Congress of Deputies (Spain)

Congress of Deputies Congreso de los Diputados
11th Legislature
Type
Type	Lower house
Leadership
President (Speaker)	Patxi López, PSOE Since 13 January 2016
Vice president	Celia Villalobos, PP Since 13 January 2016
Majority Leader and Prime Minister (In-Office)	Mariano Rajoy, PP Since 20 December 2011
Minority Leader	Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, PSOE Since 28 June 2014
Structure
Seats	350
Political groups	PP (137)      PSOE (85)      Unidos Podemos (71)      En Comú Podem (12)      A la valenciana (9)      En Marea (5)      C's (32)      ERC (9)      CDC (8)      EAJ-PNV (5)      EH Bildu (2)      CC (1)
Elections
Voting system	Party-list proportional representation, D'Hondt method
Last election	26 June 2016
Meeting place
Palacio de las Cortes Madrid, Community of Madrid Kingdom of Spain
Website
www.congreso.es

The Congress of Deputies of Spain, commonly referred to as simply the Congress of Deputies (Spanish: Congreso de los Diputados; Basque: Diputatuen Kongresua; Catalan: Congrés dels Diputats; Galician: Congreso dos Deputados) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch.

It has 350 members elected by constituencies (matching Spanish provinces) by proportional representation using the D'Hondt method. Congressmen serve four-year terms. The President of the Congress of Deputies is the analogue to a speaker and presides over debates.

In the Congress, members of the Parliament from the political parties, or groups of parties, form parliamentary groups. Groups must be formed by at least 15 MPs, but a group can also be formed with only five MPs if the parties got at least 5% of the nationwide vote, or 15% of the votes in the constituencies in which they ran. The MPs belonging to parties who cannot create their own parliamentary group form the Mixed Group.

Congress of Deputies building

The allegorical front of the building

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The building, Congreso de los Diputados, has a neoclassical style. It was designed by Narciso Pascual Colomer, and built between 1843 and 1850. It sits by the Carrera de San Jerónimo, in Madrid. The relief on the facade by sculptor Ponciano Ponzano centers on a sculpture of Spain embracing the constitutional state, represented by a woman with her arm around a young girl. Surrounding the pair are figures that represent in allegorical form Justice and Peace, Science, Agriculture, Fine Arts, Navigation, Industry, Commerce and so on. Ponzano also executed two bronze lions for the building's access stairway in a more realistic manner.

See also

• Canal Parlamento
• List of Presidents of the Congress of Deputies of Spain
• Political parties in Spain

External links

• Media related to Congress of Deputies of Spain at Wikimedia Commons
• Congreso de los Diputados - official website (Spanish)