Parliament of Cantabria
The Parliament of Cantabria is the legislative body of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria. The task of the Members of the Parliament is to represent the Cantabrian citizens. They are elected by, equal, free, direct, secret and universal suffrage.
Building
The building where the Parliament of Cantabria is placed is the old hospital of Saint Rafaael, in the High Street (old district) of Santander, Spain.
The hospital was built in 1791 as a charity hospital for poors and main hospital of Santander. It served during the Independence War and the disaster of the Cabo Machichaco. The hospital closed down in 1928, and in 1982, the regional assembly of Cantabria started the restoration proyect of the building, which ended in 1984 and won some awards.
Composition
The Parliament of Cantabria is composed of 39 deputees: 20 of the People´s Party (Spain), 12 of the Regionalist Party of Cantabria and 7 of the Spanish Socialist Worker´s Party.
| Parliamentarian groups | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Parties | Speaker | Leader | Seats |
| Grupo Parliamentario Popular (GPP) | People's Party | Eduardo Van den Eynde | Ignacio Diego (P) | 20 |
| Grupo Parliamentario Regionalista (GPR) | PRC | Rafael de la Sierra | Miguel Ángel Revilla | 12 |
| Grupo Parliamentario Socialista (GPS) | Spanish Socialist Workers' Party | Rosa Eva Díaz Tezanos | Lola Gorostiaga | 7 |
Transparence
The Parliament of Cantabria is well known for being the most transparent regional parliament is Spain (98,8%) .
All the students of Cantabria go at least one time to the parliament in a school trip, where they meet some deputees and usually the president of the parliament; and they are told about the history of the building, the working system of it and how they can participate in democracy. Also the sessions are retrasmited by the regional TV, Tele Bahía.
The parliament has a website: http://www.parlamento-cantabria.es/
See also
- List of Presidents of the Parliament of Cantabria