- Guadalajara (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Guadalajara 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 the sixth smallest district in terms of electorate. Nonetheless, the electorate grew by 10% between 2000 and 2004, a figure well above the Spanish average growth of 1.7%.It is one of the five electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of
Castilla La Mancha . Guadalajara is the largest municipality accounting for almost 40% of the electorate and there are no other municipalities with electorates over 15,000.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 Guadalajara 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
Guadalajara has returned three 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 Guadalajara at the expense of larger provinces. Guadalajara had a ratio of 50,368 voters per deputy in 2004 [ [http://electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=19 Guadalajara 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] ] and the fourth smallest ratio of all after Ávila, Segovia, Teruel and Soria.
ummary of seats won 1977–2008
Results
With the exception of 1982, when PSOE narrowly topped the poll, the parties of the centre right have topped the poll at every election from 1977 onwards. The movements in vote share in 2004 were all very close to the average with PP having their lead cut to a few percentage points. It is a key target for the PSOE in the coming election where they need to gain a seat in order to have an absolute majority.
electiontable|Spanish congress election, 2004"'Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Guadalajara.
-!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" |57,078
align="right" |47.58
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |52,915
align="right" |44.11
align="right" |1
align="left" |
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |5,310
align="right" |4.43
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |2,117
align="right" |1.80
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 Guadalajara.
-!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" |55,895
align="right" |54.39
align="right" |2
align="left" |
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |37,060
align="right" |36.06
align="right" |1
align="left" |
-
align=left|United Left
align="right" |6,000
align="right" |5.84
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |1,923
align="right" |1.90
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/elec2000/00mun19.htm Number of voters by Municipality]References
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