- Almería (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Almeria is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciones) used for the
Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, theCortes Generales . It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is one of eight districts which correspond to the provinces ofAndalusia .Almería is the only town with over 100,000 voters accounting for nearly a third of the electorate. The next largest municipalities areEl Ejido andRoquetas de Mar . [ [http://www.ine.es/censoe/elec_grales_andalu08/grales_andalu08_tab13.xls electorates by municipality] ]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 Almería 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 until 2004 Almería returned five members. This figure was increased to six members for the 2008 election. [ [http://electionresources.org/panorama/ representation increased] ]
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 at the expense of larger provinces.
In 2004 Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004 2004 Spanish election] ] . In Almería the ratio was below that at 85,462. [ [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=04 Almería 2004 election results] ]
ummary of seats won 1977-2008
The PP led the PSOE in all the three largest municipalities, leading by 3% in Almería, 7% in Roquetas de Mar and 15% in El Ejido. Despite this, the PSOE regained the seat that they had lost to the PP four years earlier.
electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Almería.
-!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" |145,868
align="right" |47.69
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left|People's Party (Partido Popular)
align="right" |135,434
align="right" |44.28
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left| United Left (Izquierda Unida)
align="right" |9,522
align="right" |3.11
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Andalusian Party (Partido Andalucista)
align="right" valign=top|7,190
align="right" valign=top|2.35
align="right" valign=top|0
align="left"
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |3,625
align="right" |1.20
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 Almería.
-!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" |135,531
align="right" |48.67
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |117,685
align="right" |42.26
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |11,749
align="right" |4.22
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Andalusian Party (Partido Andalucista)
align="right" valign=top|6,569
align="right" valign=top|2.36
align="right" valign=top|0
align="left"
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |2,997
align="right" |1.10
align="right" |0
align="right"
-External links
* [http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Diputados/DipCircuns List of members by year]
References
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