- Castellón (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Castellón 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 was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is one of three districts which correspond to the provinces of the autonomous community of Valencia.Castellón de la Plana is the largest town with just over a quarter of the electorate.Villarreal is the only other municipality with an electorate over 30,000. [ [http://www.ine.es/censoe/censo_cerrado/cermun_08.xls Number of voters by Municipality in 2008] ] The constituency produced a close result in 2004 although the People's Party (PP) increased their lead over theSpanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 2008.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 Castellón 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
Castellón has returned five members from the 1977 election onwards.
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 like Castellón at the expense of larger provinces.
In 2008 for example Spain had 35,073,179 voters giving an average of 100,209 voters per deputy. [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2008 2008 Spanish election] ] . In Castellón the ratio was below that at 82,217. [ [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2008&province=12 Castellón 2008 election results] ]
ummary of seats won 1977-2008
electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Castellón.
-!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" |142,462
align="right" |45.64
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |139,236
align="right" |44.60
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |10,332
align="right" |3.31
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Bloc Nacionalista Valencia -Esquerra Verda
align="right" valign=top|6,325
align="right" valign=top|2.03
align="right" valign=top|0
align="left"
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |8,804
align="right" |2.70
align="right" |0
align="right"
-electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2000"'Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Castellón.
-!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" |152,462
align="right" |53.79
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |100,177
align="right" |35.35
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |10,773
align="right" |3.80
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Bloc Nacionalista Valencia -Esquerra Verda
align="right" valign=top|6,678
align="right" valign=top|2.36
align="right" valign=top|0
align="left"
-
align=left|Valencian Union (Unió Valenciana)
align="right" valign=top|3,511
align="right" valign=top|1.24
align="right" valign=top|0
align="left"
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |6,073
align="right" |2.10
align="right" |0
align="right"
-source: [ [http://www-org.elecciones.mir.es/MIR/jsp/resultados/index.htm Interior ministry link to election results] ]
External links
* [http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Diputados/DipCircuns List of members by year]
References
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