid votes 35,526 1.04 +0.52
Votes cast / turnout 3,409,331 73.26 −5.82
Abstentions 1,244,448 26.74 +5.82
Registered voters 4,653,779
Source: Ministry of the Interior

2008 general election

Summary of the 9 March 2008 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Elect. +/−
People's Party (PP) 1,737,688 49.19 +4.17 18 +1
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 1,401,785 39.68 −4.43 15 −1
United Left (IU) 164,595 4.66 −1.77 1 −1
Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) 132,095 3.74 New 1 +1
Others 62,679 1.77 0 ±0
Blank ballots 33,539 0.95 −1.11
Total 3,532,381 100.00 35 ±0
Valid votes 3,532,381 99.48 −0.02
Invalid votes 18,477 0.52 +0.02
Votes cast / turnout 3,550,858 79.08 +0.15
Abstentions 939,182 20.92 −0.15
Registered voters 4,490,040
Source: Ministry of the Interior

2004 general election

Summary of the 14 March 2004 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Elect. +/−
People's Party (PP) 1,576,636 45.02 −7.50 17 −2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 1,544,676 44.11 +11.05 16 +4
United Left (IU) 225,109 6.43 −2.69 2 −1
Others 83,319 2.38 0 ±0
Blank ballots 72,038 2.06 +0.18
Total 3,501,778 100.00 35 +1
Valid votes 3,501,778 99.50 +0.02
Invalid votes 17,465 0.50 −0.02
Votes cast / turnout 3,519,243 78.93 +6.85
Abstentions 939,297 21.07 −6.85
Registered voters 4,458,540
Source: Ministry of the Interior

2000 general election

Summary of the 12 March 2000 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Elect. +/−
People's Party (PP) 1,625,831 52.52 +3.23 19 +2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 1,023,212 33.06 +1.64 12 +1
United Left (IU) 282,180 9.12 −7.32 3 −3
Independent Liberal Group (GIL) 32,432 1.05 New 0 ±0
Others 73,698 2.38 0 ±0
Blank ballots 58,114 1.88 +0.62
Total 3,095,467 100.00 34 ±0
Valid votes 3,095,467 99.48 −0.20
Invalid votes 16,195 0.52 +0.20
Votes cast / turnout 3,111,662 72.08 −7.51
Abstentions 1,205,484 27.92 +7.51
Registered voters 4,317,146
Source: Ministry of the Interior

1996 general election

Summary of the 3 March 1996 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Elect. +/−
People's Party (PP) 1,642,489 49.29 +5.37 17 +1
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 1,046,904 31.42 −3.54 11 −2
United Left (IU) 547,901 16.44 +1.86 6 +1
Others 52,825 1.59 0 ±0
Blank ballots 41,927 1.26 +0.28
Total 3,332,046 100.00 34 ±0
Valid votes 3,332,046 99.68 +0.07
Invalid votes 10,582 0.32 −0.07
Votes cast / turnout 3,342,628 79.59 +0.67
Abstentions 857,171 20.41 −0.67
Registered voters 4,199,799
Source: Ministry of the Interior

1993 general election

Summary of the 6 June 1993 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Elect. +/−
People's Party (PP) 1,373,042 43.92 +9.70 16 +4
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 1,093,015 34.96 +1.47 13 +1
United Left (IU) 455,685 14.58 −0.84 5 ±0
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 93,347 2.99 −8.00 0 −4
The Greens (LV) 33,295 1.07 −0.07 0 ±0
Others 47,212 1.51 0 ±0
Blank ballots 30,554 0.98 −0.04
Total 3,126,150 100.00 34 +1
Valid votes 3,126,150 99.61 +0.14
Invalid votes 12,361 0.39 −0.14
Votes cast / turnout 3,138,511 78.92 +6.20
Abstentions 838,551 21.08 −6.20
Registered voters 3,977,062
Source: Ministry of the Interior

1989 general election

Summary of the 29 October 1989 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Elect. +/−
People's Party (PP) 919,357 34.22 +2.25 12 +1
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 899,723 33.49 −7.32 12 −3
United Left (IU) 414,392 15.42 +9.39 5 +3
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 295,189 10.99 −2.95 4 −1
The Greens (LV) 30,495 1.14 +0.42 0 ±0
Others 100,256 3.73 0 ±0
Blank ballots 27,303 1.02 +0.06
Total 2,686,715 100.00 33 ±0
Valid votes 2,686,715 99.47 +1.18
Invalid votes 14,227 0.53 −1.18
Votes cast / turnout 2,700,942 72.72 −1.18
Abstentions 1,012,999 27.28 +1.18
Registered voters 3,713,941
Source: Ministry of the Interior

1986 general election

Summary of the 22 June 1986 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Elect. +/−
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 1,054,730 40.81 −11.28 15 −3
People's Alliance (AP) 826,206 31.97 −0.29 11 ±0
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 360,246 13.94 −2.95 5 +4
United Left (IU) 155,932 6.03 +9.39 2 +1
Communists’ Unity Board (MUC) 63,928 2.47 New 0 ±0
Democratic Reformist Party (PRD) 36,709 1.42 New 0 ±0
Others 61,997 2.40 0 −1
Blank ballots 24,814 0.96 +0.53
Total 2,584,562 100.00 33 +1
Valid votes 2,584,562 98.29 +0.16
Invalid votes 44,844 1.71 −0.16
Votes cast / turnout 2,629,406 73.90 −12.06
Abstentions 928,522 26.10 +12.06
Registered voters 3,557,928
Source: Ministry of the Interior

1982 general election

Summary of the 28 October 1982 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Elect. +/−
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 1,439,137 52.09 +18.75 18 +6
People's Alliance (AP) 891,372 32.26 +23.66 11 +8
Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 137,459 4.98 −8.48 1 −3
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 113,384 4.10 New 1 +1
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 92,508 3.35 −29.79 1 −11
Others 76,977 2.79 0 −1
Blank ballots 11,826 0.43 +0.05
Total 2,762,663 100.00 32 ±0
Valid votes 2,762,663 98.13 −0.99
Invalid votes 52,635 1.87 +0.99
Votes cast / turnout 2,815,298 85.96 +12.69
Abstentions 459,668 14.04 −12.69
Registered voters 3,274,966
Source: Ministry of the Interior

1979 general election

Summary of the 1 March 1979 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Elect. +/−
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 769,328 33.34 +1.66 12 +1
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 764,830 33.14 +1.19 12 +1
Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 310,496 13.46 +2.76 4 ±0
People's Alliance (AP) 198,345 8.60 −1.88 3 ±0
National Union (UN) 110,730 4.80 New 1 +1
Workers' Revolutionary Organisation (ORT) 48,354 2.10 New 0 ±0
Party of Labour of Spain (PTE) 25,832 1.12 +0.54 0 ±0
Others 71,038 3.08 0 −3
Blank ballots 8,691 0.38 +0.12
Total 2,307,644 100.00 32 ±0
Valid votes 2,307,644 99.12 +0.14
Invalid votes 20,585 0.88 −0.14
Votes cast / turnout 2,328,229 73.27 −11.73
Abstentions 849,503 26.73 +11.73
Registered voters 3,177,732
Source: Ministry of the Interior

1977 general election

Summary of the 15 June 1977 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results in Madrid
Party Vote Seats
Votes ±pp Elect.
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) 737,699 31.95 11
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 731,380 31.68 11
Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 247,038 10.70 4
People's Alliance (AP) 242,077 10.48 3
People's Socialist Party (PSP) 211,440 9.16 3
Christian Democracy Group (FDC-EDC) 34,113 1.48 0
Democratic Socialist Alliance (ASDCI) 28,363 1.23 0
Others 70,695 3.06 0
Blank ballots 6,111 0.26
Total 2,308,916 100.00 32
Valid votes 2,308,916 98.98
Invalid votes 23,744 1.02
Votes cast / turnout 2,332,660 85.00
Abstentions 411,492 15.00
Registered voters 2,744,152
Source: Ministry of the Interior

External links

References