Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Santa Cruz de Tenerife 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 and covers the Western part of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Cristóbal de La Laguna are the largest municipalities, both having over 100,000 voters. [ [http://www.ine.es/censoe/elec2000/00mun38.htm electorates by municipality] ]

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 Santa Cruz de Tenerife 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

Santa Cruz de Tenerife has usually returned seven members at every election from 1977 onwards, the exception being the 1986 election when it was reduced to six members.

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] ] . Santa Cruz de Tenerife was close to the average with the ratio being 103,112. [ [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=38 Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2004 election results] ]

Results

The PP topped the poll in the 2000 election. This was the first time that a party of the centre right had achieved this since the 1979 election. The PSOE regained top spot in 2004.

=2004 General Election=

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
-!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" |165,158
align="right" |35.01
align="right" |3
align="left" | Erasmo Armas, María Coello, Gloria Rivero
-
align=left|Canarian Coalition (Coalición Canaria)
align="right" valign=top|145,801
align="right" valign=top|30.91
align="right" valign=top|2
align="left" | Luis Mardones, Ana María Oramas
-
align=left|People's Party (Partido Popular)
align="right" |133,677
align="right" |28.34
align="right" |2
align="left" | Pablo Matos, Carlos Cabrera Matos
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |8,736
align="right" |1.85
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |14,004
align="right" |3.00
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 Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
-!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" |140,336
align="right" |34.98
align="right" |3
align="left" | Ofelia Reyes, Alfonso Soriano Benítez de Lugo, Gabriel Mato^†
-
align=left|Canarian Coalition (Coalición Canaria)
align="right" valign=top|135,186
align="right" valign=top|33.70
align="right" valign=top|2
align="left" | Luis Mardones, Paulino Rivero
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |105,668
align="right" |26.34
align="right" |2
align="left" | Felipe Hernández, José Segura,
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |9,273
align="right" |2.31
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |7,431
align="right" |1.90
align="right" |0
align="right"
-

Notes:-
*^†Mato was replaced by Raquel Pérez on 18th June 2003.

External links

* [http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Diputados/DipCircuns List of members by year]
* [http://www.ine.es/censoe/elec2000/00mun38.htm Number of voters by Municipality]

References