Province Province of Castellón Population 582,327 (2016) Created 1977 | Autonomous community Valencian Community Electorate 416,491 (2016) | |
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Major settlements Castellón de la Plana, Villarreal | ||
Castellón 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%.
Contents
It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 general election. It is one of three districts which correspond to the provinces of the autonomous community of Valencia. Castellón de la Plana is the largest town with just over a quarter of the electorate. Villarreal is the only other municipality with an electorate over 30,000. The constituency produced a close result in 2004 although the People's Party (PP) increased their lead over the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 2008.
Boundaries and electoral system
Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution the boundaries must be the same as the province of Castellón 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
Castellón has returned five members from the 1977 election onwards.
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 like Castellón at the expense of larger provinces.
In 2008 for example Spain had 35,073,179 voters giving an average of 100,209 voters per deputy. In Castellón the ratio was below that at 82,217.