# Cantabria (Senate constituency)

Cantabria is one of the 59 constituencies (Spanish: circunscripciones) represented in the Senate of Spain, the upper chamber of the Spanish parliament, the Cortes Generales. The constituency elects four senators. Its boundaries correspond to those of the Spanish province of Cantabria. The electoral system uses limited voting, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties. Electors can vote for up to three candidates.

## Electoral system

The constituency was created as per the Political Reform Act 1977 and was first contested in the 1977 general election. The Act provided for the provinces of Spain to be established as multi-member districts in the Senate of Spain, with this regulation being maintained under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. Additionally, the Constitution requires for any modification of the provincial limits to be approved under an organic law, needing an absolute majority in the Cortes Generales.
Voting is on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprises all nationals over 18 years of age and in full enjoyment of their political rights. The only exception was in 1977, when this was limited to nationals over 21 years of age and in full enjoyment of their political and civil rights. Amendments to the electoral law in 2011 required for Spaniards abroad to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote (Spanish: Voto rogado), which was abolished in 2022. 208 seats are elected using an open list partial block voting system, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties. In constituencies electing four seats, electors can vote for up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, for up to two candidates; and for one candidate in single-member districts. Each of the 47 peninsular provinces is allocated four seats, whereas for insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, districts are the islands themselves, with the larger—Mallorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife—being allocated three seats each, and the smaller—Menorca, Ibiza–Formentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro (which comprised a single constituency only for the 1977 election), Lanzarote and La Palma—one each. Ceuta and Melilla elect two seats each. Until 1985, the law also provided for by-elections to fill Senate seats vacated up to two years into the legislature.
The electoral law allows for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election are required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call—fifteen before 1985—whereas groupings of electors need to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they seek election—one permille of the electorate, with a compulsory minimum of 500 signatures, until 1985—disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. Also since 2011, parties, federations or coalitions that have not obtained a mandate in either chamber of the Cortes at the preceding election are required to secure the signature of at least 0.1 percent of electors in the aforementioned constituencies.

## Senators

Senators for Cantabria 1977– :
| Key to parties  PSOE  INDEP  UCD  PP  CP  AP |||
| Legislature | Election | Distribution |
| Constituent | 1977 | 1 3 |
| 1st | 1979 | 1 3 |
| 2nd | 1982 | 3 1 |
| 3rd | 1986 | 3 1 |
| 4th | 1989 | 3 1 |
| 5th | 1993 | 3 1 |
| 6th | 1996 | 1 3 |
| 7th | 2000 | 1 3 |
| 8th | 2004 | 1 3 |
| 9th | 2008 | 1 3 |
| 10th | 2011 | 1 3 |
| 11th | 2015 | 1 3 |
| 12th | 2016 | 1 3 |
| 13th | 2019 (Apr) | 3 1 |
| 14th | 2019 (Nov) | 1 3 |
| 15th | 2023 | 1 3 |

## Elections
### 2023 general election

Summary of the 23 July 2023 Senate of Spain election results :
| Candidates | Parties and coalitions | Parties and coalitions | Popular vote | Popular vote |
| Candidates | Parties and coalitions | Parties and coalitions | Votes | % |
| Y Elena Castillo López | | PP | 149,192 | 43.78 |
| Y Severiano Ángel Cuesta Alonso | | PP | 145,487 | 42.70 |
| Y Juan Carlos García Diego | | PP | 143,804 | 42.20 |
| Y Secundino Caso Roiz | | PSOE | 115,215 | 33.81 |
| • Ester Bolado Somavilla | | PSOE | 114,191 | 33.51 |
| • Eugenia Gómez De Diego | | PSOE | 108,825 | 31.94 |
| • Daniel Álvarez Ibáñez | | Vox | 39,566 | 11.61 |
| • Sara María Campos Oceja | | Vox | 37,160 | 10.90 |
| • Marcelino Astobiza Arce | | Vox | 35,638 | 10.46 |
| • Mercedes Boix Rovira | | Sumar | 29,789 | 8.74 |
| • Fernando Agúndez De La Cruz | | Sumar | 23,670 | 6.94 |
| • María Argentina Cabarga Peña | | Sumar | 22,561 | 6.62 |
| • Xose Costa Álvarez | | PACMA | 4,139 | 1.21 |
| • Federico José Saiz Sandoval | | PCTE | 1,757 | 0.51 |
| • Sergio Larredonda González | | Recortes Cero | 1,374 | 0.40 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 6,504 | 1.90 |
| Total | Total | Total | 978,872 | |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 340,700 | 97.36 |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 9,238 | 2.63 |
| Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | 349,938 | 75.28 |
| Abstentions | Abstentions | Abstentions | 114,877 | 24.71 |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | Registered voters | 464,815 | |
| Sources |||||

### November 2019 general election

Summary of the 10 November 2019 Senate of Spain election results in Cantabria :
| Candidates | Parties and coalitions | Parties and coalitions | Popular vote | Popular vote |
| Candidates | Parties and coalitions | Parties and coalitions | Votes | % |
| Y Javier Puente Redondo | | PP | 102,966 | 32.01 |
| Y Amaya Landín Díaz de Corcuera | | PP | 97,872 | 30.42 |
| Y Félix de las Cuevas Cortés | | PP | 87,274 | 27.13 |
| Y María Isabel Fernández Gutiérrez | | PSOE | 83,561 | 25.98 |
| • José Manuel Cruz Viadero | | PSOE | 79,473 | 24.70 |
| • María Rocío Rábago Gómez | | PSOE | 77,941 | 24.23 |
| • Luis Fernando Fernández Fernández | | PRC | 64,339 | 20.00 |
| • Aurora Cuero Fuentecilla | | PRC | 58,118 | 18.07 |
| • Ángel Sainz Ruiz | | PRC | 54,283 | 16.87 |
| • José Luis Temes Ortiz | | Vox | 41,941 | 13.04 |
| • Rodrigo Romero Jiménez | | Podemos–IU | 25,323 | 7.87 |
| • Pablo Ángel González de la Riva | | Podemos–IU | 22,968 | 7.14 |
| • María Rosario Quintana Pantaleón | | Podemos–IU | 22,528 | 7.00 |
| • Ruth Pérez Higuera | | Cs | 19,580 | 6.09 |
| • Agustín Prieto Espuñes | | Cs | 14,969 | 4.65 |
| • Sara Cristina Quintanilla Fernández | | Cs | 14,213 | 4.42 |
| • Laura Tejedor Bonhome | | PACMA | 4,011 | 1.25 |
| • Javier Antonio Peña Fernández | | PACMA | 2,522 | 0.78 |
| • María López Revuelta | | PCPE | 841 | 0.26 |
| • José Jaime Gómez García | | Recortes Cero–GV | 694 | 0.22 |
| • Lorena García Tabarés | | PCTE | 621 | 0.19 |
| • Montserrat Barrio López | | PUM+J | 594 | 0.18 |
| • Arturo Limón Fernández | | EB | 563 | 0.18 |
| • María Pilar Artigas Manero | | EB | 457 | 0.14 |
| • Alejandro Ruiz Benito | | P–LIB | 320 | 0.10 |
| Blank ballots | Blank ballots | Blank ballots | 5,057 | 1.57 |
| Total | Total | Total | 321,694 | |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 321,694 | 97.72 |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 7,521 | 2.28 |
| Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | Votes cast / turnout | 329,215 | 65.62 |
| Abstentions | Abstentions | Abstentions | 172,461 | 34.38 |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | Registered voters | 501,676 | |
| Sources |||||