Parliament of the Canary Islands

During the Second Spanish Republic, as in the case with other regions of Spain, the Constitution of 1931 established an autonomous community in the Canary Islands presented with its own Statute. During this time, two projects were realized: the Provincial Inter-Island Association in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the College of Commercial Agents in Las Palmas. The unification of two provincial associations, with the creation of a Canarian Parliament was planned. However, the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent course of the new government made its implementation impossible. The Parliament of the Canary Islands was officially established following the approval of the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands on 10 August 1982, although since the adoption of 1978 Spanish Constitution, a legislative institution had already existed and fulfilled its function. The parliament held its first session in its current meeting place on 30 May 1983, under the presidency of Pedro Guerra Cabrera. In commemoration, 30 May is celebrated annually as Canary Islands Day. == Statutory position ==

According to the Organic Law 10/1982 on the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands, the Parliament of the Canary Islands was composed of 60 members. In 2018, the Organic Law 1/2018 on the Reform of the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands and the Law on Elections to the Parliament of the Canary Islands was passed, increasing the number of members to 70. The representatives are elected by the eight electoral districts of the Canary Islands, which in turn correspond to the seven islands of the autonomous community and one regional constituency. Each of these districts elects a different number of representatives: • Fuerteventura: 8 members • La Gomera: 4 members • Gran Canaria: 15 members • El Hierro: 3 members • Lanzarote: 8 members • La Palma: 8 members • Tenerife: 15 members Until 2015, the distribution of members of parliament by island did not strictly correspond to its population, but was based on what was called triple parity. This meant that both provinces elected the same number of representatives, and that both capital islands also had the same number of members of representatives, while the sum of the members of parliament from the non-capital islands was equal to the sum of those from the capital islands. This distribution created a situation where within the same autonomous community there are several of the regional electoral districts with the highest and lowest amount of representatives per capita in Spain. The 2019 elections marked the first time the 2018 Statute reform was applied, adding a common regional constituency of nine representatives to mitigate the disparity in the "weight of the vote" between the central and peripheral islands. An additional representative was also added for Fuerteventura because the previous system allocated it fewer seats than the less populated island of La Palma. The electoral thresholds were lowered. Previously, to gain parliamentary representation, a party had to obtain 30% of the valid votes in an island constituency, or 6% across the entire autonomous community. Now, each party must obtain 15% on each island or 4% at the regional level. == References ==