Allotment of seats in the Congress of Deputies
1. The allotment of seats on the basis of the results of the counting shall be effected under he following rules:
a) No account shall be taken of lists of candidates having polled less than 3 per 100 of the votes validly cast in the constituency.
b) The rest of lists shall be arranged in a column in descending order according to the number of votes obtained by each of them.
c) The number of votes polled by each list shall be successively divided by 1, 2, 3, etc. up to the number of seats to be filled in the constituency, which shall form a similar table to the one shown below, and the seats shall be allotted to the candidates or lists with the biggest quotients in the table, by descending order.
Example: 480,000 votes validly cast in a constituency where eight members are to be elected. Said aggregate number shared by six lists: A(168,000 votes) B(104,000 votes) C(72,000 votes) D(64,000 votes) E(40,000 votes) F(32,000 votes).
Division 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A 168.000 84.000 56.000 42.000 33.600 28.000 24.000 21.000
B 104.000 52.000 34.666 26.000 20.800 17.333 14.857 13.000
C 72.000 36.000 24.000 18.000 14.400 12.000 10.285 9.000
D 64.000 32.000 21.333 16.000 12.800 10.666 9.142 8.000
E 40.000 20.000 13.333 10.000 8.000 6.666 5.714 5.000
F 32.000 16.000 10.666 8.000 6.400 5.333 4.571 4.000
List A consequently obtains four seats, List B two seats and lists C and D one seat each5.
d) Should different lists have the same quotient in the table, the corresponding seat shall be allotted to the list having polled the largest number of votes; if two lists have the same number, the first tie shall be resolved by drawing lots and successive ones in alternate order.
e) Seats allotted to each list shall be assigned to the candidates contained therein by the order in which they are entered.
2. In each of the constituencies of Ceuta and Melilla the seat shall be allotted to the candidate who has polled the largest number of votes.
5 This is called the D’HONDT formula, after the Belgian mathematician who invented it in 1899, its essential element being the so-called “distributing number” (“número repartidor” in Spanish), i.e. the quotient of the table taken as the key for the allotment of seats. This quotient is the smallest one in descending order down to the number of seats to be filled, the eighth in the example, i.e. 42,000 (fourthousand), after 168,000, 104,000, 84,000, 72,000, 64,000, 56,000 and 52,000. This variation of the proportional representation system is the most usual in Western European countries who use proportional representation instead of the majority system.