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Spain Electoral System
The electoral system--with the exception of the Senate,
which
uses a majority system--is set forth in the electoral law
of
1977, updated in 1985, which is based on the d'Hondt
system of
proportional representation. A party must obtain a minimum
of 3
percent of the vote in order to qualify for parliamentary
representation. Each province is to have a minimum of two
seats
in the Congress of Deputies, plus one additional seat for
every
144,500 inhabitants or fraction over 70,000 inhabitants.
Each
province is allotted four seats in the Senate, regardless
of
population.
This system tends to overrepresent the more
traditional,
rural, and thinly populated parts of Spain and to favor
the
larger parties, which also benefit from the system of
postelectoral subsidies. Under this arrangement, the state
allocates funds to the party of each elected candidate.
Parties
are also given smaller sums for each vote received by
their
candidates, provided that at least one candidate is
elected. One
of the effects of this system is that parties able to
demonstrate
probable electoral success are able to obtain loans to
finance
their campaigns based on their expected subsidies.
The electoral law guarantees universal, free, and
direct
suffrage and stipulates that voting shall be by secret
ballot. It
permits postal balloting for those away from their areas
of
registration. Voting is done by party list. Only the names
of an
individual party and its leader appear on ballots, with
the
exception of those of the Senate, for which a multiparty
list is
used, and voters choose any three candidates. Elections
are held
every four years, although an early dissolution of the
Cortes
will mean early elections for this body. Elections in the
autonomous communities--except those in the "historic
regions" of
Galicia, Catalonia (Spanish, Cataluna; Catalan,
Catalunya), the
Basque Country (Spanish, Pais Vasco; Basque, Euskadi), and
Andalusia (Spanish, Andalucia), which received their
autonomy
earlier than the other thirteen communities--are held
simultaneously.
Data as of December 1988
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