Government of Spain

The Government of Spain

Political System

Spain is a parliamentary monarchy. Chief of state is the hereditary monarch and the head of government is the President of the Government. The President designates the cabinet which is called the Council of Ministers. Spain is also has a bicameral legislative branch. The General Courts or National Assembly or Las Cortes Generales consists of the Senate or Senado and the Congress of Deputies or Congreso de los Diputados (CIA World Factbook). In order for legislation to pass the two chambers must agree. Proposals of laws issued by the Senate are discussed at Congress in a Plenary Session in order to be accepted or tabled veto or be amended. The proposal of the law passes to the study of a Commission. The Commission writes a short text about the proposal which will be discussed and voted in Plenary Session. Once the text is approved by the Congress proposal of law is submitted by its President to the Senate. Senate may then accept, block a veto or make amendments. If Senate rejects the text by an absolute majority then the text goes back to Congress which can at that point either approve the bill or proposal of law by the same majority required at the Senate or Congress can wait for two months and approve the text by a simple majority. In both cases the text is the one approved initially by Congress. If Senate introduces amendments, Congress only has to accept or reject them by a simple majority. If the text is accepted without any modifications then the text is ready to be sanctioned by the King (U.S. Library of Congress).

Electoral System

A party must obtain a minimum of 3 percent of the vote in order to qualify for parliamentary representation. Each province is to have a minimum of two seats in the Congress of Deputies, plus one additional seat for every 144,500 inhabitants or fraction over 70,000 inhabitants (U.S. Library of Congress). Members of Congress are elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation to serve four-year terms. Each province is allotted four seats in the Senate, regardless of population. Members of the Senate are directly elected by popular vote for 208 seats and 51 are appointed by the regional legislatures to serve four-year terms (CIA World Factbook).

Election Results/ Party System

As of today the number of parties present in the Senate totals six. The parties represented in the Senate are the Popular Party (PP) which is the conservative party that has normally won past elections except for the most reason due to the fact of their support of the unpopular U.S.-led Iraq war; the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), which is the oldest party and a leftist in the nation of Spain, its goal is to obtain a voice for the working class within the political system (The Library of Congress Country Studies); the Entesa Catalonia de Progress which is a Senate coalition grouping four Catalan parties (PSC, ERC, ICV, EUA), the Convergence and Union (CiU), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), and the Canarian Coalition (CC).

Party Name Vote Shares Seats Seat Shares

Popular Party 49% 102 49.1%

Spanish Socialist Workers Party 38.9% 81 38.9%

Entesa Catalonia de Progress 5.7% 12 5.8%

Convergence and Union 1.99% 4 1.9%

Basque Nationalist Party 2.8% 6 2.9%

Canarian Coalition 1.4% 3 1.4%

Total: 99.79% Total: 208 Total: 100%

In the Congress there are seven parties that hold seats and eight seats in the Congress of Deputies are held by non-partisan members. The parties represented in the Congress of Deputies are the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), the Popular Party (PP), the Convergence and Union (CiU), the Left of Catalonia (ERC), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), the United Left (IU), Canarian Coalition (CC), and others.

Party Name Vote Shares Seats Seat Share

Spanish Socialist Workers Party 43.3% 164 46.8%

Popular Party 37.8% 148 42.2%