Ávila (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Ávila 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 nine electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castile and León. Ávila is the largest town with only 43,000 voters out of the total electorate of nearly 144,000. There are no other municipalities with electorates over 10,000.

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 Ávila 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

Ávila has returned three 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 Ávila at the expense of larger provinces. Ávila had a ratio of 47,989 voters per deputy in 2008 [ [http://electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2008&province=05 Ávila election result 2008] ] a figure below the Spanish average of 100,209 voters per deputy [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2008 2008 Spanish election] ] and the third smallest ratio of all after Teruel and
Soria.

ummary of seats won 1977–2008

=2004 General Election=

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Ávila.
-!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" |67,622
align="right" |59.54
align="right" |2
align="left" | Ángel Acebes, Sebastián González Vázquez
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |38,640
align="right" |34.02
align="right" |1
align="left" | Pedro Muñoz González
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |3,598
align="right" |3.17
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |1,725
align="right" |1.50
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 Ávila.
-!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" |70,058
align="right" |65.31
align="right" |2
align="left" | Ángel Acebes, Feliciano Blázquez
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |28,596
align="right" |26.66
align="right" |1
align="left" | Jerónimo Nieto
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |5,117
align="right" |4.77
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |1,665
align="right" |1.60
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/elec2000/00mun05.htm Number of voters by Municipality]

References