Spanish general election 2015
(turnout 69.67%)
The 2015 Spanish parliamentary elections took place on December 20, 2015 . The Spanish Parliament (the Cortes Generales ) consists of two chambers. The 350 members of the House of Representatives ( Congreso de los Diputados ) and 208 of the 266 members of the Senate ( Senado ) of the XI were elected. Legislative period since the 1978 constitution came into force.
After the European elections in 2014 , in which the two major parties had already reached historic lows, the elections manifested profound changes in the party landscape, which has been extremely stable for three decades , also at the Spanish level, particularly with the emergence of Podemos and Ciudadanos .
After the government failed to form a government, both chambers of parliament were dissolved on May 3, 2016 in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, and new elections were scheduled for June 26, 2016.
Apron
In the economic and financial crisis that had been going on since 2008, the conservative PP with Prime Minister Rajoy came to power with an absolute majority after the 2011 election .
Following the austerity policy, this initiated drastic austerity measures and privatizations. In addition, there was a labor law reform in 2012, which has been criticized by the trade unions and the left opposition because it has led to an increase in precarious working conditions. After the unemployment rate peaked at over 25% in 2012, there was a slight recovery from 2014 (2015: 22%).
The Spanish state itself had to - unlike z. B. Greece - consequently do not use any European rescue funds. However, to recapitalize the Spanish banking sector in 2012/13, ESM loans amounting to 41.3 billion euros were used.
The 10th legislative period was also characterized by the legal processing of various enrichment and corruption scandals, which, in addition to the PP, also affected the PSOE , CiU and even the IU .
Another dominant theme from 2011 onwards was the Catalan aspirations for independence, which ultimately led to the Parliament of Catalonia passing a resolution in November 2015 proclaiming the beginning of a process of secession from the Spanish state.
In opinion polls, a few months after the 2011 election, the ruling PP's popularity fell. The left party IU and the UPYD were able to benefit from this , for which double-digit results were forecast in some cases.
The first drastic upheaval in the party landscape came with the 2014 European elections, in which the recently founded left protest party Podemos achieved 8% and became the fourth strongest force. Then it rose in the polls until it was even in first place at times. In contrast, the popularity ratings of IU and UPYD, which were hit by severe internal crises, collapsed.
With the regional and local elections in May 2015 , the Ciudadanos party, which was previously only relevant in Catalonia, gained national importance for the first time. Podemos moved into all 13 of the regional parliaments elected at the time, Ciudadanos in ten. In the two largest cities of Madrid and Barcelona, candidates close to Podemos came to the mayor's office. With the arrival of the two new actors (Podemos and Ciudadanos) in the regional parliaments, which were already heavily fragmented due to the great importance of regional parties in many regions, the party landscape at this level became even more complex. Nevertheless, governments were formed in all regions and there were no new elections.
Electoral process
congress
According to Article 68 (2) of the Spanish Constitution and Article 162 of the Electoral Law, the Congress has 350 members elected provincially. Each province has a minimum of two MPs, the cities of Ceuta and Melilla have one MP. The remaining 248 MPs are allocated to the provinces according to the ratio of their population according to the Hare-Niemeyer method .
The decree on the election announcement accordingly stated that the following numbers of deputies are to be elected in the individual provinces:
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- Madrid Province : 36 MPs
- Barcelona Province : 31 MPs
- Province of Valencia / València: 15 MPs
- Alicante / Alacant provinces , Seville : 12 members each
- Málaga Province : 11 MPs
- Murcia Province : 10 MPs
- Cádiz Province : 9 MPs
- Provinces of Asturias , Balearic Islands , Bizkaia , A Coruña and Las Palmas : 8 MPs each
- Provinces of Granada , Pontevedra , Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Zaragoza : 7 MPs each
- Provinces of Almería , Badajoz , Córdoba , Guipuzkoa , Girona , Tarragona and Toledo : 6 MPs each
- Provinces of Cantabria , Castellón / Castelló , Ciudad Real , Huelva , Jaén , León , Navarra and Valladolid : 5 MPs each
- Provinces of Albacete , Araba / Álava , Burgos , Cáceres , Lleida , Lugo , Ourense , La Rioja and Salamanca : 4 MPs each
- Provinces of Avila , Cuenca , Guadalajara , Huesca , Palencia , Segovia , Teruel and Zamora : 3 MPs each
- Soria Province : 2 MPs
- Autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla : 1 MP each
Elections are made in the provinces according to closed lists, with the seats being allocated to the lists according to the D'Hondt procedure . In the autonomous cities, the MP is determined by a relative majority vote.
The allocation of seats takes place solely at the level of the constituencies (provinces), there is no balance of remaining votes at the national level. The nominal threshold clause is only 3% in all constituencies. In most constituencies, however, the actual percentage threshold is significantly higher due to the limited number of mandates to be awarded. In the small constituencies, only the two large parties PSOE and PP or strong regional parties (CiU, ERC, PNV, Amaiur , CC, Geroa Bai ) had a realistic chance of winning mandates in past elections . The circle of these parties was expanded in the 2015 election to include the national parties Ciudadanos and Podemos .
senate
For the Senate, in accordance with Article 69 of the Constitution and Article 165 of the Electoral Act, each mainland province elects four senators, the islands of Gran Canaria, Mallorca and Tenerife three senators each, the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla two senators each and the islands or archipelagos Ibiza-Formentera, Menorca, Fuerteventura, Gomera, Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma each have a senator.
The other members of the Senate are determined by the parliaments of the autonomous communities, with each parliament appointing a senator for every 1,000,000 or so inhabitants of the respective community.
Candidates and changes in the party landscape compared to the 2011 election
- List connections of the largest parties
Some changes in the Spanish party landscape mean that a comparison with the election results of the last election in 2011 is sometimes difficult.
Conservatives (PP, UPN, PAR and FAC)
In the 2011 parliamentary elections, the ruling People's Party PP in Navarre ran together with its former sister party Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN). This alliance was re-launched in 2015. The electoral alliance of the PP and the Partido Aragonés (PAR), which started with the PP in 2011, existed again in 2015. The Foro Asturias (FAC), on the other hand, decided not to run ; there was a list connection with the PP.
Left parties (IU and Podemos )
In October 2015, talks between the IU (the traditional left party) and the Podemos party, founded in 2014, about a nationwide joint candidacy failed , so that they ran against each other in the majority of the constituencies. A common list of IU and Podemos came only in the four Catalan constituencies (under the name “ En Comú Podem ” together with the Catalan left party ICV and the left city party Barcelona en Comú ) and in the four Galician constituencies (under the name “ En Marea “Together with the Galician left party Anova-Irmandade Nacionalista ).
Podemos also competed in the Valencia region together with the left regional party Compromís .
In addition to Catalonia and Galicia, the IU competed under the name "Unidad Popular: Izquierda Unida" together with various smaller national or regional left-wing parties (e.g. Chunta Aragonesista ).
Catalan parties
The two bourgeois Catalan parties CDC and UDC had run joint elections since 1979 under the name CiU . This party alliance broke up in June 2015 due to differing views on the question of the relationship between Catalonia and the Spanish state.
In the election for the Catalan regional parliament on September 27, 2015 , the UDC then ran alone, the CDC together with the left ERC in the Junts pel Sí alliance . This electoral alliance was not reissued for the election to the Spanish parliament on December 20, 2015. The CDC joined forces with the Demòcrates de Catalunya party (split from the UDC) and the small Reagrupament Independista party (which stood together with the ERC in 2011) under the name Democràcia i Llibertat (DL). The ERC formed an electoral alliance with the small party Catalunya Sí under the name ERC-CATSÍ . The UDC competed alone. The left anti-system party CUP , which achieved a result of 8.2% in the regional election in September 2015, did not run in the all-Spanish election.
Canarian parties
For the 2011 election, the Coalición Canaria (CCa) joined an electoral alliance with the Nueva Canarias (NC) party . In 2015, the NC decided not to reissue the alliance; instead, the party now joined forces with the PSOE .
Ciudadanos (C's)
The Ciudadanos (C's) party, founded in 2006, ran for elections nationwide in 2008 (result: 0.18%). In 2011 the party renounced its own lists after talks with the UPYD about an electoral alliance failed. In 2015 Ciudadanos competed nationwide again.
EH Bildu
In 2011, the three Basque left-wing parties Eusko Alkartasuna (EA), Aralar and Alternatiba Eraikitzen ran together as an electoral alliance under the name Amaiur . In 2014, these three parties, together with Sortu, which was approved in 2012, formed the party association EH Bildu , which ran for elections as such in the three Basque provinces and Navarre.
Top candidates
The top candidates from the major parties were: Mariano Rajoy (PP), Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), Albert Rivera (Ciudadanos), Pablo Iglesias (Podemos), Alberto Garzón (IU) and Andrés Herzog (UPYD).
Result
House of Representatives
Official end result
The official final result of the election to the House of Representatives:
Eligible voters: 36,511,848
Voters: 25,438,532 (turnout: 69.67%)
invalid votes: 227,219
valid votes: 25,211,313
| ← Spanish parliamentary elections, December 20, 2015 → | ||||||
 |
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| Political party | be right | % Be right | Diff. | Seats | Diff. | annotation |
Partido Popular (PP)_Logo.svg){kind=logo}
|
7,236,965 | 28.71 | −16.33 | 123 | −64 | 1 |
Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE)
|
5,545,315 | 22.00 | −6.76 | 90 | −21 | 2 |
Podemos .svg){kind=small}
|
3,198,584 | 12.69 | +12.69 | 42 | +42 | 3 |
En Comú (Podemos / ICV / EUiA / Barcelona en Comú )
|
929.880 | 3.69 | +2.54 | 12 | +9 | 4th |
Podemos Compromis 
|
673,549 | 2.67 | +2.16 | 9 | +8 | 5 |
En Marea (Podemos / IU / Anova).png){kind=small}
|
410,698 | 1.63 | +1.35 | 6th | +6 | 6th |
Ciudadanos (C's)
|
3,514,528 | 13.94 | +13.94 | 40 | +40 | |
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC)
|
604.285 | 2.40 | +1.34 | 9 | +6 | 7th |
Democràcia i Llibertat (DL)
|
567.253 | 2.25 | −1.92 | 8th | −2 | 8th |
| Partido Nacionalista Vasco (EAJ-PNV) | 302.316 | 1.20 | −0.13 | 6th | +1 | 9 |
Unidad Popular- Izquierda Unida (IU)
|
926,783 | 3.68 | −1.82 | 2 | −6 | 10 |
EH Bildu 
|
219.125 | 0.87 | −0.50 | 2 | −5 | 11 |
Coalición Canaria - Partido Nacionalista Canario (CCa-PNC)
|
81,917 | 0.32 | −0.27 | 1 | ± 0 | 12 |
| NÓS-Candidatura Galega | 70,863 | 0.28 | −0.48 | 0 | −2 | 13 |
| Geroa Bai | 30,642 | 0.12 | −0.05 | 0 | −1 | 14th |
Unión Progreso y Democracia (UPyD)
|
155.153 | 0.62 | −4.08 | 0 | −5 | |
Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (UDC)
|
65,388 | 0.26 | 0 | −6 | 15th | |
Partido Animalista Contra el Maltrato Animal (PACMA)
|
220.369 | 0.87 | +0.45 | 0 | ||
Vox 
|
58.114 | 0.23 | 0 | |||
| other nominations | 211,454 | 0.84 | 0 | |||
| blank ballot paper 16 | 188.132 | 0.75 | ||||
The result (votes and seats) in the individual autonomous communities (regions) and the two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla:
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total seats |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andalusia | 29.10% 21 |
31.53% 22 |
16.86% 10 |
13.77% 8 |
5.77% 0 |
61 | ||||||||
| Aragon | 31.34% 1 6 |
23.06% 4 |
18.56% 2 |
17.21% 1 |
6.16% 0 |
13 | ||||||||
| Asturias | 30.15% 2 3 |
23.27% 2 |
21.33% 2 |
13.56% 1 |
8.45% 0 |
8th | ||||||||
| Balearic Islands | 29.07% 3 |
18.31% 2 |
23.05% 2 |
14.78% 1 |
2.37% 0 |
8th | ||||||||
| Basque Country | 11.62% 2 |
13.25% 3 |
25.97% 5 |
4.09% 0 |
2.94% 0 |
24.75% 6 |
15.07% 2 |
18th | ||||||
| Extremadura | 34.82% 4 |
36.00% 5 |
12.64% 1 |
11.37% 0 |
3.01% 0 |
10 | ||||||||
| Galicia | 37.10% 10 |
21.33% 6 |
9.07% 1 |
25.04% 6 |
23 | |||||||||
| Canaries | 28.54% 5 |
21.99% 3 4 |
23.28% 3 |
11.42% 2 |
3.12% 0 |
8.24% 1 |
15th | |||||||
| Cantabria | 36.94% 2 |
22.42% 1 |
17.84% 1 |
15.25% 1 |
4.42% 0 |
5 | ||||||||
| Castile-La Mancha | 38.17% 10 |
28.38% 7 |
13.62% 1 |
13.76% 3 |
3.58% 0 |
21st | ||||||||
| Castile and Leon | 39.15% 17 |
22.48% 9 |
15.03% 3 |
15.36% 3 |
4.56% 0 |
32 | ||||||||
| Catalonia | 11.12% 5 |
15.70% 4 8 |
13.05% 5 |
24.74% 12 |
15.98% 9 |
15.08% 8 |
47 | |||||||
| La Rioja | 38.35% 2 |
23.71% 1 |
15.82% 1 |
15.13% 0 |
4.19% 0 |
4th | ||||||||
| Madrid | 33.46% 13 |
17.87% 6 |
20.86% 8 |
18.80% 7 |
5.26% 2 |
36 | ||||||||
| Murcia | 40.44% 5 |
20.32% 2 |
15.16% 1 |
17.67% 2 |
3.13% 0 |
10 | ||||||||
| Navarre | 28.93% 5 2 |
15.53% 1 |
22.99% 2 |
7.05% 0 |
4.11% 0 |
9.90% 0 |
5 | |||||||
| Valencia | 31.30% 11 |
19.84% 7 |
15.84% 5 |
4.17% 0 |
25.09% 9 |
32 | ||||||||
| Ceuta | 44.89% 1 |
23.07% 0 |
14.06% 0 |
13.29% 0 |
1.30% 0 |
1 | ||||||||
| Melilla | 43.93% 1 |
24.59% 0 |
11.44% 0 |
15.55% 0 |
1.29% 0 |
1 |
End of bipartidismo imperfecto
As expected after the 2014 European elections, the 2015 regional and local elections and the polls, the 2015 elections brought about a fundamental reshaping of the party landscape at the national level.
This previously existing party landscape has often been described with the catchphrase "imperfect two-party system" (bipartidismo imperfecto) . As a two-party system because at the national level there were two large parties (the conservative PP and the social democratic PSOE) that were far ahead of the other political forces. Since the 1993 elections, these two parties together have always received at least 73% of the vote (high in 2008: 84%). Due to the effects of the electoral system, these two parties have consistently made up at least 85% of the members of the House of Representatives since 1993 (high 2008–2011: 92%). As “imperfect” because this dominant position of the two major parties has led to an absolute majority of the strongest party in only four of the previous ten legislative periods (1982–1986 and 1986–1989: PSOE, 2000–2004 and 2011–2015: PP ). In the remaining legislative periods, the regional parties (above all CiU and PNV, but also CC, ERC, BNG) ensured the governability of the country by the strongest party by voting in favor or abstaining in the election of the prime minister or in votes on bills but without a real coalition government ever taking place at the national level.
In the 2015 election, the two major parties' share of the vote fell to 51% and their share of seats in the House of Representatives to 61%.
In none of the previous legislative periods did the third-strongest force in the House of Representatives ever have more than 23 members. In the 2015 election, however, this threshold was overcome by both the third strongest ( Podemos with 69 seats including the regional lists supported by this party) and the fourth strongest ( Ciudadanos with 40 seats). The negative effects of the electoral system for these two parties for smaller national parties were also kept within limits ( Podemos : 20% of the seats with a share of the vote of 21%, Ciudadanos : 12% of the seats with a share of 14%). One can say that Podemos and Ciudadanos , unlike the IU (0.5% mandate with 3.7% share of the vote), reached the “critical mass” in the 2015 election, from which the electoral system no longer leads to any significant disadvantage .
PP
The conservative previous ruling party PP recorded its worst result since 1993 with almost 29%. Compared to 2011, it lost 16% and over 60 seats, which makes it the clear loser of the election. However, the result of this magnitude was foreseeable after the European, regional and European elections and the PP managed to remain the strongest force with a lead of over 6% in votes and more than 30 mandates over the PSOE. No internal voices were heard after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's withdrawal. He is striving for his re-election as Prime Minister. The formation of a government will be difficult, however, as Ciudadanos' abstention will not be enough on its own in the election of the Prime Minister.
PSOE
The social democratic PSOE recorded the worst result since 1977 in terms of votes as well as seats. Similar to the PP, however, a result of this magnitude was foreseeable. The goal of becoming the strongest force was clearly missed. However, the second place compared to Podemos could be defended by votes and relatively clearly after seats, which was not a matter of course according to the last polls. The PSOE was particularly affected by the emergence of the new forces, both from the left (Podemos) and from the right (Ciudadanos) . Despite this respectable success, a few voices were raised in the PSOE after the top candidate and General Secretary Pedro Sánchez had been replaced.
Podemos
The left-wing protest party Podemos , founded in 2014, can be seen as the main winner of the election. In terms of votes, it was (including the list connections En Comú in Catalonia, En Marea in Galicia and with Compromís in the Valencia region) only slightly behind the PSOE and was the third strongest force in terms of votes and seats over Ciudadanos after they were in the lagged behind them in the polls last month before the election. Compared to the results in the European elections in 2014 and in the regional elections in spring, the result improved again.
With the exception of Catalonia, Galicia and Valencia, Podemos ran for election alone. These Podemos lists alone accounted for 12.7% and 42 mandates.
The three community candidates in Catalonia, Galicia and Valencia contributed 8% and 27 seats. These lists each accounted for 25% in their regions. En Comú was even the strongest force in Catalonia (twelve mandates). En Marea in Galicia and Podemos-Compromís in Valencia took second place with six and nine seats respectively. A considerable number of candidates from the parties allied with Podemos also enter parliament via these community lists .
Of the 27 MPs elected through the Community candidacies, only seven belong to Podemos, five belong to Barcelona en Comú , four to Compromís , three to ICV , two to EUiA , two to Anova-Irmandada Nacionalista , one to IU (Galicia) and one to the City party Ourense en Común . Another two MPs are non-party.
Podemos initially strove to form four parliamentary groups in the House of Representatives (one of the Podemos single candidates and three of the community candidates ). After it became clear that there would be no majority for this in the Presidium of Parliament, a single Podemos group with 65 members was formed. Only the four MPs from the Valencian Compromís party registered their own parliamentary group, the formation of which was rejected by the parliamentary presidium.
In addition, Podemos received the most votes and five seats in the Basque Country with 26% (the PNV won one more seat with 25%).
Ciudadanos
Ciudadanos was only the fourth strongest force behind Podemos, a few weeks before the election, even though it was even tied with PP and PSOE in some polls. Also, the number of seats is not enough to help a PP or PSOE candidate to become Prime Minister by abstaining from voting without the involvement of other parties. Compared to the regional elections, however, Ciudadanos were able to improve consistently by three to eight percentage points with the exception of Catalonia.
IU
With only 4% and two mandates, the IU lost the duel with Podemos for the camp to the left of the PSOE - as had been expected - significantly. However, she was in a community candidacy in Galicia and Catalonia. a. started with Podemos , through which an IU candidate (Galicia) and two EUiA candidates (Catalonia) move into parliament.
Due to the factual threshold clause in most constituencies due to the low number of mandates to be awarded, IU was only able to win mandates in the largest constituency, Madrid. The party thus once again became the “main victim” of the electoral system (only 0.6% of the seats with 3.7% of the vote). It will no longer be able to form its own parliamentary group in the newly elected parliament.
UPYD
The UPYD, which had become the fourth strongest force by votes in the 2011 election, lost its five seats and four percentage points. She thus became the victim of internal party quarrels and the emergence of Ciudadanos , which have a very similar programmatic profile. It is therefore no longer represented in the Spanish parliament and at regional level only in the Basque Country (where the last regional election took place in 2012 and not as in the other regions with the exception of Galicia in 2015).
Catalan parties
In Catalonia, the joint candidacy En Comú ( Barcelona en Comú , Podemos , ICV, EUiA) was the strongest party with 25% of the vote. The left-nationalist ERC recorded its best result in elections to the House of Representatives in Catalonia with 16%. The DL of the Catalan Prime Minister Artur Mas came to only 15%. The UDC, previously represented by six MPs as part of the party alliance that was dissolved in 2015, did not even achieve 2%. It is therefore not represented in the House of Representatives or in the Catalan regional parliament elected in September 2015.
Basque parties
The PNV lost almost three percentage points in the Basque Country and recorded a share of the vote of 25%. With this result, however, it was able to win one more mandate than in 2011 and is now represented by six members in the Chamber of Deputies. EH Bildu suffered considerable losses compared to the results of the Amaiur alliance in the 2011 election. In the Basque Country it was 15%, nine percentage points less than in 2011, and in Navarre it was 10%, five percentage points less. Thus, EH Bildu in the newly elected Parliament with only two deputies represented (five less than in the last election). Geroa Bai lost four percentage points in Navarre compared to 2011 and with now 9% could no longer win a mandate.
Other regional parties
The Coalición Canaria (CCa) came in the Canary Islands to a share of the vote of 8% and thus lost seven percentage points and one mandate compared to the result of CCa-NCa in the 2011 election. NÓS accounted for only 4% in Galicia. Compared to the results of the BNG in the 2011 election, this means a loss of seven percentage points and both mandates.
Factions
The following fractions were formed:
- PP (Grupo Parlamentario Popular en el Congreso) : 119 members
- PSOE (Grupo Parlamentario Socialista) : 89 members
- Podemos (Grupo Parlamentario Podemos-En Comú Podem-En Marea) : 65 members
- Ciudadanos (Grupo Parlamentario Ciudadanos) : 40 members
- ERC (Grupo Parlamentario de Esquerra Republicana) : 9 members
- DL (Grupo Parlamentario Catalán - Democràcia i Llibertat) : 8 members
- EAJ-PNV (Grupo Parlamentario Vasco - EAJ-PNV) : 6 members
According to the House of Representatives' rules of procedure, the other members of parliament are grouped together in the Grupo Mixto ("mixed parliamentary group"). So these are MEPs who have not joined a political group or have not been accepted by any political group. This also includes MPs from parties who do not meet the minimum requirements (mandates or share of votes) for forming a parliamentary group. The Grupo Mixto currently has 14 MPs (the four MPs from Compromís elected via the community list with Podemos , the two MPs from the IU, the two MPs from EH Bildu, the two UPN MPs elected through the joint candidacy with the PP, one from the MP from FAC elected through the Community candidacy with the PSOE, the MP from NCa and the MP from the CCa; in addition, the Grupo Mixto includes MP Pedro Ramón Gómez de la Serna y Villacieros, who is MP from the PP List was chosen for Segovia, but was not accepted by the Grupo Popular due to a benefit- taking affair that has meanwhile become known and has since left the PP).
senate
The Senate is made up of members directly elected by the people and other senators who are determined by the parliaments of the individual autonomous communities (Spanish: Comunidades Autónomas ). The direct election takes place at the same time as the elections for the members of the Congress. The number of indirectly elected senators depends on the population of the respective region (one plus another for every 1 million inhabitants).
In the 11th legislature, the Senate consists of 266 members: 208 directly elected and 58 delegated by the regional parliaments.
For direct voting, the electoral area is divided into 59 constituencies . These are the 47 mainland provinces (with four senators each - regardless of population size), the island constituencies of Gran Canaria, Mallorca and Tenerife (three senators each), Ibiza-Formentera, Menorca, Fuerteventura, Gomera, Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma (one senator each) and the two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla (two senators each), resulting in a total of 208 directly elected senators. It is a question of a person choice. The voter can vote in the four-man constituencies for up to three, in the three- and two-man constituencies for up to two and in the one-man constituencies for one candidate, even spread over several election proposals (" panaschieren "). The candidates with the highest number of votes are elected. The parties only put up the number of candidates in the constituencies that corresponds to the number of votes that the voter has (in four-man constituencies that is three) in order to prevent the potential for voters from being split up. This, and the fact that most voters cast their votes as one group to the candidates of their preferred party, means that the ratio of the seats won by the strongest party to those of the second strongest party in the vast majority of cases in the four-man constituencies 3 : 1, in the three-man constituencies 2: 1 and in the two-man constituencies 2: 0. In the 2015 elections, this was only not the case in the provinces of Girona (DL and ERC two senators each), Granada (PSOE and PP two each) and Tarragona (ERC 2, En Comú 1, DL 1). There is therefore a form of majority voting (see elections in Spain ), which explains the absolute majority of the PP in the Senate in the 2015 election.
The composition of the senators sent by the regional parliaments can change during the legislature (if new regional parliaments are elected during the legislative period), therefore only the composition of the Senate at the beginning of the legislature in January 2016 is given below:
| ← Composition Senate, January 2016 → | ||||
 |
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| Political party |
Senators total |
Senators direct election |
Senators indirectly |
annotation |
| Partido Popular (PP) | 145 | 124 | 21st | 1 |
| Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) | 67 | 47 | 20th | 2 |
| Podemos | 12 | 9 | 3 | 3 |
| En Comú (Podemos / ICV / EUiA / Barcelona en Comú ) | 5 | 4th | 1 | 4th |
| En Marea (Podemos / IU / Anova) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Podemos Compromis | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6th |
| Cambio-Aldaketa (Geroa Bai / EH Bildu / Podemos / IU) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7th |
| Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) | 8th | 6th | 2 | 8th |
| Democràcia i Llibertat (DL) | 8th | 6th | 2 | 9 |
| Partido Nacionalista Vasco (EAJ-PNV) | 7th | 6th | 1 | |
| Coalición Canaria - Partido Nacionalista Canario (CCa-PNC) | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Agrupación Socialista Gomera (ASG) | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Ciudadanos | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| EH Bildu | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
Factions
The following fractions were formed:
- PP (Grupo Parlamentario Popular en el Senado): 143 members (including two PAR-Seantors from the joint candidacy PP-PAR)
- PSOE (Grupo Parlamentario Socialista): 67 members
- Podemos-En Comú-Compromís-En Marea: 23 members
- DL (Grupo Parlamentario Catalán en el Senado - Democràcia i Llibertat ): 8 members
- ERC (Grupo Parlamentario de Esquerra Republicana) : 8 members
- EAJ-PNV (Grupo Parlamentario Vasco en el Senado - EAJ-PNV) : 7 members
- As in the House of Representatives, senators who do not belong to any other political group are grouped together in Grupo Mixto , which has 10 members (the three senators from Ciudadanos , the two senators from CCa-PNC, the senator from the UPN from the community candidacy UPN-PP, the Senator of the FAC from the joint candidacy PP-FAC, the directly elected Geroa Bai- Senator from the joint candidacy Cambio-Aldaketa , the senator from EH Bildu and the senator from the ASG).
Significance of the PP majority in the Senate
The PP majority in the Senate is irrelevant for the formation of a government, since the Prime Minister is elected exclusively by the House of Representatives and the government is only responsible to this Chamber.
Even in the normal legislative procedure, a veto of the Senate can be overruled by the House of Representatives with an absolute majority, after two months even a simple majority is sufficient.
As far as organic laws are concerned, a Senate veto can only be overruled by the House of Representatives with an absolute majority. In this respect, too, the PP majority in the Senate is of no particular importance, since in the case of organic laws the first passage of the law (before the Senate is referred to) requires an absolute majority in the House of Representatives, i.e. the same majority with which a Senate veto is later overruled could.
The PP majority could only play a role in constitutional changes: simple constitutional changes require a 3/5 majority in the House of Representatives and could therefore also be enforced there against the votes of the PP. In the Senate, however, at least an absolute majority is required for the constitutional amendment, which would therefore not be possible against the PP. Even stricter requirements apply to qualified constitutional amendments (“total revision”). These already require a 2/3 majority in the House of Representatives and could therefore not be enforced there against the vote of the PP.
Failed government formation
legal framework
According to the Spanish Constitution, only the House of Representatives is relevant for forming a government: it elects the Prime Minister (Art. 99), the government is responsible only to him (Art. 108).
After exploratory talks with the parties represented in the House of Representatives, the King makes a proposal to the House of Representatives for the office of Prime Minister. The constitution does not specify a deadline for this. This proposal will be voted on after debate, in accordance with the rules of procedure of the House of Representatives in a public roll-call vote, in which the MPs can vote with yes, no or abstention. If the candidate receives an absolute majority (i.e. at least 176 yes-votes), he is elected Prime Minister. If he misses this majority, a second ballot takes place 48 hours later, in which a simple majority is sufficient (more yes than no votes, regardless of the number of abstentions).
If the nominee is not successful in the second ballot either, further proposals will be dealt with in the same way (i.e. with two ballots if necessary).
If two months have passed after the first round of voting on the first proposal without a candidate being elected Prime Minister, both chambers will be dissolved by the King and new elections will be held.
Development up to the dissolution of parliament
Already on the evening of the election there were signs that forming a government would be difficult. Neither a left-wing government (supported by PSOE, Podemos and IU) nor a center-left government (PSOE and Ciudadanos ) nor a center-right government (PP and Ciudadanos ) had the required majority. In the past, the Catalan nationalists in particular had often abstained or approved the election of a prime minister. Due to their support for the independence of Catalonia, these forces (ERC and DL with a total of 17 mandates) are currently on a course of confrontation with both the PP and the PSOE, so that they failed as the majority procurers. The votes of the Ciudadanos MPs alone were not enough to get a PP or PSOE candidate into the office of Prime Minister.
The newly elected chambers were constituted on January 13, 2016. The President of the House of Representatives was elected in the second ballot with the votes of PSOE and Ciudadanos Patxi López (PSOE). Pío García-Escudero (PP) remained President of the Senate.
The first round of exploratory talks by King Felipe VI took place from January 18-22, 2016 . with the representatives of the parties represented in the House of Representatives. In the conversation with the incumbent Prime Minister Rajoy, he asked the king not to propose him for re-election at the moment because he did not have a majority in parliament due to a lack of support from other parties.
This was followed by the second round of exploratory talks from January 27 to February 2, 2016. In response to this, the king proposed the PSOE General Secretary Pedro Sánchez for the post of Prime Minister.
On February 24, 2016, PSOE and Ciudadanos reached a political agreement that a. included that Ciudadanos vote for Sánchez in the election for prime minister. The 130 MPs from these two parties would not be enough for the election if other parties did not at least abstain.
In the first ballot on March 2, 2016, Sánchez received 130 votes (PSOE, Ciudadanos, NCa), there was one abstention (CCa) and 219 against (PP, Podemos, En Comú, En Marea, ERC, DL, EAJ-PNV, Compromís, IU, EH Bildu, UPN, FAC and the non-party Gómez de la Serna). In the second ballot on March 4, 2016, 131 MPs (PSOE, Ciudadanos, NCa, CCa) voted for Sánchez with 219 votes against. He did not get the necessary majority.
In April 2016, joint talks between PSOE, Podemos and Ciudadanos on a possible formation of a government failed. As a result, on April 12, 2016, the king scheduled another round of exploratory talks with the party representatives for April 25 and 26.
After this third round of explorations, the King informed the President of the Chamber of Deputies that there was no candidate with the prospect of being elected Prime Minister and that he would not propose again.
After no prime minister had been elected by May 2, 2016, the chambers were dissolved on May 3, 2016 and new elections were scheduled for June 26, 2016.
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.svg){kind=small} |
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Result | |
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.jpg)
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March 2, 2016 required: absolute majority (176/350) |
Yes | 89 | 40 | 1 |
130/350 |
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| No | 120 | 47 | 12 | 9 | 8th | 6th | 6th | 4th | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
219/350 |
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| abstention | 1 |
1/350 |
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March 4, 2016 required: simple majority |
Yes | 89 | 40 | 1 | 1 |
131/350 |
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| No | 120 | 47 | 12 | 9 | 8th | 6th | 6th | 4th | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
219/350 |
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| abstention |
0/350 |
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Web links
- Homepage of the Junta Electoral Central (Central Electoral Committee) - u. a. Legal texts (Spanish; electoral law also in English)
- Opinion polls in Spain (English)
- Thomas Hanke: Spain 2015: The divided country. In: Handelsblatt . December 26, 2014, accessed April 28, 2016 .
- Fernando Vallespín: Podemos. Spain's new politics. In: Zeit Online . December 15, 2015, accessed April 28, 2016 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.juntaelectoralcentral.es/cs/jec/documentos/GENERALES_2015_Resultados.pdf
- ↑ Real Decreto 977/2015, de 27 de octubre, de disolución del Congreso de los Diputados y del Senado y de convocatoria de elecciones. (PDF) Boletín Oficial del Estado, accessed October 27, 2015 (Spanish).
- ↑ full text
- ↑ Real Decreto 184/2016, de 3 de mayo, de disolución del Congreso de los Diputados y del Senado y de convocatoria de elecciones. In: Boletín Oficial del Estado. May 3, 2016, Retrieved May 3, 2016 (Spanish).
- ↑ Royal Decree No. 977/2015 of October 26, 2015 on the dissolution of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate and the announcement of elections
- ↑ Article 99, paragraph IV
- ↑ Article 99, paragraph V
- ↑ http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/spanien-koenig-felipe-ruft-neuwahlen-aus-a-1090547.html
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