Albacete (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Albacete is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciones) used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the five electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castilla La Mancha. Albacete is the largest town accounting for almost half the electorate and there are no other municipalities with electorates over 25,000.

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 Albacete 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

Albacete has returned four members at every election since the restoration of democracy.

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 has been to overrepreseent smaller provinces like Albacete at the expense of larger provinces. Alabcete had a ratio of 74,695 voters per deputy in 2004 [ [http://electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=02 Albacete election result 2004] ] a figure below the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004 2004 Spanish election] ] .

ummary of seats won 1977–2008

Generally Alabacete has been balanced with the PSOE winning two seats and the main party of the centre right winning two. In the 1980s however, the PSOE won three seats leaving the Popular Party and predecessors with just one seat.

=2004 General Election=

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Albacete.
-!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" |110,338
align="right" |46.95
align="right" |2
align="left" | Héctor Esteve, José González Moraga
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |108,715
align="right" |46.26
align="right" |2
align="left" | María López Rodríguez, Siro Torres
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |9,145
align="right" |3.89
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |2,453
align="right" |1.00
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 Albacete.
-!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" |113,406
align="right" |51.19
align="right" |2
align="left" | Héctor Esteve, Margarita Mariscal
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |91,270
align="right" |41.20
align="right" |2
align="left" | Manuel Aguilar^{^}, Matilde Valentín^#
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |11,062
align="right" |4.99
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |2,317
align="right" |1.00
align="right" |0
align="right"
-

*^{^}Aguilar was replaced by Jesús Perea on 27th June 2000.
*^#Valentín was replaced by Juan Solera on 17th 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/elec2000/00mun02.htm Number of voters by Municipality]

References