Eastern District is one of the three constituencies ( es, circunscripciones) represented in the

General Junta of the Principality of Asturias The General Junta of the Principality of Asturias (in Spanish: ''Junta General del Principado de Asturias'', in Asturian: ''Xunta Xeneral del Principáu d'Asturies'') is the parliament of Asturias, an autonomous community of Spain. Its Statute o ...

, the regional legislature of the

Principality of Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensiv ...

. The constituency currently elects five

deputies A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ex ...

. It comprises the municipalities of

Amieva Amieva is a municipality in the autonomous community of Asturias, Spain. It is also the name of one of the municipality's subdivisions (''parroquias'', or parish). Amieva municipality is sparsely inhabited, having a resident population of 868 ( ...

Cabrales Cabrales is a municipality in the autonomous community of Asturias, northwestern Spain. It is situated between the Sierra de Cuera and the Picos de Europa, and is a region famous for its Cabrales cheese. Important towns within the municipa ...

, Cabranes, Cangas de Onís, Caravia,

Colunga Colunga () is a municipality in the Autonomous community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It lies on the Cantabrian Sea, and is bordered to the west by Villaviciosa, to the south by Parres and Piloña, and to the east by Caravia. Polit ...

Llanes Llanes (the ''Concejo de Llanes'', ''Conceyu de Llanes'' in Asturian language) is a municipality of the province of Asturias, in northern Spain. Stretching for about 30 km along the coast at the extreme east of the province, Llanes is bound ...

, Nava, Onís,

Parres Parres is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Caravia and Ribadesella, on the east by Cangas de Onís, on the west by Piloña and Colunga, and on the south by Amieva ...

, Peñamellera Alta,

Peñamellera Baja Peñamellera Baja (in Asturian language, Asturian: '' El Valle Baḥu de Peñamellera'') is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is borderered to the north by Llanes and Ribadedeva, to the west by ...

Piloña Piloña () is a municipality in the province and autonomous community of Asturias, northwestern Spain. Its capital is the town of Infiesto. Piloña is bounded to the north by Villaviciosa and Colunga, to the east by Parres, to the west by Nav ...

, Ponga,

Ribadedeva Ribadedeva (; Asturian and Cantabrian: Ribedeva) is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. To the north is the Cantabrian Sea, while to the south lies Peñamellera Baja, to the west Llanes and to the e ...

Ribadesella Ribadesella (Asturian: Ribeseya) is a small municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. Known for its location on the Cantabrian Sea, at the outlet of the River Sella, Ribadesella is a town that forms part ...

and Villaviciosa. The

electoral system An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections ma ...

uses the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest ...

and a

closed-list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

, with a minimum threshold of three percent.

Electoral system

The constituency was created as per the Statute of Autonomy for Asturias of 1981 and was first contested in the 1983 regional election. The Statute provided for sub-provincial divisions of the Principality's territory to be established as multi-member districts in the

, with this regulation being maintained under the 1986 regional electoral law. Each constituency is entitled to an initial minimum of two seats, with the remaining 39 being distributed in proportion to their populations. The exception was the 1983 election, when each constituency was allocated a fixed number of seats: 32 for the Central District, 5 for the Eastern District and 8 for the Western District. Voting is on the basis of

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...

, which comprises all nationals over eighteen, registered in Asturias and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Amendments to the electoral law in 2011 required for Asturians abroad to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote ( es, Voto rogado). Seats are elected using the

and a closed list

, with a threshold of three percent of valid votes—which includes blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. The only exception was in 1983, when a five percent threshold was applied ''regionally''. Parties not reaching the threshold are not taken into consideration for seat distribution. The use of the D'Hondt method might result in a higher effective threshold, depending on the

district magnitude An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

. The electoral law allows for

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

and

federations A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

registered in the interior ministry,

coalitions A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election are required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call—fifteen before 1985—whereas groupings of electors need to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they seek election—one-thousandth of the electorate, with a compulsory minimum of 500 signatures, until 1985—disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.

Deputies

Elections

2019 regional election

2015 regional election

2012 regional election

2011 regional election

2007 regional election

2003 regional election

1999 regional election

1995 regional election

1991 regional election

1987 regional election

1983 regional election

References

{{Autonomous community constituencies in Spain General Junta of the Principality of Asturias constituencies Asturias Constituencies established in 1983 1983 establishments in Spain