Álava (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

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Location of Álava electoral district in Spain.

Álava is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciones) used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. The largest municipality is Vitoria-Gasteiz where approximately 75% of the electorate live. ^[1]

1 Boundaries and electoral system
2 Eligibility
3 Number of members
4 Summary of seats won 1977–2008
5 Results
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution ^[2] the boundaries must be the same as the province of Álava and under Article 140 this can only be altered with the approval of congress. Voting is on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The electoral system used is closed list proportional representation with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. 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.

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[edit] 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 successfully elected. Article 70 also makes active judges, magistrates, public defenders, serving military personnel, active police officers and members of constitutional and electoral tribunals ineligible. ^[3]

[edit] Number of members

Álava has returned four members at every election from 1977 onwards.

Under Spanish electoral law, all provinces are entitled to a minimum of 2 seats with a remaining 248 seats apportioned according to population. ^[4] 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 like Álava at the expense of larger provinces.

At the time of the 2008 General Election, Spain had 35,073,179 voters, giving an average of 100,209 voters per deputy. ^[5] In Álava the ratio was only 61,983. In contrast in the neighbouring district of Vizcaya the ratio was 119,589.

[edit] Summary of seats won 1977–2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	2	2	1
People's Party (PP)			1	1	1	1	2	2	1	1
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	2
Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Note: Seats shown for the PP include seats won by their predecessors, the Popular Alliance and Popular Coalition before 1989. They ran in an electoral alliance with the UCD in 1982.

[edit] Results

In common with the other Basque provinces, PSOE increased their vote share by over 10%, mainly at the expense of the PNV. This was their third biggest increase in vote share overall. The 2008 election had been overshadowed by the killing of a former PSOE councillor by ETA in the neighbouring province of Guipúzcoa.^[6]

[edit] 2008 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
**Summary of the 9 March 2008 Congress of Deputies election results in Álava.**
Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Seats
Socialist Party of the Basque Country – Euskadiko Ezkerra	69,180	40.76	2
People's Party (Partido Popular)	44,937	26.48	1
Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco)	31,844	18.76	1
United Left	7,093	4.18	0
Eusko Alkartasuna	5,285	3.11	0
Aralar	2,911	1.72	0
Union, Progress and Democracy	2,006	1.18	0
Others	2,798	1.65	0

Source: ^[7]

[edit] 2004 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
**Summary of the 14 March 2004 Congress of Deputies election results in Álava.**
Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Seats	Members elected
Socialist Party of the Basque Country – Euskadiko Ezkerra	56,137	30.79	2	Ramón Jáuregui, Pilar Unzalu
People's Party (Partido Popular)	48,992	26.87	1	María Martín
Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco)	47,090	25.83	1	Emilio Olabarría
United Left	14,181	7.78	0
Eusko Alkartasuna	7,838	4.30	0
Aralar	3,417	1.87	0
Others	5,476	3.30	0

Source: ^[8]

[edit] 2000 General Election

[discuss] – [edit]
**Summary of the 12 March 2000 Congress of Deputies election results in Álava.**
Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Seats	Members elected
People's Party (Partido Popular)	66,267	39.10	2	Rafael Cámara^†, Alfonso Alonso^#
Socialist Party of the Basque Country – Euskadiko Ezkerra	41,182	24.30	1	Ramón Jáuregui
Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco)	35,155	20.74	1	Juan Otxoa
United Left	9,509	5.61	0
Eusko Alkartasuna	7,985	4.71	0
Others	4,227	2.50	0