Gipuzkoa

Gipuzkoa (in Basque and also the official form since 2011; in Spanish: Guipúzcoa; French: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques at the northeast, with the province and autonomous community of Navarre at east, Biscay at west, Álava at southwest and the Bay of Biscay to its north. It is located at the easternmost extreme of the Cantabric Sea, in the Bay of Biscay. It has 66 km of coast land.

With a total area of 1,980 square kilometers, Gipuzkoa is the smallest province of Spain. The province has 89 municipalities and a population of 715,148 inhabitants (2014), from which more than half live in the Donostia-San Sebastián metropolitan area. Apart from the capital, other important cities are Irun, Errenteria, Zarautz, Mondragón, Eibar, Hondarribia, Oñati, Tolosa, Beasain and Pasaia.

The oceanic climate gives the province an intense green color with little thermic oscillation. Gipuzkoa is the province of the Basque Country where the Basque language is most extensively used: 49.1% of the population speak Basque.

Gipuzkoa (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Gipuzkoa is one of the 52 electoral districts (Spanish: circunscripciones) used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It elects six members of the three hundred and fifty in the Congress. It is situated in the Basque Country and the largest city is Donostia-San Sebastián.

Boundaries and electoral system

Under Article 68 of the Spanish constitution the boundaries must be the same as the province of Gipuzkoa and under Article 140 this can only be altered with the approval of congress. Voting is on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The electoral system used is closed list proportional representation with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. Only lists which poll 3% or more of all valid votes cast, including votes "en blanco" i.e. for "none of the above" can be considered for seats. Under article 12 of the constitution, the minimum voting age is 18.

Eligibility