- Zaragoza (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Zaragoza 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 three electoral districts which correspond to the provinces ofAragon .Zaragoza is by far the largest municipality with over 500,000 voters (70% of the total electorate.) There are no other municipalities with electorates over 15,000. Like its Aragonese neighbour Teruel, Zaragoza has been a political bellwether as the party that has won most seats in the district has gone on to form the government.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 Zaragoza and under Article 140 this can only be altered with the approval of congress. Voting is on the basis of
universal suffrage in asecret ballot . The electoral system used isclosed list proportional representation with seats allocated using theD'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
From the 1977 General Election onwards Zaragoza returned eight members. At the 1989 General Election it lost a seat and has returned seven members since then.
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 at the expense of larger provinces. Zaragoza had a ratio of 103,831 voters per deputy in 2004, [ [http://electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=50 Zaragoza election result 2004] ] a figure slightly above the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy but far ahead of the ratio of 38,714 voters per deputy in Teruel [ [http://electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=44 Teruel election result 2004] ]
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. They ran in an electoral alliance with the Aragonese Party (Partido Aragonés) in 1982 and 1996. The Aragonese party did not exist in 1977 and the candidate who was elected for them in 1979 was elected as an Independent Aragonese Centre Candidate {Candidatura Aragonesa Independiente de centro (CAIC) } in 1977.
Results
The election saw PP vote drop by 12.1%, this was the third biggest drop overall in the PP vote in any district. The PSOE vote grew by 11.1%. Consequently the swing from PP to PSOE was 11.6% - the largest swing of the election between the two main parties.
electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Zaragoza.
-!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" |224,776
align="right" |40.26
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left|People's Party (Partido Popular)
align="right" |198,480
align="right" |35.55
align="right" |3
align="left" |Luisa Fernanda Rudi Ubeda
-
align=left| Aragonese Council (Chunta Aragonesista)
align="right" |81,160
align="right" |14.54
align="right" |1
align="left" |José Antonio Labordeta
-
align=left|Aragonese Party (Partido Aragonés)
align="right" |22,758
align="right" |4.08
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|United Left-Greens
align="right" |15,672
align="right" |2.81
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |3,693
align="right" |0.70
align="right" |0
align="right"
-Source: [ [http://www.elecciones.mir.es/MIR/jsp/resultados/index.htm Interior ministry link to election results] ]
electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2000"'Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Teruel.
-!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" |244,403
align="right" |47.63
align="right" |4
align="left" |Luisa Fernanda Rudi Ubeda
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |149,672
align="right" |29.17
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left| Aragonese Council (Chunta Aragonesista)
align="right" |65,599
align="right" |12.78
align="right" |1
align="left" |José Antonio Labordeta
-
align=left|Aragonese Party (Partido Aragonés)
align="right" |22,382
align="right" |4.36
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |19,059
align="right" |3.71
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |4,906
align="right" |1.00
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/elec2000/00mun50.htm Number of voters by Municipality]References
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