Sunday, May 27, 2007
Spain 2007 municipal and autonomic elections
(Esta entrada está disponible también en español.)
Spain holds local elections today throughout the entire country, as well as autonomic elections in thirteen of its seventeen communities (self-governing regions); links to sites carrying results of today's elections are available here.
Generally speaking, municipal council seats are allocated by the largest average method of proportional representation - the D'Hondt rule - among lists submitted by parties, federations, coalitions or electors' groups (agrupaciones de electores) that obtain at least five percent of the valid vote cast in a municipality, including blank ballots. As in elections to the Congress of Deputies, lists are closed and voters may not choose individual candidates in or alter the order of such lists.
Seats in the thirteen autonomic legislatures - which range from 33 in La Rioja to 120 in Madrid - are also distributed among closed lists according to the D'Hondt rule, although both the number of multi-member constituencies and the electoral thresholds vary from community to community. Among the communities voting today, five have a three percent constituency-level threshold (Aragon, Asturias, Castile-La Mancha, Castile-León and Navarre), while seven impose a five percent threshold, also at the constituency level (the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia, La Rioja and the Valencian Community). In the Canary Islands there are three alternative thresholds: six percent of the community vote, or thirty percent of the constituency vote, or first place in a constituency.
In most cases, the provinces within each community are the autonomic legislatures' electoral constituencies. Cantabria, Madrid, Navarre and La Rioja are composed of single provinces and elect their assemblies on a community-wide basis, but the legislatures of Asturias and Murcia, which are also single-province communities, are elected in three and five multi-member constituencies, respectively. Meanwhile, the Balearic and Canary Islands use island-based constituencies for their autonomic elections.
Local and autonomic elections are held every four years. However, in October 2003 there was a repeat autonomic election in Madrid, as it became impossible to form a government in the community following the election held in May of that year.
Spain holds local elections today throughout the entire country, as well as autonomic elections in thirteen of its seventeen communities (self-governing regions); links to sites carrying results of today's elections are available here.Generally speaking, municipal council seats are allocated by the largest average method of proportional representation - the D'Hondt rule - among lists submitted by parties, federations, coalitions or electors' groups (agrupaciones de electores) that obtain at least five percent of the valid vote cast in a municipality, including blank ballots. As in elections to the Congress of Deputies, lists are closed and voters may not choose individual candidates in or alter the order of such lists.
Seats in the thirteen autonomic legislatures - which range from 33 in La Rioja to 120 in Madrid - are also distributed among closed lists according to the D'Hondt rule, although both the number of multi-member constituencies and the electoral thresholds vary from community to community. Among the communities voting today, five have a three percent constituency-level threshold (Aragon, Asturias, Castile-La Mancha, Castile-León and Navarre), while seven impose a five percent threshold, also at the constituency level (the Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia, La Rioja and the Valencian Community). In the Canary Islands there are three alternative thresholds: six percent of the community vote, or thirty percent of the constituency vote, or first place in a constituency.
In most cases, the provinces within each community are the autonomic legislatures' electoral constituencies. Cantabria, Madrid, Navarre and La Rioja are composed of single provinces and elect their assemblies on a community-wide basis, but the legislatures of Asturias and Murcia, which are also single-province communities, are elected in three and five multi-member constituencies, respectively. Meanwhile, the Balearic and Canary Islands use island-based constituencies for their autonomic elections.
Local and autonomic elections are held every four years. However, in October 2003 there was a repeat autonomic election in Madrid, as it became impossible to form a government in the community following the election held in May of that year.
