REGIONAL ELECTIONS

Andalucía is one of 17 autonomous regions with its own parliament and government. Critics argue that this additional level leads to increased bureaucracy and inefficiency.

Andalucía is further divided into eight provinces. Each of these has a provincial government called the “Diputacion Provincial”, which known informally as the “town hall of town halls” as it is designed to directly serve municipal leaders. Election of provincial authorities is not related to regional elections, but rather decided through local elections. Citizens elect deputies indirectly according to the results of municipal elections as only town or city councilors can have seats in the provincial government.

Elections 2008

As for the Andalucian parliament, we had a number of surprises this time around. First of all the regional Partido Andalucista suffered dismal losses, losing all five of their seats in the regional government. Socialists were able to maintain their majority with 56 seats – even though they lost five seats this time around. The Popular Party, on the other hand, might not have a majority with their 47 seats, but they have gained 10 new seats in the Andalucian parliament.

Elections 2004

The last regional elections were held on the 14th March 2004. The Number of seats in the Andalucia Parliament to be won by deputies from each province is as follows: Almeria 11, Cadiz 15, Cordoba 13, Granada 13, Huelva 11, Jaen 12, Malaga 16, Seville 18.

Voting is by the D’ Hondt method of proportional representation. Each party publishes lists of candidates for each province ranked in order of importance and equal to the number of deputy seats to be elected.

There are currently 109 Deputies from the following parties. PSOE 61, Partido Popular (PP) 37, Izquierda Unida (IU) 6, Partida Andalucista 5.

The Andalucian Parliaments website is found at www.parlamentodeandalucia.es

The Andalucia Parliament also delegates 8 Senators to represent the Autonomous Community of Andalucia en las Cortes in Madrid. The Senators are designated in proportion to the number of members of each Parliamentary Group.

The total budget of the Junta de Andalucía for the regional elections rose to close to nine million euros, of which 2.8 million euros was spent on institutional campaigns for the postal vote. Approximately 20 percent of Spaniards who vote by post are registered in Andalucía.

top of page