Madrid Assembly - Membership

Membership

See also: Elections to the Madrid Assembly, 2011

The legislature is currently (as of 2012) made up of 129 deputies, elected all at once in closed party lists for terms of 4 years. Seats are allocated using the proportional D'Hondt method in one constituency, which makes the Madrid Assembly one of the biggest parliaments in the world with one only constituency. In 2007, this fact moved President Esperanza Aguirre to propose splitting the Community of Madrid into twelve constituencies of 9 to 15 AMs each. The alleged benefit was increasing the contact between statesmen and their electors, but the reform was rejected by the rest of parties in the Assembly on the grounds that it was not a pressing matter, and it would alter the composition of the assembly in favour of the most voted party. Eventually, the proposal was abandoned even though President Aguirre had the majority to pass it through the Assembly, because it would be defeated in the Cortes Generales as it had to be done through a process of reform of the Charter of Autonomy.

Parties that obtain more than 5AMs can form a parliamentary group, in order to organise and participate in the debates and committees of the assembly. Parties that do not reach that number of seats will be part of the mixed group. Currently the threshold for obtaining seats in the Madrid Assembly is 5% of the total votes cast including votes "en blanco" i.e. for "none of the above", thus making it mathematically impossible for a party to obtain less than five seats.

e • d Summary of the 22 May 2011 Madrid Assembly elections results
< 2007 2015 >

Party		Popular Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	PP	1,548,306	51.73	1.56	72	5
	Socialist Party of Madrid	786,297	26.27	7.30	36	6
	United Left/The Greens	287,707	9.61	0.36	13	2
	UPyD	189,055	6.32	6.32	8	8
	Other parties	110,412	3.72	1.16	0	0
Blank votes		71,458	2.35	0.63
Valid votes		2,993,235	98.32	1.23
Invalid votes		51,114	1.68	1.23
Totals and voter turnout		3,044,349	65.86	1.45	129	9
Electorate		4,622,750	100.00	—
Source: Asamblea de Madrid