- General elections in Spain 2023: latest news, live
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This Sunday, July 23, citizens have marked on the calendar one of the most important events of the year, the general elections. Thus, with the votes of almost 37 million people, the members of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate in Spain will be renewed. The importance of these elections lies in the fact that the two chambers of the Cortes Generales represent the citizens and are the basis of the Legislative Power in our country.. Deputies and senators mark the policies that will be carried out in the next four years. In addition, the new deputies propose the candidate who will become the future president of the Government.
It has been clear, since the beginning of the electoral campaign, that the formations fight to be the first political force. Now the ball is in the court of those who go to vote at the polling stations from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m..
As established in the Constitution, they are elected by “universal, direct and secret suffrage”. In the case of the members of Congress -made up of 350 deputies-, citizens vote for closed lists, that is, they must insert a ballot paper with the candidates of their political party or chosen group in the envelope.. The Senate is elected through open lists and candidates from different formations can be elected on the same ballot.
Absolute and simple majority
The votes are counted by electoral constituencies and in Spain there are 52 for the Congress of Deputies, which correspond to the 50 Spanish provinces plus the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. After the scrutiny, the seats are distributed through the D'Hondt Law that determines how the votes are distributed for the candidate. For the Congress, 350 deputies are elected and for the Senate, a total of 208 senators..
An absolute majority in the Cortes Generales means obtaining more than half of the seats plus one. In this way, and as the Lower House is made up of 350 deputies, half is situated at 175. Thus, the absolute majority is 176 seats. To achieve a simple majority, it is required that the votes in favor add up to more than the votes against.. Likewise, the total number of voters is not taken into account, but the votes that are considered invalid or blank and the abstentions in other types of voting are taken into account..