The president of the Senate is the
presiding officer of the
Spanish Senate, the upper house of Spain's
Cortes Generales
The Cortes Generales (; en, Spanish Parliament, lit=General Courts) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house).
The Congress of Deputies meet ...
. It is the fourth authority of the country after the
Monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...
(Head of State), the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
(Head of Government) and the
President of the Congress of Deputies
The president of the Congress of Deputies ( es, Presidente del Congreso de los Diputados) is the speaker of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Cortes Generales (the Spanish parliament). The president is elected among the members o ...
(Speaker of the Lower House). The president is elected among and by the incumbent senators. When the president is unable to exercise power, vice presidents of the Senate exercise the powers of the Senate president.
Although it shares the representation of the Cortes Generales with the President of the Congress, the constitutional preponderance granted to the latter due to the asymmetry of the Spanish
bicameralism
Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single gro ...
, allows the President of the Congress to assume the leadership of the Cortes, leaving the President of the Senate in background.
The current office was established by the
1978 Constitution, however, the position has a tradition of almost 200 years, since its creation in 1834 when it was called
President of the House of Peers.
As of the 14th term of the Cortes Generales, the current officeholder is
Ander Gil, a member of the Socialist Parliamentary Group representing
Burgos
Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos.
Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of ...
.
Functions
The functions of the President of the Senate of Spain are:
* To be the Speaker of the House and its representative in all official acts.
* To convene and preside over the sessions of the Senate Plenary and to keep the order of the discussions, direct the debates and convene and preside over the
Senate Bureau.
* To convene and preside over, whenever it deems appropriate, any Senate Committee.
* To announce the agenda of the Senate Plenary.
* To maintain communications with the
central government
A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...
and other authorities.
* To sign, with one of the Secretaries, the messages that the Senate must address.
* To interpret the Senate's standing rules.
* To supply, in agreement with the Bureau of the Committee on Rules, the gaps of this one.
* To ensure observance of the standing orders and of the parliamentary courtesy and parliamentary usage.
* To implement measures regarding parliamentary discipline.
* The President also performs all other functions conferred by the Constitution, the laws and the standing orders
Election
The President of the Senate is elected during the constitutive session which follows the
General Elections of the Kingdom or during the next session following the resignation of the incumbent President.
The election of the President needs an
absolute majority
A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority r ...
in the House. If an absolute majority is not reached in the first vote, a second vote is held immediately after the announcement of the results by the Acting President of the House (the elder senator). The second vote needs only a simple majority (i.e., more "yes" than "no" votes). Each senator is free to write the name he wants on his ballot, even if those senators of the majority group vote for a candidate predefined by their party.
The President's term ends in case of death, resignation, loss of the status of senator or after the dissolution of the Senate, prior to a new general election.
Chapter 2. Article 7. Procedure for the constitution of the Senate. Standing Orders of the Congress.
/ref>
Vice presidents
According to the Standing Rules of the Senate, there are two Vice Presidents of the Senate elected in the constitutive session after the election of the President
Part I § 5
. The Vice Presidents do not need an absolute majority, they are elected in a unique voting and the two most voted candidates are elected
Part I § 5
.
The only task that the standing orders entrust to the Vice Presidents is that to replace the President in cases of vacancy, absence or impossibility to exercise
Part I § 40
.
List of presidents
{{Main, List of presidents of the Senate of Spain
Since its creation in 1834, 43 people have served as president in 62 presidencies. The first president was the Duke of Bailé who served for 60 days before resigning. The shortest presidency was that of the Marquess of Miraflores which was president briefly between August 3 and August 12, 1836 and the longest was that of Javier Rojo serving 7 years, 8 months and 10 days. Many presidents have served in non-consecutive terms in office; The Marquess of Miraflores and Eugenio Montero Ríos served in five non-consecutives terms. The first woman who have served as president was Esperanza Aguirre
Esperanza Aguirre y Gil de Biedma (; born 3 January 1952) is a Spanish politician. As member of the People's Party (PP), she served as President of the Senate between 1999 and 2002 (becoming the first female politician to have held the post), a ...
, between 1999 and 2002. The current and 62nd President is Ander Gil.
References
External links
The President of the Spanish Senate
(fro
senado.es
Senate