Navarre (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Location of Navarra electoral district in Spain

Navarra (also called Navarre in English and Nafarroa in Basque) 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. The largest city is Pamplona where a third of the electorate live.

Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution ^[1] the boundaries must be the same as the autonomous community of Navarra 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

Navarra has returned five members at each general election since the restoration of democracy in 1977.

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 provinces.

Navarra had a ratio of 94,812 voters per deputy in 2008 ^[3] a figure slightly below the Spanish average of 100,209 voters per deputy.^[4]

Summary of seats won 1977–2011

Vote share summary 1977–2011

^a The results correspond to those for the Autonomous Union of Navarra (Union autonomista de Navarra) an electoral coalition which comprised the PNV and Basque National Action, a political party which subsequently became a major party in the Batasuna electoral coalition.
^b The results correspond to those for the Left union of Navarra (Union Navarra de izquierda), a coalition allied to EE.
^c The results correspond to those for the Navarrese foral Alliance (Alianza foral Navarra)
^dPSP merged with the PSOE in 1978.
^eEE merged with the PSOE in 1991.
^fThe results correspond to those for the Communist Party of Spain (Partido Comunista de España or PCE)
^gThe results from 1986 onwards are for the United Left coalition. The Carlist party was a founding member but left the coalition in 1987.
^hThe results are those for the Navarrese People's Union (UPN).
ⁱThe results are for the electoral coalition between the Popular Alliance (AP), the UPN and the Democratic popular party (PDP).
^jThe results are for the Popular coalition (coalicion popular) an electoral coalition between the Popular Alliance (AP), the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal - PL) and the UPN
^kEA fought the 1993 in coalition with Euzkal Ezkerra which had been formed by members of Euzkadika Ezkerra who had disagreed with the merger with the PSOE.
^mThe results correspond to those for Nafarroa Bai, an electoral coalition between the PNV, EA and Aralar.
ⁿThis party was formed following a split in the UPN.
^pThe CDS merged with the PP in 2006.
^qThe results correspond to those for Amaiur, an electoral alliance which also includes Aralar.
^rThe results correspond to those for Geroa Bai.

Results

The PP has usually stood here as part of an electoral coalition with a sister party, the Navarrese People's Union (UPN). This pact, created in 1991, came to an end in October 2008 when, following a dispute between the two parties over a parliamentary vote, the PP announced that it would contest future elections in its own right.^[5]

In the 2004 election the PP-UPN vote dropped by 12.3% here, their biggest drop in any district in that election. As a result they lost a seat to Nafarroa Bai, a new coalition which is made up of Eusko Alkartasuna (Basque Solidarity), Aralar, Batzarre and the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (Basque Nationalist Party) in order to advance a Basque nationalist agenda. The 2008 election produced no change in representation. At municipal level, the PP polls better than average in Pamplona where they received 40.8% of the vote against 29.6% for PSOE and 21.6% for Nafarroa Bai in the 2008 election.^[6]

2008 General Election

Summary of the 9 March 2008 Congress of Deputies election results in Navarra.

With the end of the UPN and PP alliance, Santiago Cervera announced in November 2008 that he would join the PP group in parliament^[7]

2004 General Election

Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Navarra.

2000 General Election

Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Navarra.

Source:^[8]

External links

• List of members by year
• Number of voters by Municipality in 2008

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Spanish Constitution
2. ↑ General features of Spanish electoral system
3. ↑ Navarra election result 2008
4. ↑ 2008 Spanish election
5. ↑ PP declares the end of electoral pact with UPN, El Mundo, 28 October 2008, accessed 27-03-09
6. ↑ 2008 results by municipality
7. ↑ Cervera joins PP, El Mundo, 3 November 2008
8. ↑ Interior ministry link to election results