Granada (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Granada is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciónes) 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. Granada is the largest city with an electorate of over 217,000 in the year 2000. There are no other municipalities with more than 50,000 voters. [ [http://www.ine.es/censoe/elec2000/00mun18.htm Elecciones marzo 2000. Número de electores por municipio ] ]

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 Málaga 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

Granada has returned seven members at every election from 1977 onwards.

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 Granada the ratio was very close to that being 99,186. [ [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=18 Granada 2004 election results] ]

Results

In the most recent election the Popular Party (PP) outpolled the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the city of Granada by 47.0% to 42.0% with PSOE polling best overall due to their strength in the smaller settlements. In Loja the fifth largest municipality for example PSOE polled 61.0% against 31.7% for the PP. The second largest settlement of Motril produced a result closer to the provincial average as PSOE took 50.6% of the vote against 37.2% for PP. [ [http://www.elecciones.mir.es/MIR/jsp/resultados/index.htm Granada results by municipalities] ]

=2004 General Election=

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Granada.
-!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" |268,870
align="right" |51.47
align="right" |4
align="left" |
-
align=left|People's Party (Partido Popular)
align="right" |193,484
align="right" |37.04
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |31,227
align="right" |5.98
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Andalusian Party (Partido Andalucista)
align="right" valign=top|14,030
align="right" valign=top|2.69
align="right" valign=top|0
align="left"
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |6,535
align="right" |1.30
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 Granada.
-!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" |213,019
align="right" |44.36
align="right" |4
align="left" |
-
align=left|People's Party (Partido Popular)
align="right" |204,875
align="right" |42.66
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |34,809
align="right" |7.25
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Andalusian Party (Partido Andalucista)
align="right" valign=top|16,594
align="right" valign=top|3.46
align="right" valign=top|0
align="left"
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |4,951
align="right" |1.00
align="right" |0
align="right"
-

External links

* [http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Diputados/DipCircuns List of members by year]
* [http://www.ine.es/censoe/elec2000/00mun18.htm Number of voters by Municipality]

References