Congress of Deputies (Spain)
| The Congress of Deputies Congreso de los Diputados |
|
|---|---|
| 10th Legislature | |
.svg) |
|
| Type | |
| Type | Lower house |
| Leadership | |
| President | Jesús Posada Since 13 December 2011 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 350 |
 |
|
| Political groups |
|
| Elections | |
| Voting system | Party-list proportional representation D'Hondt method |
| Last election | 20 November 2011 |
| Meeting place | |
 |
|
| El Palacio del Congreso de los Diputados Madrid, Community of Madrid Kingdom of Spain |
|
| Website | |
| www.congreso.es | |
The Spanish Congress of Deputies (Spanish: Congreso de los Diputados) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. It has 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation in constituencies matching the Spanish provinces using the D'Hondt method. Deputies serve four-year terms. The President of the Congress of Deputies is the analogue to a Speaker and presides over debates in Spain's lower chamber of parliament.
In the Congress, members of the Parliament from the political parties, or groups of parties, form parliamentary groups. Groups must be formed by, at least, 15 MPs, but a group can also be formed with only five MPs if the parties in it got, at least, 5% of the nationwide vote, or 15% of the votes in the constituencies they run for seats.
The MPs belonging to parties who cannot create their own parliamentary group shall form the Mixed Group.[1] The composition of the 10th term Congress is:[2]
| Political party/group | Leader | Spokesperson | Dep. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Popular Group (People's Party)[3] | Mariano Rajoy (PM) | Alfonso Alonso | 185 | |
| Socialist Group (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party)[4] | Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (LO) | Soraya Rodríguez | 110 | |
| Catalan Group (Convergence and Union) | Josep A. Duran i Lleida | 16 | ||
| Plural Left Group: United Left (8), ICV (2), CHA (1) | Cayo Lara | 11 | ||
| Union, Progress and Democracy Group: Union, Progress and Democracy (5) | Rosa Díez | 5 | ||
| Basque Group (Basque Nationalist Party) | Aitor Esteban | 5 | ||
| Mixed Group, composed by: Amaiur (7), ERC (3), BNG (2), CC (2), Compromís (1), Foro Asturias (1), GBai (1), UPN (1)[5] | none | Rosana Pérez Fernández (BNG)[6] | 18 | |
| Total | 350 | |||
Contents |
Latest elections [edit]
Elections to the Congress were held on 20 November 2011.
.svg) |
| This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Spain |
|
Foreign policy
|
| Parties and coalitions | Votes | Congress | Senate | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | Swing | Seats | +/− | Elect. | App. | Seats | +/− | |||
| People's Party | PP | 10,866,566 | 44.63 | +4.69 | 186 | +32 | 136 | 30 | 166 | +42 | |
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party | PSOE | 7,003,511 | 28.76 | −15.11 | 110 | −59 | 54 | 20 | 74 | −43 | |
| United Left-The Greens | IU-LV | 1,686,040 | 6.92 | +3.15 | 11 | +9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ±0 | |
| Union, Progress and Democracy | UPyD | 1,143,225 | 4.70 | +3.51 | 5 | +4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Convergence and Union | CiU | 1,015,691 | 4.17 | +1.14 | 16 | +6 | 9 | 4 | 13 | +6 | |
| Amaiur | Amaiur | 334,498 | 1.37 | New | 7 | +7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | +3 | |
| Basque Nationalist Party | PNV | 324,317 | 1.33 | +0.14 | 5 | −1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | +1 | |
| Republican Left of Catalonia | ERC | 256,985 | 1.06 | −0.10 | 3 | ±0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | |
| Galician Nationalist Bloc | BNG | 184,037 | 0.76 | −0.07 | 2 | ±0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | |
| Canarian Coalition-New Canarias | CC-NC | 143,881 | 0.59 | −0.09 | 2 | ±0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ±0 | |
| Coalició Compromís | C-Q | 125,306 | 0.51 | +0.39 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Asturian Forum | FAC | 99,473 | 0.41 | New | 1 | +1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | |
| Geroa Bai | GBAI | 42,415 | 0.17 | −0.07 | 1 | ±0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Others | 789,480 | 3.24 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | |||
| Blank ballots | 333,461 | 1.37 | +0.26 | ||||||||
| Total | 24,348,886 | 100.00 | 350 | ±0 | 208 | 58 | 266 | +2 | |||
| Valid votes | 24,348,886 | 98.71 | −0.65 | ||||||||
| Invalid votes | 317,555 | 1.29 | +0.65 | ||||||||
| Votes cast / turnout | 24,666,441 | 68.94 | −4.91 | ||||||||
| Abstentions | 11,113,050 | 31.06 | +4.91 | ||||||||
| Registered voters | 35,779,491 | ||||||||||
| Source: Ministry of the Interior | |||||||||||
History [edit]
_02.jpg)
The building, Congreso de los Diputados, has a neoclassical style. It was designed by Narcisco Pascual y Colomer, and built between 1843 and 1850. It sits by the Carrera de San Jerónimo, in Madrid. The relief on the facade by sculptor Ponciano Ponzano centers on a sculpture of Spain embracing the constitutional state, represented by a woman with her arm around a young girl. Surrounding the pair are figures that represent in allegorical form Justice and Peace, Science, Agriculture, Fine Arts, Navigation, Industry, Commerce and so on. Ponzano also executed two bronze lions for the building's access stairway in a more realistic manner.[7]
See also [edit]
External links [edit]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Congress of Deputies of Spain |
References [edit]
- ^ `Information about Parliamentary Groups - Congress of Deputies of Spain
- ^ Parliamentary Groups - Congress of Deputies of Spain
- ^ Alfonso Alonso, spokesperson of PP group - Cope
- ^ Soraya Rodrigez, new spokesperson - Público
- ^ Rajoy 'loses' one MP: Carlos Salvador (UPN) will go to the Mixed Group - Diario Crítico
- ^ Council of spokespeople - Congress website
- ^ "Ponzano y Gascón, Ponciano". Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa (in Spanish). Retrieved 2012-05-28.
|
|||||
