A Coruña (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

A Coruña 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 is located in the Community of Galicia. A Coruña is the largest municipality and the only municipality with more than 100,000 voters. After that the largest towns are Ferrol and Santiago de Compostela.

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 A Coruña 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

A Coruña has returned nine members at every election from 1977 onwards, however it will lose a seat for the 2008 where it will elect eight members. [ [http://electionresources.org/panorama/ representation reduced] ]

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 like A Coruña.

In 2004 for example 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 A Coruña however the number of voters per deputy was above that at 117,082. [ [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=15 A Coruña 2004 result] ] . In contrast in the neighbouring district of Orense the ratio was only 82,173 [ [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=32 Orense 2004 result] ] .

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

PSOE had a good result here in 2004, gaining two seats, however in 2008 they lost a seat as a result of the reduction in the district's representation.

=2004 General Election=

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in A Coruña
-!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" |329,389
align="right" |44.59
align="right" |4
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |287,324
align="right" |38.90
align="right" |4
align="left" |
-
align=left|Galician Nationalist Bloc
align="right" |86,459
align="right" |11.70
align="right" |1
align="left"
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |14,125
align="right" |1.91
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |8,037
align="right" |1.10
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 A Coruña
-!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" |340,434
align="right" |51.94
align="right" |5
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |162,273
align="right" |24.76
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left|Galician Nationalist Bloc
align="right" |126,287
align="right" |19.27
align="right" |2
align="left"
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |9,321
align="right" |1.42
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |7,331
align="right" |1.10
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/elec2000/00mun15.htm Number of voters by Municipality]

References