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

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

Parliament, the Cortes Generales

Cortes Generales

The Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...

. It corresponds to the autonomous community of Cantabria

Cantabria

Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...

. Santander

Santander, Cantabria

The port city of Santander is the capital of the autonomous community and historical region of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain. Located east of Gijón and west of Bilbao, the city has a population of 183,446 .-History:...

is the largest municipality with 165,000 voters - 35% of the total electorate. Torrelavega

Torrelavega

Torrelavega is a municipality and important industrial and commercial hub in the single province Autonomous Community of Cantabria in northern Spain....

is the second largest municipality with almost 50,000 voters.

Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution
the boundaries must be the same as the autonomous community of Cantabria

Cantabria

and under Article 140 this can only be altered with the approval of congress. Voting is on the basis of universal suffrage

Universal suffrage

Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...

in a secret ballot

Secret ballot

The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of...

. The electoral system used is closed list

Closed list

Closed list describes the variant of party-list proportional representation where voters can only vote for political parties as a whole and thus have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected...

proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method

D'Hondt method

The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...

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

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. 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 a figure below the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy. 2004 Spanish election

Summary of seats won 1977–2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	3	3
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in... (PSOE)	1	2	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2
People's Party People's Party (Spain) The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship... (PP)	1		2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3

Seats shown for the Peoples Party include seats won by their predecessors the Popular Alliance in 1982 and the Popular Coalition in 1986.

Vote share summary 1977-2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	40.1	41.9	5.4
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in... (PSOE)	26.4	30.3	45.0	44.3	40.1	37.2	35.6	33.5	40.9	43.6
People's Party People's Party (Spain) The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship... (PP)	14.3	10.3	38.9	34.1	38.4	37.0	50.5	56.8	51.9	50.0
United Left United Left (Spain) The United Left is a political coalition that was organized in 1986 bringing together several political organisations opposed to Spain joining NATO. It was formed by a number of groups of leftists, greens, left-wing socialists and republicans, but was dominated by the Communist Party of Spain... (IU)	5.5	6.6	3.1	3.1	6.4	7.4	11.4	5.0	3.3	2.3
National Union National Union (Spain) The National Union was a right-wing electoral coalition which contested the 1979 election. It linked Blas Piñar's Fuerza Nueva francoist party with the Carlists.... (UN)		3.9	0.6
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)			5.1	13.0	9.7	1.5	0.4	0.2	0.2
Union for Cantabrian Progress (UPCA)						8.2
Cantabrian Regionalist Party (PRC)						5.7

Results

Cantabria produced the same outcome in terms of seats in 2004 as in 2000. This was the first time that the party that won the General Election had failed to win the most seats here.

Santander municipality produced a result very close to the community average in 2004, with PP leading PSOE by 14.5%. PSOE polled better in Torrelavega, leading PP by 7%.

In 2008, PP led PSOE by 13% in Santander, with PSOE extending their lead over the PP to 11.7% in Torrelavega.

2008 General Election
Spanish general election, 2008
Legislative elections for the Spanish Cortes Generales were held on March 9, 2008. The elections were for 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, and the 208 directly elected seats in the upper house, the Senate, determining the Prime Minister of Spain...

People's Party (Spain)

The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

Elena Salgado

Elena Salgado Méndez is a Spanish politician currently serving as the First Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance of Spain, in the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero...

|-
|align=left|United Left

United Left (Spain)

The United Left is a political coalition that was organized in 1986 bringing together several political organisations opposed to Spain joining NATO. It was formed by a number of groups of leftists, greens, left-wing socialists and republicans, but was dominated by the Communist Party of Spain...

Union, Progress and Democracy

Union, Progress and Democracy is a Spanish political party founded in September 2007.It is a progressivist party, between social democracy and social liberalism. One of its goals is to build a federal system for Spain and European Union, with clear responsibilities distributed among local...

|align="right" |5,094
|align="right" |1.38
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |5,634
|align="right" |1.50
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

2004 General Election

Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results

Spanish legislative election, 2004

Legislative elections were held in Spain on 14 March 2004. At stake were all 350 seats in the lower house of the Cortes Generales, the Congress of Deputies, and 208 seats in upper house, the Senate. The governing People's Party was led into the campaign by Mariano Rajoy, successor to outgoing...

People's Party (Spain)

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba is a Spanish politician and a leading figure in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He served in the government of Spain as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993 and as Minister of the Interior from 2006 to 2011; in addition, he was First Deputy Prime Minister from...

|-
|align=left|United Left

United Left (Spain)

|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
Spanish general election, 2000
Legislative elections were held in Spain on 12 March 2000. The incumbent People's Party of Prime Minister José María Aznar was elected to a second term in office, converting its plurality of seats in the Congress of Deputies into a majority, and increasing its lead over the opposition Spanish...

Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results

Spanish legislative election, 2004

People's Party (Spain)

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

United Left (Spain)

|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
Spanish general election, 1996
General elections were held in Spain on March 3, 1996. The Prime Minister Felipe González of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party lost the elections to Partido Popular and their leader José María Aznar....

People's Party (Spain)

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

United Left (Spain)

|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:

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Boundaries and electoral system

Eligibility

Number of members

Summary of seats won 1977–2008

Vote share summary 1977-2008

Results

2004 General Election

1996 General ElectionSpanish general election, 1996General elections were held in Spain on March 3, 1996. The Prime Minister Felipe González of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party lost the elections to Partido Popular and their leader José María Aznar....

External links

1996 General Election
Spanish general election, 1996
General elections were held in Spain on March 3, 1996. The Prime Minister Felipe González of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party lost the elections to Partido Popular and their leader José María Aznar....