Cuenca (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Location of Cuenca electoral district in Spain

Cuenca 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 one of the five electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castilla La Mancha. Cuenca's electorate fell between 1996 and 2000 and again between 2000 and 2004 - one of only three districts along with Burgos and Vizcaya where the electorate fell in 2004. This decline continued at the 2008 election.

Cuenca is the only municipality with more than 10,000 voters, although it still accounts for only 36,000 voters out of the total of 165,000.

Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution ^[1] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Cuenca 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.

Spain

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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 elected. Article 70 also makes active judges, magistrates, public defenders, serving military personnel, active police officers and members of constitutional and electoral tribunals ineligible. ^[1]

Number of members

Cuenca initially elected four members at the 1977 General Election however this was reduced to three members for the 1986 General Election and has remained 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. ^[2] 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 over represent smaller provinces like Cuenca at the expense of larger provinces. Cuenca had a ratio of 55,192 voters per deputy in 2004 ^[3] a figure below the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy ^[4]

Summary of seats won 1977–2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union	3	3
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
Popular Alliance / People's Party			2	1	1	2	2	2	2	2

Vote share summary 1977-2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	56.0	52.6	4.4
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	22.5	31.7	45.2	45.3	45.9	43.6	42.4	41.2	45.4	45.2
People's Party (PP)	8.2	6.1	32.0	39.0	39.0	47.0	50.2	53.4	49.7	49.8
United Left (IU)	6.3	8.2	3.2	2.5	4.3	5.1	5.6	2.9	2.4	2.4
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)			1.8	8.7	7.2	2.4	0.4	0.2	0.1

Results

Cuenca has generally favoured the parties of the right. The PSOE has only been able to top the poll here when they have won an absolute majority of seats. In the elections of 1993, 2004 and 2008 when PSOE minority administrations were elected, Cuenca backed the parties of the centre right.

The PP polled better in Cuenca municipality than the provincial average in 2004, enjoying a lead of 8.6% over the PSOE, above the average lead of 4.3%. It was also one of PP's better results in Spain as the drop in their vote of 3.7% was below their average drop (which was 6.8% across Spain). Relative to the 2000 general election, only five constituencies produced lower drops in vote share for the PP.

2008 General Election

e • d Summary of the 11 March 2008 Congress of Deputies election results in Cuenca.

Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Seats	Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular)	66,282	49.84	2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)	60,108	45.20	1
United Left	3,168	2.38	0
Union, Progress and Democracy	1,011	0.76	0
Others	1,161	0.90	0

Source: ^[5]

2004 General Election

e • d Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Cuenca.

Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Seats	Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular)	66,515	49.73	2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)	60,697	45.38	1
United Left	3,258	2.44	0
Others	1,119	0.90	0

Source: ^[5]

2000 General Election

e • d Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Cuenca.

Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Seats	Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular)	69,688	53.35	2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español)	53,762	41.16	1
United Left	3,823	2.93	0
Others	1,678	1.30	0

External links

• List of members by year
• Number of voters by Municipality

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Spanish Constitution
2. ^ General features of Spanish electoral system
3. ^ Cuenca election result 2004
4. ^ 2004 Spanish election
5. ^ ^{a b} Interior ministry link to election results