Province Province of A Coruña Population 1,127,196 (2016) Region Galicia | Autonomous community Galicia Electorate 1,087,472 (2016) | |
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Seats 9 (1977–2004)
8 (2008–) Created Spanish general election, 1977 Major settlements A Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, Ferrol | ||
A Coruña (Spanish: La Coruña, English: Corunna) is one of the 52 electoral districts (Spanish: circunscripciones) used for the Congress of Deputies—the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. The electoral system uses the D'Hondt method and a closed-list proportional representation, with a minimum threshold of 3%.
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It is located in the Community of Galicia. A Coruña is the largest municipality and the only municipality with more than 100,000 voters. After that the largest towns are Ferrol and Santiago de Compostela.
Boundaries and electoral system
Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution the boundaries must be the same as the province of A Coruña 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.
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 elected. Article 70 also makes active judges, magistrates, public defenders, serving military personnel, active police officers and members of constitutional and electoral tribunals ineligible.
Number of members
A Coruña has returned nine members at every election from 1977 onwards, however it will lose a seat for the 2008 where it will elect eight members.
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 law has been to overrepresent smaller provinces at the expense of larger provinces like A Coruña.
In 2004 for example Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy. In A Coruña however the number of voters per deputy was above that at 117,082. In contrast in the neighbouring district of Ourense the ratio was only 82,173.