The Andalusian electoral system, while proportional, incorporates territorial adjustments that influence the value of votes in each province. According to the Statute of Autonomy, the electoral district is the province, and none can have more than double the number of deputies as another, with a total of 109 seats in the Parliament of Andalusia.
The Andalusian Electoral Law establishes an initial minimum of eight deputies per constituency, distributing the remaining 45 based on population. This creates significant differences in the number of representatives per province, such as 18 for Seville or 17 for Málaga, compared to 11 for Huelva and Jaén.
Furthermore, for a candidacy to be considered in the count, it must exceed the 3% threshold of votes cast in its province. This requirement, along with the application of the D'Hont system, benefits less populated provinces, where fewer votes are needed to secure a seat, resulting in an overrepresentation of these areas in the parliamentary arc.
“"The D'Hont system primarily benefits smaller provinces, where parties require fewer votes to gain representation. Certainly, these provinces are overrepresented in the parliamentary arc, due to the initial allocation of eight seats for each as established by law."
The operation of the D'Hont system involves, after exceeding the 3% threshold, dividing the votes of each candidacy successively by 1, 2, 3, and so on, up to the number of seats in the constituency. Seats are allocated to the candidacies with the highest quotients, following the order of candidates on the list. This method aims to prevent parliamentary fragmentation, although in practice, the real barrier to securing a seat can be higher than the legal 3% in some provinces, benefiting larger parties.
