Kingdom of Spain: Parliament, 26 June 2016

At stake in this election:

• 350 seats in the Congreso de los Diputados (Congress of Deputies)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: King FELIPE VI (since 19 June 2014)
• Head of Government: Acting Prime Minister Mariano RAJOY (since 20 December 2011)
• Assembly: Spain has a bicameral Las Cortes Generales (General Courts) composed of the Senado (Senate) and Congreso de los Diputados (Congress of Deputies). There are 266 seats in the Senate and 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies.  

Description of electoral system:

• In the Congress of Deputies, 348 members are directly elected in 50 multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 2 are directly elected from the North African Ceuta and Melilla enclaves by simple majority vote. Members of the Congress of Deputies serve 4-year terms.

Last Election:

• Elections for the Congress of Deputies were last held on 20 December 2015. The Popular Party (PP) won the most seats with 123, but failed to retain the majority. The main rival party, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) won 90 seats. Two new parties, “Podemos” and Ciudadanos, took 42 and 40 seats, respectively. Several other parties won seats (listed below), but no party secured enough seats for a majority and no alliances were formed. King Felipe dissolved Parliament and a new round of elections have been scheduled for June.

Main parties in the election:

• People’s Party (PP)/Partido Popular
  • Leader: Mariano RAJOY Brey
  • Seats won in last election: 123
• Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party/Partido Socialista Obrero Español
  • Leader: Pedro SANCHEZ Pérez-Castejón
  • Seats won in last election: 90
• “We Can”/Podemos
  • Leader: Pablo IGLESIAS Turrión
  • Seats won in last election: 42
• Citizens/Ciudadanos
  • Leader: Albert RIVERA Díaz
  • Seats won in last election: 40
• In Common We Can/En Comú Podem
  • Leader: Ada COLAU
  • Seats won in last election: 12
• Commitment Coalition/Coalición Compromís
  • Leader: Mónica OLTRA Jarque and Enric MORERA i Catalá
  • Seats won in last election: 9
• Republican Left of Catalonia/Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
  • Leader: Oriol JUNQUERAS I Vies
  • Seats won in last election: 9
• Democracy and Freedom/Democrácia I Llibertat
  • Leader: Francesc HOMS Molist
  • Seats won in last election: 8
• “En Marea” Coalition/Coalición “En Marea”
  • Leader: N/A[1]
  • Seats won in last election: 6
• Basque Nationalist Party/Partido Nacionalista Vasco
  • Leader: Andoni ORTUZAR Arruabarrena
  • Seats won in last election: 6
• Basque Country Unite (EHB)/Euskal Herria Bildu
  • Leader: Pello URIZAR Karetxe
  • Seats won in last election: 2
• Popular Unity/Unidad Popular
  • Leader: Alberto GARZÓN Espinosa
  • Seats won in last election: 2
• Canarian Coalition/Coalición Canaria
  • Leader: Claudina MORALES Rodríguez
  • Seats won in last election: 1

Population and number of registered voters:

·         Population: 48,146,134 (July 2015 est.)

·         Registered Voters: 34,631,086 (2015)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 24,377,013 (July 2015 est.)

·         Is Spain a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Spain ratified CEDAW: Yes (5 January 1984)

·         Gender Quota: Yes[2]

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 244 (39.61%)[3]

·         Human Development Index Position: 26 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Very Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Spain a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Spain ratified CRPD: Yes (3 December 2007)

·         Population with a disability: 2,810,000