Kingdom of Spain: Senate, 26 June 2016

At stake in this election:

• 208 seats in the Senado (Senate)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: King FELIPE VI (since 19 June 2014)
• Head of Government: Acting Prime Minister Mariano RAJOY (since 20 December 2011)
• Assembly: Spain has a bicameral Las Cortes Generales (General Courts) composed of the Senado (Senate) and Congreso de los Diputados (Congress of Deputies). There are 266 seats in the Senate and 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies.  

Description of electoral system:

• In the Senate, 208 members are directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, while 58 members are appointed by regional legislatures. Members of the Senate serve 4-year terms.  

Last Election:

• Elections for the Senate were last held on 20 December 2015. In this election, the Popular Party won 124 seats, followed by the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party which won 47. Aside from these two parties, “Podemos” won 9 seats, Republican Left of Catalonia won 6, Democracy and Freedom won 6, the Basque Nationalist Party won 6, En Comú Podem won 4, the “En Marea” coalition won 2, and the Commitment Coalition, Cambio Aldaketa, Canarian Coalition, and Gomera Socialist Group took 1 seat each.

Note: In Congress, no party secured enough seats for a majority and no alliances were formed. King Felipe dissolved parliament and a new round of general elections have been scheduled for June.

Main parties in the election:

• People’s Party (PP)/Partido Popular
  • Leader: Mariano RAJOY Brey
  • Seats won in last election: 124
• Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party/Partido Socialista Obrero Español
  • Leader: Pedro SáNCHEz Pérez-Castejón
  • Seats won in last election: 47
• “We Can”/Podemos
  • Leader: Pablo IGLESIAS Turrión
  • Seats won in last election: 9
• Republican Left of Catalonia/Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
  • Leader: Oriol JUNQUERAS I Vies
  • Seats won in last election: 6
• Democracy and Freedom/Democrácia I Llibertat
  • Leader: Francesc HOMS Molist
  • Seats won in last election: 6
• Basque Nationalist Party/Partido Nacionalista Vasco
  • Leader: Andoni ORTUZAR Arruabarrena
  • Seats won in last election: 6
• In Common We Can/En Comú Podem
  • Leader: Ada COLAU Ballano
  • Seats won in last election: 4
• “En Marea” coalition/Coalición “En Marea”
  • Leader: N/A[1]
  • Seats won in last election: 2
• Commitment Coalition/Coalición Compromís
  • Leader: Mónica OLTRA Jarque and Enric MORERA i Catalá
  • Seats won in last election: 1
• Cambio-Aldaketa
  • Leader: Carlos PÉREZ
  • Seats won in last election: 1
• Canarian Coalition/Coalición Canaria
  • Leader: Claudina MORALES Rodriguez
  • Seats won in last election: 1
• Gomera Socialist Group (ASG)/Agrupación Socialista Gomera
  • Leader: Casimiro CURBELO
  • Seats won in last election: 1

Population and number of registered voters:

·         Population: 48,146,134 (July 2015 est.)

·         Registered Voters: 34,631,086 (2015)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 24,377,013 (July 2015 est.)

·         Is Spain a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Spain ratified CEDAW: Yes (5 January 1984)

·         Gender Quota: Yes[2]

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 244 (39.61%)[3]

·         Human Development Index Position: 26 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Very Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Spain a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Spain ratified CRPD: Yes (3 December 2007)

·         Population with a disability: 2,810,000