León (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

León is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciones) used for the 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. Notable former deputies include the current Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution [ [http://www.mir.es/DGPI/Normativa/Normativa_Estatal/Constitucion_Espanola/constitucion_espanola.html Spanish Constitution] ] the boundaries must be the same as the province of León 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.

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 successfully elected. Article 70 also makes active judges, magistrates, public defenders, serving military personnel, active police officers and members of constitutional and electoral tribunals ineligible. [ [http://www.mir.es/DGPI/Normativa/Normativa_Estatal/Constitucion_Espanola/constitucion_espanola.html Spanish Constitution] ]

Number of members

In the general elections of 1977, 1979 and 1982 León returned 6 members. That figure was reduced to 5 members for the 1986 election and it has stayed at that figure 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. [ [http://electionresources.org/es/index_en.html General features of Spanish electoral system] ] 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.

In 2004 Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004 2004 Spanish election] ] . In León the ratio was slightly below that at 90,556. [ [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=24 Leon 2004 election results] ]

ummary of seats won 1977–2008

Note: Seats shown for the PP include seats won by their predecessors, the Popular Alliance and Popular Coalition before 1989.

Results

=2004 General Election=

The PSOE narrowly outpolled the Popular Party in the 2004 Election. This was the first time since 1989 that this had happened in any of the nine electoral districts in the region of Castile and León.

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in León.
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top|Parties and alliances!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Seats!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Members elected
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |156,786
align="right" |46.78
align="right" |3
align="left" | José Antonio Alonso, Agustín Turiel, Rosario Velasco
-
align=left|People's Party (Partido Popular)
align="right" |150,688
align="right" |44.96
align="right" |2
align="left" | Juan Morano, Baudilio Tomé
-
align=left| Leonese People's Union (Union del Pueblo Leónes)
align="right" |13,406
align="right" |4.00
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |7,160
align="right" |2.14
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |2,064
align="right" |0.60
align="right" |0
align="right"
-

Source: [ [http://www.elecciones.mir.es/MIR/jsp/resultados/index.htm Interior ministry link to election results] ]

=2000 General Election=

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2000"'Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in León.
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top|Parties and alliances!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Seats!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Members elected
-
align=left|People's Party (Partido Popular)
align="right" |152,268
align="right" |48.75
align="right" |3
align="left" | Manuel Núñez,^† Juan Morano, Ángel Escuredo Franco
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |99,804
align="right" |31.95
align="right" |2
align="left" | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, María Valcarce
-
align=left| Leonese People's Union (Union del Pueblo Leónes)
align="right" |41,690
align="right" |13.35
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |11,316
align="right" |3.62
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |3,050
align="right" |0.90
align="right" |0
align="right"
-

^† Núñez was replaced by María García Arias on 13th November 2001.

External links

* [http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Diputados/DipCircuns List of members by year]
* [http://www.ine.es/censoe/elec2000/00mun24.htm Number of voters by Municipality]

References