Las Palmas (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Las Palmas is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciónes) 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 was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election

Spanish general election, 1977

The Spanish general election of 1977 took place on 15 June 1977. It was the first election since the death of Francisco Franco.Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The elections were held using closed list proportional representation in 52 electoral districts...

and covers the Eastern part of the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria commonly known as Las Palmas is the political capital, jointly with Santa Cruz, the most populous city in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and the ninth largest city in Spain, with a population of 383,308 in 2010. Nearly half of the people of the island...

is the largest municipality, accounting for over 40% of the electorate

Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution
the boundaries must be the same as the province of Las Palmas

Las Palmas (province)

The Province of Las Palmas is a province of Spain, consisting of the eastern part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands.-Composition:...

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

Las Palmas initially returned six members. This was increased to seven members for the 1986 election. It was increased to its current figure of eight members at the 2004 election.

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 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 2004 Spanish election. Las Palmas was close to the average with the ratio being 92,020.

Summary of seats won 1977–2004

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	5	4	1
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	1	3	3	3	2	2	1	3	4
Canarian Peoples Union (Unión del Pueblo Canario) (UPC)		1
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)			2	2	2	3	3	4	4	4
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)				2	2
Canarian Coalition Canarian Coalition The Canarian Coalition , abbreviated to CC, is a Canarian nationalist and liberal political party in the Canary Islands of Spain. The party aim is for greater autonomy for the islands, but short of independence. The party has governed the Canary Islands since 1993... (CC)						2	2	2	1

Note: Seats shown for the PP include seats won by their predecessors, the Popular Alliance and Popular Coalition before 1989.

The Canarian Peoples Union was a coalition of various local left wing or regionalist parties. After its dissolution in the 1980s some of these parties became part of either the PSOE or the Canarian Coalition.

Results

The PSOE had one of their best performances of the entire election here in 2004, gaining two seats and increasing their vote by 15.5%. This was their third biggest percentage increase anywhere. Only Ceuta

Ceuta (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Ceuta is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

and Melilla

Melilla (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Melilla is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales...

registered bigger increases and the results there were affected by the absence of third party candidates in 2004 who had polled well in 2000.

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)

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...

Canarian Coalition

The Canarian Coalition , abbreviated to CC, is a Canarian nationalist and liberal political party in the Canary Islands of Spain. The party aim is for greater autonomy for the islands, but short of independence. The party has governed the Canary Islands since 1993...

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...

|align="right" |9,876
|align="right" |1.99
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |12,871
|align="right" |2.60
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

Source:

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...

People's Party (Spain)

Canarian Coalition

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

United Left (Spain)

|align="right" |10,941
|align="right" |2.49
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |19,202
|align="right" |4.40
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

External links

List of members by year

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