Cantabria (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Cantabria 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 corresponds to the autonomous community of Cantabria. Santander is the largest municipality with 165,000 voters - 35% of the total electorate. Torrelavega is the second largest municipality with almost 50,000 voters.

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 Cantabria 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

Cantabria has returned five 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 at the expense of larger provinces. Cantabria had a ratio of 95,838 voters per deputy in 2004 [ [http://electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=39 Cantabria 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

=2004 General Election=

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Cantabria.
-!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" |190,383
align="right" |51.90
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |149,906
align="right" |40.87
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |12,146
align="right" |3.31
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |6,124
align="right" |1.70
align="right" |0
align="right"
-

=2000 General Election=

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2000"'Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Cantabria.
-!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" |189,442
align="right" |56.84
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |111,556
align="right" |33.47
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |16,714
align="right" |5.02
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |6,830
align="right" |2.00
align="right" |0
align="right"
-

=1996 General Election=

electiontable|Spanish congress election, 1996"'Summary of the 3 March 1996 Congress of Deputies election results in Cantabria.
-!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" |175,651
align="right" |50.47
align="right" |3
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |123,940
align="right" |35.61
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |39,541
align="right" |11.36
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |3,290
align="right" |0.90
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]
* [http://www.ine.es/censoe/censo_cerrado/cermun_08.xls Number of voters by Municipality in 2008]

References