Second-Tier Elections in Provincial Councils

In the electoral system of provincial councils, members are elected by the city councillors of each political party, coalition, federation or association of voters from among themselves based on the votes won in the municipal elections. Due to the singularity of this system, members are elected necessarily after the constitution of city councils, once the provincial electoral board has distributed the seats among the constituencies that comprise each province and the area provincial boards have allotted the positions as members of provincial councils that correspond to the most voted parties, coalitions, federations and associations of voters in each constituency. This work will offer an analysis of the reasons that led to this second-tier electoral system and of each of the stages that comprise the electoral procedure; it will also explore some of the most characteristic and unusual elements that form it, such as the use of judicial parties as constituencies, the importance granted to political parties and the existence of as many second-tier polling stations as candidates with seats in each constituency.