IFES Election Guide | Country Profile: Catalonia (Autonomous Community of Spain)

Catalunya (Comunitat autònoma d'Espanya)

7,600,065	7
Population (as of Feb. 8, 2019)	Elections in our database
5,510,853	63.27%
Registered Voters (as of March 23, 2016)	Average Turnout

Name	Official Name	Type
Catalan Parliament	Parlament de Catalunya	Assembly

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: King JUAN CARLOS
Head of Government: President of the Government Pedro SÁNCHEZ
Assembly: Spain has a bicameral The General Courts (Las Cortes Generales) consisting of the Senate (Senado) with 257 seats and the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) with 350 seats.[ii]

Description of electoral system:

The King is hereditary head of state.
President of the Government is elected by parliament.[iii]
In the Senate (Senado), 208 members are elected by plurality vote in multi-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 49 members are appointed by regional legislatures to serve 4-year terms. In the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) 350 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.[iv][v]

[i] The current President of the Catalan regional government, the Generalitat, is Quim TORRA.

[ii] Catalonia has a regional government, the Parliament of Catalonia (Parlament de Catalunya) with 135 seats.

[iii] The President of the Generalitat is nominated by the party with the most seats in the Parliament and approved by parliamentary vote.

[iv] Members are elected in 50 multi-member districts using the D'Hondt method, with the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla electing one member each using plurality voting.

[v] Members of the Parliament of Catalonia (Parlament de Catalunya) are elected by closed-list proportional representation in 4 electoral districts (Barcelona (85 seats), Girona (17 seats), Lleida (15 seats), and Tarragona (18 seats)). Seats are allocated using the D’Hondt method, and political parties must cleat the 3% threshold to gain seats in the electoral district.

Elections

Election For	Date	Votes	Registered Voters	Turn Out
Catalan Parliament	1995-11-19	3,232,959	5,079,981	63.64
Catalan Parliament	1999-10-17	3,133,926	5,293,657	59.2
Catalan Parliament	2003-11-16	3,319,276	5,307,837	62.54
Catalan Parliament	2006-11-01	2,982,108	5,321,274	56.04
Catalan Parliament	2010-11-28	3,152,630	5,363,688	58.78
Catalan Parliament	2012-11-25	3,668,310	5,413,868	67.76
Catalan Parliament	2015-09-27	4,130,196	5,510,853	74.95

Voter Turnout

Hover to view election details.