Congress of Deputies

Congress of Deputies

*Congreso de los Diputados*
Co-official languages
Basque: *Diputatuen Kongresua*
Catalan: *Congrés dels Diputats*
Galician: *Congreso dos Deputados*
Aranese: *Congrès des Deputats*
Congress of Deputies ; Congreso de los Diputados; Co-official languages Basque: Diputatuen Kongresua; Catalan: Congrés dels Diputats; Galician: Congreso dos Deputados; Aranese: Congrès des Deputats
15th Congress of Deputies
Type
Type	Lower house of the Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain
History
Founded	1834
Leadership
President	Francina Armengol, PSOE ; since 17 August 2023
First Vice President	Alfonso Rodríguez Gómez de Celis, PSOE ; since 3 December 2019
Second Vice President	José Antonio Bermúdez de Castro, PP ; since 17 August 2023
Third Vice President	Esther Gil de Reboleño Lastortres, SMR ; since 17 August 2023
Fourth Vice President	Marta González Vázquez, PP ; since 17 August 2023
Structure
Seats	350
Political groups	Government (147) PSOE (120); Sumar (27); Supported by (32) ERC (7); Junts (7); EH Bildu (6); EAJ/PNV (5); Podemos (4); BNG (1); CCa (1); Independent (1); Opposition (171) PP (137); Vox (33); UPN (1);
Elections
Voting system	Party-list proportional representation,; D'Hondt method
Last election	23 July 2023
Meeting place
	Palacio de las Cortes; Madrid, Community of Madrid; Kingdom of Spain
Website
	congreso.es
Rules
	Standing Orders of the Congress of Deputies (English)

The Congress of Deputies (Spanish: Congreso de los Diputados) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament (Palacio de las Cortes) in Madrid.

Congress has 350 members elected from fifty-two constituencies (the fifty provinces and two autonomous cities) using closed list D'Hondt proportional representation. Deputies serve four-year terms. The presiding officer and speaker is the President of the Congress of Deputies, who is elected by the members at the first sitting of Congress after an election.

The two principle actors in Congress are parliamentary groups and parliamentary committees (Spanish: comissiones). All MPs are required to be members of a parliamentary group^[1], the institutionalised form of political parties. Groups act with one voice represented by their spokesperson. In other words the Spanish Parliament is a parliament of groups, not individual MPs who are constrained to act only as part of the group.^[2]^[3] MPs can only act autonomously when submitting oral or written questions.^[4]

As a result of the 2019 general election, there were 168 female deputies or 48% of all members, making Spain the European country with the highest percentage of women in parliament, surpassing Sweden and Finland.^[5]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

^ Congress Standing Orders, Section 23.
^ Sánchez de Dios 1999, p. 150,159.
^ Jalali & Rodríguez Teruel 2019, p. 49,52.
^ Jalali & Rodríguez Teruel 2019, p. 52.
^ "Which European country has the most female politicians?". The Economist. 3 May 2019. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 13 June 2019.

[FOOTNOTECongress_Standing_OrdersSection_23-3] Congress Standing Orders, Section 23.

[FOOTNOTESánchez_de_Dios1999150,159-4] Sánchez de Dios 1999, p. 150,159.

[FOOTNOTEJalaliRodríguez_Teruel201949,52-5] Jalali & Rodríguez Teruel 2019, p. 49,52.

[FOOTNOTEJalaliRodríguez_Teruel201952-6] Jalali & Rodríguez Teruel 2019, p. 52.

[7] "Which European country has the most female politicians?". The Economist. 3 May 2019. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 13 June 2019.

[a]

[b]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]