León (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

León is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the 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...

. Notable former deputies include the current Prime Minister of Spain

Prime Minister of Spain

The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...

Boundaries and electoral system

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

León (province)

León is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter....

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.

León

León, Spain

León is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...

is the largest city with 108,000 voters, just over one-quarter of the total electorate of 414,000 on 1 May 2008, with the next largest municipalities being Ponferrada

Ponferrada

Ponferrada is a city in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. It lies on the Sil River, a tributary of the river Miño, in the El Bierzo valley, completely surrounded by mountains. It is the last major town along the French route of the Way of St. James before it reaches its destination...

(54,000 voters), San Andrés del Rabanedo

San Andrés del Rabanedo

San Andrés del Rabanedo is a municipality located in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2007 census , the city has a population of 33,056 inhabitants....

(24,000) and Villaquilambre

Villaquilambre

Villaquilambre is a municipality located in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2007 census , the municipality has a population of 15,597 inhabitants....

(12,000). There were no other municipalities with more than 10,000 voters.

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

In the general elections of 1977

Spanish general election, 1977

, 1979

Spanish general election, 1979

General elections were held in Spain on 1 March 1979.-References:* *...

and 1982

Spanish general election, 1982

General elections were held in Spain on 28 October 1982.PSOE and PSC presented two different lists of candidates: with the PSOE contesting most of Spain and the PSC only standing in Catalonia...

León returned 6 members. That figure was reduced to 5 members for the 1986 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 it has stayed 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 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 León the ratio was slightly below that at 90,556.

Summary of seats won 1977–2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	4	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	2	3	3	3	2	2	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		2	2	2	3	3	3	2	2

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

Vote share summary 1977-2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	50.9	50.1	15.5
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)	24.0	27.8	44.7	45.2	39.9	40.4	37.9	31.2	46.8	50.1
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)	12.3	11.4	31.7	34.2	38.4	44.2	48.7	48.9	45.0	43.3
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)	4.6	5.9	2.0	2.6	6.3	6.7	7.7	3.6	2.1	2.1
Popular Socialist Party Popular Socialist Party (Spain) The People's Socialist Party was a Spanish political party.The origins of the party dated back to 1954 when the University professor, Enrique Tierno Galván published various academic studies of a Marxist character. In 1965, working together with Raúl Morodo, he formed the Castillian Socialist... (PSP)	3.4
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)			2.7	12.4	10.1	2.4	0.1	0.1	0.1
Leonese People's Union Leonese People's Union The Leonese People's Union is a regional political party in Castilla y León, Spain. UPL strives to establish a separate autonomous community for the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca , now in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León.UPL was founded in 1986 by a group of people... (UPL)						3.7	3.6	13.4	4.0	1.4

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...

The PSOE obtained their best ever result in the district in 2008, polling an absolute majority for the first time. This had last been achieved by the UCD in the 1979 election. The city of León itself produced a result close to the district average with the PSOE polling 48.3% against 44.4% for the PP. In Ponferrada, PSOE led PP by 51.2% to 42.3%

Summary of the 11 March 2008 Congress of Deputies

Spanish Congress of Deputies

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...

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...

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...

Leonese People's Union

The Leonese People's Union is a regional political party in Castilla y León, Spain. UPL strives to establish a separate autonomous community for the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca , now in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León.UPL was founded in 1986 by a group of people...

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|2,532
|align="right" valign=top|0.76
|align="right" valign=top|0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |4,041
|align="right" |1.20
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

2004 General Election

The PSOE narrowly outpolled the Popular Party in the 2004 Election. This was the first time since 1989 that this had happened in any of the nine electoral districts in the region of Castile and León.

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)

Baudilio Tomé Muguruza

Baudilio Tomé Muguruza is a Spanish politician who belongs to the main opposition People's Party .Married, with three children, he holds a degree in Economic and Business Sciences and a Masters in Law and International fiscal issues. After working as a state auditor he was appointed Secretary of...

|-
|align=left| Leonese People's Union

Leonese People's Union

United Left (Spain)

|align="right" |7,160
|align="right" |2.14
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |2,064
|align="right" |0.60
|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

Spanish Congress of Deputies

People's Party (Spain)

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

United Left (Spain)

|align="right" |11,316
|align="right" |3.62
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |3,050
|align="right" |0.90
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

^† Núñez was replaced by María García Arias on 13 November 2001.

Source:

External links

List of members by year

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