Cuenca (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Cuenca 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 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

Burgos (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Burgos is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is one of the nine electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castile and León. Burgos is the largest municipality accounting...

and Vizcaya

Vizcaya (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Biscay is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is situated in the Basque Country and the largest city is Bilbao where around 30% of the electorate of almost a million live...

where the electorate fell in 2004. This decline continued at the 2008 election.

Cuenca

Cuenca, Spain

-History:When the Iberian peninsula was part of the Roman Empire there were several important settlements in the province, such as Segóbriga, Ercávica and Gran Valeria...

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
the boundaries must be the same as the province of Cuenca

Cuenca (province)

Cuenca is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha.-Guide to the area:Located in a natural setting of beauty, the Old Town of Cuenca occupies a superb site between two river gorges. Famous are its 15th Century "hanging houses" , that appear...

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

Cuenca initially elected four members at 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...

however this was reduced to three members for the 1986 General Election

Spanish general election, 1986

General elections were held in Spain on 23 June 1986. In this election, the Communist Party of Spain merged with other minor left parties to form the coalition Izquierda Unida; in Catalonia they ran as the Catalan Left Union. Similarly, the People's Alliance merged with two other conservative...

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. 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 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	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...	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
Popular Alliance / 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...			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 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)	22.5	31.7	45.2	45.3	45.9	43.6	42.4	41.2	45.4	45.2
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)	8.2	6.1	32.0	39.0	39.0	47.0	50.2	53.4	49.7	49.8
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)	6.3	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
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...

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" valign=top|1,011
|align="right" valign=top|0.76
|align="right" valign=top|0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |1,161
|align="right" |0.90
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

Source:

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

United Left (Spain)

|align="right" |3,258
|align="right" |2.44
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |1,119
|align="right" |0.90
|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...

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" |3,823
|align="right" |2.93
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |1,678
|align="right" |1.30
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

External links

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