Almería (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Almeria is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciones) used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies

Spanish Congress of Deputies

The Spanish Congress of Deputies is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. It has 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation in constituencies matching the Spanish provinces using the D'Hondt method. Deputies serve four-year terms...

- 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...

. It is one of eight districts which correspond to the provinces of Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

. Almería

Almería

Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...

is the only town with over 100,000 voters accounting for nearly a third of the electorate. The next largest municipalities are El Ejido

El Ejido

-External links: - Sistema de Información Multiterritorial de Andalucía...

and Roquetas de Mar

Roquetas de Mar

-Gallery:...

Boundaries and electoral system

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

Almería (province)

-History:The rich customs and Fiestas of the denizens retain links deep into the past, unto the Moors, the Romans, the Greeks, and the Phoenicians.During the taifa era, it was ruled by the Moor Banu al-Amiri from 1012 to 1038, briefly annexed by Valencia , then given by Zaragoza to the Banu Sumadih...

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

From the 1977

Spanish general election, 1977

until 2004 Almería returned five members. This figure was increased to six members for the 2008 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. In Almería the ratio was below that at 85,462.

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)	2	2	4	4	4	3	3	2	3	3
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	1	1	2	2	3	2	3

Seats shown for the People's Party include seats won by their predecessors, the Popular Alliance and the Popular Coalition before 1989.

Vote share summary 1977-2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	49.8	44.3	11.3
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)	27.4	37.1	58.2	53.1	52.7	47.9	47.1	48.7	47.7	42.0
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)	8.1	4.4	23.4	25.9	23.4	37.3	40.2	42.3	44.3	49.9
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)	6.5	7.4	2.7	5.2	8.5	9.5	9.9	4.2	3.1	2.7
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)			1.8	9.0	8.9	1.4	0.1	0.1	0.1

2008 General Election

Almería saw the biggest swing

Swing (politics)

An electoral swing analysis shows the extent of change in voter support from one election to another. It is an indicator of voter support for individual candidates or political parties, or voter preference between two or more candidates or parties...

of the entire election. The PSOE vote drop was the largest of any district and the PP's vote increase was only larger in the neighbouring district of Malaga. This resulted in the PP receiving their best ever result.

Summary of the 9 March 2008 Congress of Deputies

Spanish Congress of Deputies

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...

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...

(Unión, Progreso y Democracia)
|align="right" valign=top|1,820
|align="right" valign=top|0.6
|align="right" valign=top|0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |4,992
|align="right" |1.5
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

2004 General Election

The PP led the PSOE in all the three largest municipalities, leading by 3% in Almería, 7% in Roquetas de Mar and 15% in El Ejido. Despite this, the PSOE regained the seat that they had lost to the PP four years earlier.

Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies

Spanish 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...

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

People's Party (Spain)

United Left (Spain)

(Izquierda Unida)
|align="right" |9,522
|align="right" |3.11
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Andalusian Party (Partido Andalucista)
|align="right" valign=top|7,190
|align="right" valign=top|2.35
|align="right" valign=top|0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |3,625
|align="right" |1.20
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

Source:

2000 General Election

Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies

Spanish Congress of Deputies

People's Party (Spain)

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

United Left (Spain)

|align="right" |11,749
|align="right" |4.22
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Andalusian Party (Partido Andalucista)
|align="right" valign=top|6,569
|align="right" valign=top|2.36
|align="right" valign=top|0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |2,997
|align="right" |1.10
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

External links

List of members by year

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