Spanish Parliament: structure, procedure for holding elections and dissolution

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

Legislative power in different countries has a different structure. In some states, it is concentrated in the hands of one person (monarch or dictator), in others, the legislative branch of power is in the hands of the parliament, such as in Spain. Below we will talk about the structure and features of the parliament of this state.

Name of the Spanish Parliament

The Spanish Parliament has a long history that goes back to the Middle Ages. It all started back in 1137 in Leon, where the first analogue of the Spanish parliament was created, which included the clergy and nobles. And only in 1188 ordinary citizens were able to get into parliament. Thus began the history of Spanish parliamentarism. Parliament in Spain is called the "Assembly of the Cortes Generales".

Lower House

The structure of the Spanish Parliament is somewhat similar to the highest legislative bodies of the Russian Federation. It consists of two chambers, each of which performs its own functions.

Lower house or whatevercommonly referred to as the "Congress of Deputies", consists of 350-400 deputies elected from various provinces of Spain. Each province is represented by at least two deputies and one additional one for every 175,000 inhabitants.

Upper House

The upper house (or senate) consists of 208 senators. 43 senators are elected by the King of Spain, the order of appointment of the rest is determined by elections, which take place according to the majority system. The election process is rather complicated. Among other things, the number of senators is measured in different numbers:

• 4 senators each are elected from the provinces (constituting a multi-member majoritarian constituency);
• 3 senators each elect the Great Canary Islands, Tenerife, Mallorca;
• 2 each - the cities of Ceuta and Melilla (located on the African continent);
• 1 each - islands, except for the above;

Functions of Parliament

The Spanish Parliament performs several important functions for the state. The first function is to create laws that will complement the legislation of Spain. Parliament can also adopt a new constitution. However, there is one subtlety here. If the creation of a new Constitution begins, then the old parliament of Spain is dissolved, and then a new one begins to form.

An important part of the state is the distribution of finances. The Spanish Parliament is engaged in the formation of the state budget, which has a positive effect on the life of the population, because the Parliament is engaged in the formation of a profitableand expenditure side of the budget. The draft budget construction itself must be put to a vote no later than three months before the end of the previous one (which is one year).

The benefit of such a system lies in the impossibility of changing tax laws just like that, without special need. Interest on government loans is also included in the expense item, which greatly facilitates the work of the entire financial system.

The next function of the Spanish Parliament is the process of electing the Prime Minister of the State, as well as the formation of the highest bodies of state power and the supreme courts of the country.

The Prime Minister is appointed by the lower house of Parliament, through a process called "Position Dispute".

Powers of Parliament

The Parliament of Spain is the highest legislative body of the country, whose Cortes Generales are able to issue the following types of laws: organic, empowering, on the state budget and ordinary. Consider this list in more detail:

1. Organic laws are issued to regulate the most basic areas of society: human rights and freedoms, trade union activities, legislative initiative and so on.
2. Enabling laws allow the government to take control of certain legislative functions of the legislature. It has two forms: standard and urgent. The standard form delegates powers to the government in the form of an ordinary law, with its subject matter, purposes and time limits.regulation by the Spanish government of certain issues. The second form, more urgent, is the decree-laws. This method is used during any emergency situations. But even here there are limitations, because the Spanish Parliament has no right to encroach on the freedom of people, the basic institutions of society, and the electoral system.
3. State budget laws consider the structure of government revenues and expenditures. They relate to changes in the credit system or items of expenditure.
4. Ordinary laws govern everything else.

Despite such legislative force, any law passed by the Spanish Parliament will mean nothing without the vote of the king, who will approve or refute it.

Parliament can change the prime minister of the state by voting. He submits a resignation resolution, which is approved by the Spanish king. After that, a person approved by parliament becomes the prime minister.

Dissolution of Parliament

The King has the exclusive right to dissolve Parliament in Spain for several reasons. There are three in total:

1. During the adoption of the new Constitution, the composition of Parliament is dissolved in order to convene again in a new composition.
2. When candidates for the post of Prime Minister of Spain are rejected within two months.
3. When Parliament passes a constructive vote of no confidence in the government. If the government has not resigned during this time, then the king has the opportunity to dissolve parliament.

Political situation showing Spanish parliamentary elections

The 2016 elections clearly demonstrate the electoral process in parliament, when the seats of the Cortes in parliament were distributed among several parties. Subject to all the subtleties of the elections in Spain, the results were as follows:

1. People's Party won 137 seats in parliament.
2. PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) - "Spanish Socialist Workers' Party" - has 85 representatives in the Spanish Parliament. It is the largest socialist party in Spain. Her symbolism is shown below in the photo.
3. Podemos & Allies won 71 seats in the Spanish Parliament.
4. Party "Citizens" received only 32 votes in the Spanish Parliament.

The rest of the parties received fewer votes (the largest number of seats was given to the "Left Republican Catalonia" - 9 seats)

Based on these statistics, we can conclude that the socialist parties have the upper hand. This means that having a numerical advantage, it will be much easier for them to influence domestic political processes. It is much easier to defend your interests by voting.

The Spanish people are very conscious, in 2016 a huge number of voters came to the elections. Of the entire population of the state, which has the right to vote in elections, the turnout was 66.5%. Spaniardsthe fate of their state and its future is not indifferent.