- Badajoz (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Badajoz 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. Located inExtremadura in south west Spain, it is the largest electoral district in Congress in terms of geographical area.Badajoz is the largest town with 112,000 voters out of the total electorate of just over 537,000. Mérida (43,000 voters),Don Benito (27,000) voters andAlmendralejo (23,000) voters are the next largest municipalities. [ [http://www.ine.es/censoe/censo_cerrado/cermun_08.xls Number of voters by Municipality 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 Badajoz 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
In the general elections of 1977, 1979 and 1982 Badajoz returned 7 members. That figure was reduced to 6 members for the 1986 election and it has stayed at that figure 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 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 Badajoz the ratio was slightly below that at 89,775. [ [http://www.electionresources.org/es/congress.php?election=2004&province=06 Badajoz 2004 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 Badajoz.
-!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" |219,172
align="right" |51.66
align="right" |3
align="left" |Francisco Fernández Marugán ,José Luis Galache ,María Pérez
-
align=left|People's Party (Partido Popular)
align="right" |176,699
align="right" |41.65
align="right" |3
align="left" |Germán López ,Carmen Matador ,María Sánchez
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |16,589
align="right" |3.90
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Los Verdes
align="right" valign=top|1,886
align="right" valign=top|0.44
align="right" valign=top|0
align="left"
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |4,296
align="right" |1.45
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 Badajoz.
-!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" |187,273
align="right" |47.00
align="right" |3
align="left" |Juan Barrero †, Carmen Matador,Francisco Zambrano
-
align=left|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
align="right" |178,396
align="right" |44.77
align="right" |3
align="left" |Francisco Amarillo , Francisco Fernández Marugán, María Pérez
-
align=left| United Left
align="right" |21,402
align="right" |5.37
align="right" |0
align="left" |
-
align=left|Los Verdes
align="right" valign=top|1,874
align="right" valign=top|0.47
align="right" valign=top|0
align="left"
-
align=left| United Extramadura (Extremadura Unida)
align="right" valign=top|1,723
align="right" valign=top|0.44
align="right" valign=top|0
align="left"
-
align=left|Others
align="right" |4,296
align="right" |0.74
align="right" |0
align="right"
-†Barrero was replaced by Germán López on 16th October 2000.
External links
* [http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Diputados/DipCircuns List of members by year]
* [http://www.ine.es/censoe/elec2000/00mun06.htm Number of voters by Municipality]References
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