Province Province of Lugo Population 339,386 (2016) Major settlements Lugo Date formed 1977 | Autonomous community Galicia Electorate 348,561 (2016) Region Galicia Major settlement Lugo | |
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Seats 5 (1977–1993)
4 (1996–) Created Spanish general election, 1977 | ||
Lugo 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 one of the four districts which correspond to the provinces of Galicia. Lugo is the largest municipality and the only municipality with more than 75,000 voters.
Boundaries and electoral system
Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution the boundaries must be the same as the province of Lugo 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
From the 1977 General Election onwards Lugo returned five members. This figure was reduced to four members for the 1996 General Election and it has retained that allocation since then.
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 province.
In 2004 for example Spain had 34,571,831 voters giving an average of 98,777 voters per deputy. In Lugo however the number of voters per deputy was slightly below that at 86,859.