Islas Baleares (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Balearic Islands 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 corresponds to the autonomous community

Autonomous communities of Spain

An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...

of the Balearic Islands

Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...

. Palma

Palma de Mallorca

Palma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name...

is by far the largest town with 265,000 voters - over 40% of the electorate. There are no other municipalities with more than 25,000 voters.

Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution
the boundaries must be the same as the Balearic Islands province 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.

Electoral procedures

The laws regulating the conduct and administration of elections are laid out in detail in the 1985 electoral law. (Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General.) Under this law, the elections in the Balearics, as in other districts, are supervised by the Electoral Commission (Junta Electoral), a permanent body composed of eight Supreme Court judges and five political scientists or sociologists appointed by the Congress of Deputies. The Electoral commission is supported in its work by the Interior Ministry. On election day, polling station

Polling station

A polling place or polling station is where voters cast their ballots in elections.Since elections generally take place over a one- or two-day span on a periodic basis, often annual or longer, polling places are often located in facilities used for other purposes, such as schools, churches, sports...

s are run by electoral boards which consist of groups of citizens selected by lottery.

The format of the ballot paper is designed by the Spanish state, however, the law allows political parties to produce and distribute their own ballot papers, either by mailing them to voters or by other means such as street distribution, provided that they comply with the official model. The government then covers the cost of all printed ballot papers. These must then be marked by voters, either in the polling station or outside the polling station and placed inside sealed envelopes which are then placed inside ballot box

Ballot box

A ballot box is a temporarily sealed container, usually square box though sometimes a tamper resistant bag, with a narrow slot in the top sufficient to accept a ballot paper in an election but which prevents anyone from accessing the votes cast until the close of the voting period...

es in the polling station. Following the close of polls, the ballots are then counted in each individual polling station in the presence of representatives of the political parties and candidates. The ballots are then immediately destroyed, with the exception of those considered invalid or challenged by the candidates' representatives, which are retained for further scrutiny. The result is that full recounts are impossible.

Eligibility

Article 67.3 of the Spanish Constitution prohibits dual membership of both chambers of the Cortes or 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. Additionally, under Article 11 of the Political Parties Law, June 2002 (Ley Orgánica 6/2002, de 27 de junio, de Partidos Políticos), parties and individual candidates may be prevented from standing by the Spanish Supreme Court

Supreme Court of Spain

The Supreme Court of Spain is the highest court in Spain for all matters not pertaining to the Spanish Constitution. The court which meets in the Convent of the Salesas Reales in Madrid, consists of a president and an indeterminate number of magistrates appointed to the five chambers of the...

(Tribunal Supremo), if they are judged to have violated Article 9 of that law which prohibits parties which are perceived to discriminate against people on the basis of ideology, religion, beliefs, nationality, race, gender or sexual orientation (Article 9a), foment or organise violence as a means of achieving political objectives (Article 9b) or support or compliment the actions of "terrorist organisations" (Article 9c). Article 55, Section 2 of the 1985 electoral law also disqualifies director generals or equivalent leaders of state monopolies and public bodies such as the Spanish state broadcaster RTVE. Lastly, following changes to the electoral law which took effect for the 2007 municipal elections, candidates' lists must be composed of at least 40% of candidates of either gender and each group of five candidates must contain at least two males and two females.

Presenting candidates

Parties and coalitions of different parties which have registered with the Electoral Commission can present lists of candidates (Article 44, 1985 electoral law). Groups of electors which have not registered with the commission can also present lists, provided that they obtain the signatures of 1% of registered electors in a particular district (Article 169).

Number of members

From 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...

onwards Islas Baleares returned six members. This was increased to seven members for the 1993 General Election

Spanish general election, 1993

-Results:-External links:*...

and then to eight members for the 2004 election.

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 overrepresent smaller provinces at the expense of larger provinces. Islas Baleares had a ratio of 85,979 voters per deputy in 2004 a figure below the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy.

Summary of seats won 1977–2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	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)	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	2	4	4
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)			3	3	3	4	4	5	4	4

Vote share summary 1977-2008

	1977	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1996	2000	2004	2008
Democratic Centre Union (UCD)	51.9	48.9	10.4
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)	23.3	29.4	40.5	40.3	34.5	34.0	36.0	29.3	39.5	44.2
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)	9.0	9.2	37.7	34.3	40.7	46.4	45.1	53.9	45.9	44.0
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)	5.2
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)	4.5	4.9	1.7	2.3	5.1	6.0	7.7	4.0	8.6	2.8
Mallorcan Socialist Party (PSM)		3.3^#	2.4	2.2	2.3	4.9	5.7	5.9	8.6	5.4^*
Mallorcan Union (UM)						2.4	1.6	2.1	2.3	5.4^*
Balearic Autonomous Union (UAB)	3.8
Democratic and Social Centre (CDS)			5.3	11.3	9.2	1.9	0.1	0.1	0.2
Democratic Reform Party (PRD)				7.2

^#The result corresponds to that for the Socialists of Mallorca and Menorca.

^* The result corresponds to that for the Unity for the islands (Unitat per les Illes) electoral coalition which included the Mallorcan Socialist Party, the Mallorcan Union and various smaller parties.

2008 General Election

The 2008 election saw the PSOE overtake the PP as the largest party for the first time since the 1986 election.

Summary of the 11 March 2008 Congress of Deputies election results in Islas Baleares.
|-
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top|Parties and alliances
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|%
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Seats
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Members elected
|-
|align=left|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...

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...

-Verds

Confederation of The Greens

The Confederation of the Greens is a green political party in 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|3,107
|align="right" valign=top|0.66
|align="right" valign=top|0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |7,852
|align="right" |1.86
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

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)

-PSM-ERC-Verds

Confederation of The Greens

The Confederation of the Greens is a green political party in Spain....

|align="right" |40,289
|align="right" |8.57
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |19,397
|align="right" |4.10
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

2000 General Election

People's Party (Spain)

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

(Partido Socialista Obrero Español)
|align="right" |116,515
|align="right" |29.28
|align="right" |2
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|PSM
|align="right" |23,482
|align="right" |5.90
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|United Left

United Left (Spain)

Confederation of The Greens

The Confederation of the Greens is a green political party in Spain....

|align="right" |9,556
|align="right" |2.40
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Majorcan Union (UM)
|align="right" |8,372
|align="right" |2.10
|align="right" |0
|align="left" |
|-
|align=left|Others
|align="right" |3,755
|align="right" |0.96
|align="right" |0
|align="right" |
|-
|}

Source:

External links

List of members by year

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