Seville (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Location of Sevilla electoral district in Spain.

Seville (Spanish: Sevilla) 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 was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is the fourth largest district in terms of electorate. The largest municipality by far is Seville with 547,000 voters out of the total electorate of 1,469,000^[1] The next largest municipalities were Dos Hermanas (91,000), Alcalá de Guadaíra (52,000), Utrera (38,000) and Écija (30,000). In the last two General Elections, the district has produced the highest vote share for Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the current governing party, of all 52 districts.

Boundaries and electoral system

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Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution, the boundaries of the electoral district must be the same as the province of Seville and, under Article 140, this can only be altered with the approval of congress.^[2]

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% of the total vote (which includes votes "en blanco" i.e. for none of the above) can be considered. 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 Sevilla, 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 both chambers of the Cortes or 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

In the general elections from 1977 until 1993 Sevilla returned 12 members. For the 1996 and 2000 elections it returned 13 members. At the most recent General Election in 2004 it lost a seat and returned to its former representation of 12 members.

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 law has been to over-represent smaller provinces at the expense of larger provinces like Sevilla.

In 2008 Spain had 35,073,179 voters giving an average of 100,209 voters per deputy.^[8] In Sevilla the ratio was 122,423.^[9] In contrast the ratio was 38,071 and 38,685 respectively in the smallest provinces of Teruel ^[10] and Soria.^[11]

Summary of seats won 1977-2008

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 1977-2008

Note:Figures for the Andalusian party in 2008 are those for the Andalusian Coalition, which they were part of.

Results

The PSOE has topped the poll at every election since the restoration of democracy in 1977. IU lost their solitary seat in 2004, the first time that they failed to win a seat in the district.

In the largest municipalities PSOE led the PP by 60% to 28% in Dos Hermanas and Alcalá de Guadaíra and by 63% to 27% in Utrera. PSOE had a narrower lead over the PP in Sevilla (52.0% against 38.2%) and Ecija (53% against 37%).

2008 General Election

Summary of the 11 March 2008 Congress of Deputies election results in Sevilla.

Turnout=73.8%

2004 General Election

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

Turnout=77.1%

2000 General Election

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

Turnout=69.7%

1996 General Election

Summary of the 3 March 1996 Congress of Deputies election results in Sevilla.

Turnout=79.7%

^*In October 1997, Morenos was replaced by Milagros Frías Navarrete

^#In April 1998, Rueda was replaced by José Navarro Tornay

Source:^[12]

External links

• List of members by year

References

1. ↑ Number of voters by Municipality in 2008
2. 1 2 "The Spanish Constitution of 1978". Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
3. 1 2 3 "Law governing electoral procedures". Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
4. 1 2 "OSCE observers task force report on 2008 Spanish election" (PDF). Organisation for security and cooperation in Europe OSCE. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
5. ↑ "OSCE observers task force report on 2004 Spanish election" (PDF). Organisation for security and cooperation in Europe, OSCE. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
6. ↑ "Law regarding registration of political parties". Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
7. ↑ General features of Spanish electoral system
8. ↑ 2008 Spanish election
9. ↑ Sevilla 2008 election results
10. ↑ Teruel 2008 result
11. ↑ Soria 2008 result
12. ↑ Interior ministry link to election results