Number of Members
In the general elections of 1977, 1979 and 1982, Valencia returned 15 members. That figure was increased to 16 members for the 1986 general election and has remained at that level ever since. Under Spanish electoral law, all provinces are awarded an initial minimum of two seats, while the cities of Ceuta and Melilla must be single member districts. The remaining 248 seats are then allocated to provinces according to their population, ignoring the two minimum seats that they were awarded.
The practical effect of this law has been to over-represent smaller provinces at the expense of larger provinces like Valencia. In 2008, for example, Spain had 35,073,179 voters giving an average of 100,209 voters per deputy. In Valencia, however, the number of voters per deputy was 118,704, in contrast to the smallest provinces of Teruel and Soria where the ratio was 38,071 and 38,685, respectively.
Read more about this topic: Valencia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
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