La Rioja (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

La Rioja 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...

. Logroño

Logroño

Logroño is a city in northern Spain, on the Ebro River. It is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja, formerly known as La Rioja Province.The population of Logroño in 2008 was 153,736 and a metropolitan population of nearly 197,000 inhabitants...

is the largest town accounting for nearly half the electorate. Calahorra

Calahorra

Calahorra, , La Rioja, Spain is a municipality in the comarca of Rioja Baja, near the border with Navarre on the right bank of the Ebro. During ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as Calagurris.-Location:...

(16,000 voters at the time of the 2008 election) and Arnedo

Arnedo

Arnedo is the third largest town in La Rioja, Spain. It is located near Calahorra, and has a population of about 14,500 people.Its economy is based on the shoe industry.-History:The area of Arnedo has been inhabited as early as the Neolithic Age...

(10,400 voters) were the only other municipalities with electorates over 10,000. The constituency, like the province, was originally called Logroño but this was changed in 1980.La Rioja name change Although the 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) has usually outpolled the 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), the representation has been stable with each party winning two of the district's four seats in each election from 1982 onwards. The sole exception was at the 2000 election, when the PP gained a third seat.

Boundaries and electoral system

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

La Rioja (Spain)

La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province of northern Spain. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nájera.-History:...

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

La Rioja has returned four members at every election since the restoration of democracy.

Under Spanish electoral law, all provinces are entitled to a minimum of two 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-represeent smaller provinces like La Rioja at the expense of larger provinces. La Rioja had a ratio of 58,694 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)	2	3
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... (PP)	1		2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2
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	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2

Vote share summary 1977-2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	41.4	48.0	7.4
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)	26.3	29.1	43.5	43.9	39.7	37.6	36.7	34.9	44.0	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)	14.5	13.9	41.5	39.2	41.1	46.3	49.4	54.1	49.9	49.5
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)	2.8	3.6	1.6	2.0	6.4	7.0	8.7	4.0	2.8	1.9
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)			3.7	10.1	7.2	2.1	0.3	0.1	0.2
Riojan Party Riojan Party The Riojan Party is a Spanish political party operating in the autonomous community of La Rioja. The party was formed as the Progressive Riojan Party on 6 December 1982 with the stated aim of occupying the progressive centre in La Rioja. Initially the party was led by Luis Javier Rodriguez Moroy,... (PR)						4.4	3.4	3.6		1.5

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)

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

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...

Riojan Party

The Riojan Party is a Spanish political party operating in the autonomous community of La Rioja. The party was formed as the Progressive Riojan Party on 6 December 1982 with the stated aim of occupying the progressive centre in La Rioja. Initially the party was led by Luis Javier Rodriguez Moroy,...

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|2,405
|align="right" valign=top|1.28
|align="right" valign=top|0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |2,372
|align="right" |1.00
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

2004 General Election

At the 2004 election, the PSOE regained the seat that they had lost to the PP four years earlier. Results in the largest town of Logroño were close to the community average. In the 2004 election for example, the PP polled 47.88% against 44.58% for the PSOE.

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" |5,115
|align="right" |2.76
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |2,326
|align="right" |1.30
|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)

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

United Left (Spain)

Riojan Party

(Partido Riojano)
|align="right" |6,155
|align="right" |3.63
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |2,464
|align="right" |1.50
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

External links

List of members by year

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