La Rioja (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

La Rioja 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. Logroño is the largest town accounting for nearly half the electorate. There are no other municipalities with electorates over 10,000. [http://www.ine.es/censoe/elec2000/00mun26.htm La Rioja municpal electorates] ] The constituency, like the province, was originally called Logroño but this was changed in 1980. [http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_13274.shtml La Rioja name change] ]

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 autonomous community of La Rioja 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

La Rioja 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 La Rioja at the expense of larger provinces. La Rioja had a ratio of 58,694 voters per deputy in 2004 [ [http://electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=26 La Rioja 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

Results

At the most recent election in 2004, the PSOE regained the seat that they had lost to the PP four years earlier. Results in the largest town of Logroño have been close to the community average. In the latest election for example, the PP polled 47.88% against 44.58% for the PSOE.

=2004 General Election=

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in La Rioja.
-!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" |92,441
align="right" |49.94
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |81,390
align="right" |43.97
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |5,115
align="right" |2.76
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |2,326
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 La Rioja.
-!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" |91,810
align="right" |54.10
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |59,171
align="right" |34.87
align="right" |1
align="left" |
-
align=left|United Left (Izquierda Unida)
align="right" |6,830
align="right" |4.02
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left| Riojan Party (Partido Riojano)
align="right" |6,155
align="right" |3.63
align="right" |0
align="right"
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |2,464
align="right" |1.50
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/elec2000/00mun26.htm Number of voters by Municipality]

References