Editing Elections in Spain (section)

==General elections==

{{Main|General elections in Spain}}
[[File:Spanish Elections for Congress of Deputies.svg|thumb|349x349px|Evolution of Spanish vote for Congress of Deputies from 1975 to 2019.]]
General elections are elections held for the national legislature, which is called in Spain [[Cortes Generales]] ([[Spanish language|Spanish]] for "General Courts") and consists of [[bicameralism|two chambers]], the [[Congress of Deputies (Spain)|Congress of Deputies]] and the [[Spanish Senate|Senate]]. The Congress and Senate usually serve concurrent terms that run for a maximum of four years. However, the [[Prime Minister of Spain|Prime Minister]] has the prerogative to dissolve both Houses at any given time either jointly or separately.

===Congress of Deputies===
The Congress is made out of 350 members directly elected by universal adult suffrage for a four-year term of office. Each one of Spain's fifty provinces is a constituency entitled to an initial minimum of two seats; the cities of [[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]] elect one member each. The remaining 348 seats are allocated among the fifty provinces in proportion to their populations. Parties, federations, coalitions and ''agrupaciones de electores'' (electors' groups) may present candidates or lists of candidates. The [[closed list|lists are closed]], so electors may not choose individual candidates in, or alter the order of, such lists. Electors cast a ballot for a single list, or for a single candidate in Ceuta and Melilla.

The seats in each constituency are apportioned according to the [[highest average method|largest average method of proportional representation]] (PR), conceived by the Belgian mathematician Victor d'Hondt in 1899 ([[d'Hondt method]]). However, in order to participate in the allocation of seats, a list must receive at least three percent of all valid votes cast in the constituency, including [[blank ballot]]s. The single-member seats in Ceuta and Melilla are filled by the plurality or [[first-past-the-post]] method, under which the candidate obtaining the largest number of votes in the constituency is elected.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://electionresources.org/es/index_en.html#ASPECTS |title=General Aspects of the Electoral System |publisher=Election Resources on the Internet |access-date=2015-12-23}}</ref>

;Seat allocation in Congress

To illustrate the functioning of the system, the allocation of seats in the three provinces of the Self-Governing or Autonomous Community of [[Aragón]] - [[Huesca Province|Huesca]], [[Teruel Province|Teruel]] and [[Zaragoza Province|Zaragoza]] - for the [[1993 Spanish general election|June 1993 general election]] is presented here in detail. At the time, Zaragoza province had seven seats in Congress, while both Huesca and Teruel had three.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://electionresources.org/es/index_en.html#ALLOCATION |title=Allocation of Seats in Congress |publisher=Election Resources on the Internet |access-date=2015-12-23}}</ref>

In Zaragoza province, only four tickets, namely the [[Spanish Socialist Workers Party]] (PSOE), the [[Popular Party (Spain)|Popular Party]] (PP), the [[Aragonese Party]] (PAR) and the [[United Left (Spain)|United Left]] (IU) won at least three percent of the valid votes cast in the election - including blank ballots - and were thus entitled to participate in the allocation of constituency seats. The tickets were sorted by number of votes from top to bottom, and the votes polled by each of these were then divided by 1, 2, 3, and so on until the number of seats to be allocated was reached, as detailed below:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Division !! PSOE !! PP !! PAR !! IU
|-
| 1 || '''174,061''' || '''172,753''' || '''108,690''' || '''60,074'''
|-
| 2 || '''87,030''' || '''86,376''' || 54,345 || 30,037
|-
| 3 || '''58,020''' || 57,584 || 36,230 || 20,024
|-
| 4 || 43,515 || 43,188 || 27,172 || 15,018
|-
| 5 || 34,812 || 34,550 || 21,738 || 12,014
|-
| 6 || 29,010 || 28,792 || 18,115 || 10,012
|-
| 7 || 24,865 || 24,679 || 15,527 || 8,582
|-
| colspan="5" bgcolor="#E9E9E9" |
|-
! Seats || 3 || 2 || 1 || 1
|}
  
Seats were then awarded to the tickets obtaining the largest quotients or averages (shown in '''bold'''). As indicated, the PSOE won three seats, the PP two, the PAR one and IU one. The seats won by each ticket were awarded to the candidates included therein, according to their ranking on the lists: therefore, the first three candidates on the PSOE list were elected to Congress, as were the first two candidates on the PP list and the candidates at the top of the PAR and IU lists, respectively.

Meanwhile, the results of the election in Huesca province were as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Division !! PSOE !! PP !! PAR !! IU
|-
| 1 || '''50,720''' || '''43,059''' || 23,784 || 9,756
|-
| 2 || '''25,360''' || 21,529 || 11,892 || 4,878
|-
| 3 || 16,906 || 14,353 || 7,928 || 3,252
|-
| colspan="5" bgcolor="#E9E9E9" |
|-
! Seats || 2 || 1 || 0 || 0
|}
 
The effective representation threshold in Huesca was 25,360 votes, or 19.0% of the valid vote.

Finally, the outcome of the election in Teruel was the following:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Division !! PSOE !! PP !! PAR !! IU
|-
| 1 || '''36,327''' || '''34,293''' || 12,070 || 3,990
|-
| 2 || '''18,163''' || 17,146 || 6,035 || 1,995
|-
| 3 || 12,109 || 11,431 || 4,023 || 1,330
|-
| colspan="5" bgcolor="#E9E9E9" |
|-
! Seats || 2 || 1 || 0 || 0
|}
  
The effective representation threshold in Teruel was 18,163 votes, or 20.2% of the valid vote.

Having concluded the allocation of Congress seats in the three Aragón constituencies, the following peculiarities stand out:

# The effective representation threshold in each province was substantially larger than the three percent barrier set forth by law: in all three constituencies, the seat apportionment would have been the same regardless of the statutory threshold.
# The number of votes required to attain a seat in Zaragoza province - the largest of three constituencies - was substantially higher than the amount required to that end in Huesca or in Teruel.
# The proportional allocation of seats in each constituency appeared to favor the major parties in general and specifically the majority party.

===Senate===
The system for electing the Senate was first used in 1979, though with regard to the provinces the system is unchanged since 1977. Senators are elected directly from the provinces and indirectly from the [[autonomous communities]]; currently, there are 264 senators, 208 directly elected and 56 indirectly elected.

In the provinces, a majoritarian [[Plurality-at-large voting|partial block voting]] system is used. All peninsular provinces elect four senators each; the insular provinces ([[Balearic Islands|Balearic]] and [[Canary Islands|Canary]] Islands) elect one or three senators per island, and Ceuta and Melilla elect two senators each. Parties nominate three candidates; each voter has three votes (fewer in those constituencies electing fewer senators) and votes for candidates by name, the only instance of personal voting in Spanish national elections. The usual outcome is three senators for the party with the most votes, and one senator for the runner-up, except in very close races.

The autonomous communities receive one senator, plus one for each million inhabitants. They are entitled to determine how they choose their senators but are generally elected by the legislature of the respective community in proportion to its party composition.

===Election results 1977–2023===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%;"
|+ Summary of Spanish elections for the [[Congress of Deputies]], 1977–2023
|-
! rowspan="2"| Election
! width="40px"| [[Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain)|UCD]]{{efn|Dissolved in 1983.}}
! width="40px"| [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party|PSOE]]
! width="40px"| [[People's Party (Spain)|PP]]{{efn|[[People's Alliance (Spain)|AP]] 1977, [[Democratic Coalition (Spain)|CD]] 1979, [[People's Alliance–People's Democratic Party|AP–PDP]] 1982, [[People's Coalition (Spain)|CP]] 1986.}}
! width="40px"| [[United Left (Spain)|IU]]{{efn|[[Communist Party of Spain|PCE]] 1977–1982.}}
! width="40px"| [[Democratic Convergence of Catalonia|CDC]]{{efn|[[Democratic Pact for Catalonia|PDC]] 1977, [[Convergence and Union|CiU]] 1979–2011, [[Democracy and Freedom|DiL]] 2015, [[Together for Catalonia (2017)|JxCat–Junts]] 2019, [[Together for Catalonia (2020)|Junts]] 2023.}}
! width="40px"| [[Basque Nationalist Party|PNV]]
! width="40px"| [[Republican Left of Catalonia|ERC]]{{efn|[[Left of Catalonia–Democratic Electoral Front|EC–FED]] 1977, [[Republican Left of Catalonia–Catalonia Yes|ERC–CatSí]] 2011–2016, [[Republican Left of Catalonia–Sovereigntists|ERC–Sobiranistes]] 2019.}}
! width="40px"| [[Galician Nationalist Bloc|BNG]]{{efn|[[Galician National-Popular Bloc|BNPG]] 1977–1979, Galician Nationalist Bloc–[[Galician Socialist Party (1963)|Galician Socialist Party]] 1982, [[We–Galician Candidacy|Nós]] 2015–2016.}}
! width="40px"| [[EH Bildu|EHB]]{{efn|[[Basque Socialist Party|ESB-PSV]] 1977, [[Herri Batasuna|HB]] 1979–1996, [[Euskal Herritarrok|EH]] 2000, [[Amaiur]] 2011, [[EH Bildu]] 2015–2019.}}
! width="40px"| [[Democratic and Social Centre (Spain)|CDS]]{{efn|Merged into [[People's Party (Spain)|PP]] in 2006, dissenters founded [[Liberal Democratic Centre|CDL]] which was merged into [[Citizens (Spanish political party)|Cs]] in 2014.}}
! width="40px"| [[Canarian Coalition|CC]]{{efn|[[Canarian Independent Groups|AIC]] 1986–1989, [[Agreement of Nationalist Unity|CC–PNC]] 2008–2019.}}
! width="40px"| [[Union, Progress and Democracy|UPyD]]
! width="40px"| [[Citizens (Spanish political party)|Cs]]
! width="40px"| [[Coalició Compromís|Com.]]
! width="40px"| [[Podemos (Spanish political party)|Pod.]]{{efn|[[Unidos Podemos]] 2015–2016, [[Unidas Podemos]] 2019.}}
! width="40px"| [[Vox (political party)|Vox]]
! width="40px"| [[Más País|MP]]
! width="40px"| [[Sumar (electoral platform)|Sumar]]
|-
! style="background:{{party color|Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain)}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Spanish Socialist Workers' Party}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|People's Party (Spain)}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|United Left (Spain)}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Democratic Convergence of Catalonia}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Basque Nationalist Party}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Republican Left of Catalonia}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Galician Nationalist Bloc}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|EH Bildu}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Democratic and Social Centre (Spain)}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Canarian Coalition}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Union, Progress and Democracy}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Citizens (Spanish political party)}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Coalició Compromís}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Podemos (Spanish political party)}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Vox (political party)}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Más País}}"|
! style="background:{{party color|Sumar (electoral platform)}}"|
|-
! [[1977 Spanish general election|1977]]
| {{Party shading/UCD}}| '''34.4'''
| 29.3
| 8.3
| 9.3
| 2.8
| 1.7
| 0.8
| 0.1
| 0.2
| rowspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| rowspan="3" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| rowspan="9" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| rowspan="9" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| rowspan="10" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| rowspan="11" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| rowspan="11" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| rowspan="14" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
| rowspan="15" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|
|-
! [[1979 Spanish general election|1979]]
| {{Party shading/UCD}}| '''34.8'''
| 30.4
| 6.1
| 10.8
| 1.7
| 1.6
| 0.7
| 0.3
| 1.0
|-
! [[1982 Spanish general election|1982]]
| 6.8
| {{Party shading/PSOE}}| '''48.1'''
| 26.4
| 4.0
| 3.7
| 1.9
| 0.7
| 0.2
| 1.0
| 2.9
|-
! [[1986 Spanish general election|1986]]
| rowspan="13" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|{{small|''Dissolved''}}
| {{Party shading/PSOE}}| '''44.1'''
| 26.0
| 4.6
| 5.0
| 1.5
| 0.4
| 0.1
| 1.1
| 9.2
| 0.3
|-
! [[1989 Spanish general election|1989]]
| {{Party shading/PSOE}}| '''39.6'''
| 25.8
| 9.1
| 5.0
| 1.2
| 0.4
| 0.2
| 1.1
| 7.9
| 0.3
|-
! [[1993 Spanish general election|1993]]
| {{Party shading/PSOE}}| '''38.8'''
| 34.8
| 9.6
| 4.9
| 1.2
| 0.8
| 0.5
| 0.9
| 1.8
| 0.9
|-
! [[1996 Spanish general election|1996]]
| 37.6
| {{Party shading/PP}}| '''38.8'''
| 10.5
| 4.6
| 1.3
| 0.7
| 0.9
| 0.7
| 0.2
| 0.9
|-
! [[2000 Spanish general election|2000]]
| 34.2
| {{Party shading/PP}}| '''44.5'''
| 5.4
| 4.2
| 1.5
| 0.8
| 1.3
| bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|{{small|''[[Election boycott|Boycotted]]''}}
| 0.1
| 1.1
|-
! [[2004 Spanish general election|2004]]
| {{Party shading/PSOE}}| '''42.6'''
| 37.7
| 5.0
| 3.2
| 1.6
| 2.5
| 0.8
| rowspan="2" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|{{small|''Banned''}}
| 0.1
| 0.9
|-
! [[2008 Spanish general election|2008]]
| {{Party shading/PSOE}}| '''43.9'''
| 39.9
| 3.8
| 3.0
| 1.2
| 1.2
| 0.8
| 0.0
| 0.7
| 1.2
| 0.2
|-
! [[2011 Spanish general election|2011]]
| 28.8
| {{Party shading/PP}}| '''44.6'''
| 6.9
| 4.2
| 1.3
| 1.1
| 0.8
| 1.4
| rowspan="6" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|{{small|''Dissolved''}}
| 0.6
| 4.7
| bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|{{small|''{{abbr|DNR|Did not run}}''}}
| 0.5
|-
! [[2015 Spanish general election|2015]]
| 22.0
| {{Party shading/PP}}| '''28.7'''
| 3.7
| 2.2
| 1.2
| 2.4
| 0.3
| 0.9
| 0.3
| 0.6
| 13.9
| {{efn|name="UnidosPodemos"|Within [[Unidos Podemos]].}}
| 20.7
| 0.2
|-
! [[2016 Spanish general election|2016]]
| 22.6
| {{Party shading/PP}}| '''33.0'''
| {{efn|name="UnidosPodemos"}}
| 2.0
| 1.2
| 2.6
| 0.2
| 0.8
| 0.3
| 0.2
| 13.1
| {{efn|name="UnidosPodemos"}}
| 21.2
| 0.2
|-
! [[April 2019 Spanish general election|Apr. 2019]]
| {{Party shading/PSOE}}| '''28.7'''
| 16.7
| {{efn|name="UnidasPodemos"|Within [[Unidas Podemos]].}}
| 1.9
| 1.5
| 3.9
| 0.4
| 1.0
| 0.5
| bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|{{small|''{{abbr|DNR|Did not run}}''}}
| 15.9
| 0.7
| 14.3
| 10.3
|-
! [[November 2019 Spanish general election|Nov. 2019]]
| {{Party shading/PSOE}}| '''28.0'''
| 20.8
| {{efn|name="UnidasPodemos"}}
| 2.2
| 1.6
| 3.6
| 0.5
| 1.2
| 0.5
| {{efn|name="Cs"|Within [[Citizens (Spanish political party)|Ciudadanos]].}}
| 6.8
| {{efn|name="MP"|Within [[Más País]].}}
| 12.9
| 15.1
| 2.4
|-
! [[2023 Spanish general election|2023]]
| 31.7
| {{Party shading/PP}}| '''33.1'''
| {{efn|name="Sumar"|Within [[Sumar (electoral platform)|Sumar]].}}
| 1.6
| 1.1
| 1.9
| 0.6
| 1.4
| 0.5
| rowspan="1" bgcolor="#AAAAAA"|{{small|''Dissolved''}}
| bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|{{small|''{{abbr|DNR|Did not run}}''}}
| {{efn|name="Sumar"|Within [[Sumar (electoral platform)|Sumar]].}}
| {{efn|name="Sumar"|Within [[Sumar (electoral platform)|Sumar]].}}
| 12.4
| {{efn|name="Sumar"|Within [[Sumar (electoral platform)|Sumar]].}}
| 12.3
|}