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Guadalajara is one of the 52 electoral districts (circunscripciones) used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is the sixth smallest district in terms of electorate. Nonetheless, the electorate grew by 10% between 2000 and 2004, a figure well above the Spanish average growth of 1.7%.
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It is one of the five electoral districts which correspond to the provinces of Castilla La Mancha. Guadalajara is the largest municipality accounting for almost 40% of the electorate and there are no other municipalities with electorates over 15,000.
Boundaries and electoral system
Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution the boundaries must be the same as the province of Guadalajara 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
Guadalajara has returned three members at every election since the restoration of democracy.
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 overrepreseent smaller provinces like Guadalajara at the expense of larger provinces. Guadalajara had a ratio of 50,368 voters per deputy in 2004 a figure below the Spanish average of 98,777 voters per deputy and the fifth smallest ratio of all after Ávila, Segovia, Teruel and Soria.
Results
With the exception of 1982, when PSOE narrowly topped the poll, the parties of the centre right have topped the poll at every election from 1977 onwards. The movements in vote share in 2004 were all very close to the average with PP having their lead cut to a few percentage points. It was a key target for the PSOE in the 2008 election, however they fell back with the PP increasing their lead.
2004 General Election
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