Badajoz is one of the two constituencies (Spanish: circunscripciones) represented in the Assembly of Extremadura, the regional legislature of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura. The constituency currently elects 36 deputies. Its boundaries correspond to those of the Spanish province of Badajoz. The electoral system uses the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional voting system, with an electoral threshold of five percent.
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Electoral system
The constituency was established under the Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura of 1983 and was first contested in the 1983 regional election. The Statute (reformed in 2011) provides for the two provinces in Extremadura—Badajoz and Cáceres—to be set as multi-member constituencies in the Assembly of Extremadura, each of which is assigned an initial minimum of 20 seats and the remaining ones are distributed in proportion to population. The exception was the 1983 election, when each constituency was allocated a fixed number of seats. Seats are elected using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a five percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency; alternatively, parties may also enter the seat distribution as long as they run candidates in both constituencies and reach five percent regionally. In 1983, the threshold was three percent in each constituency. The law does not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term are filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes.
Voting is based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in the constituency and with full political rights. Amendments in 2011 required non-resident citizens to apply for voting, a system known as "begged" voting (Spanish: Voto rogado), which was abolished in 2022 and attributed responsibility for a major decrease in the turnout of Spaniards abroad during the years it was in force. Additionally, those legally incapacitated were also barred from voting before amendments in 2018 granted them the right to vote.
The electoral law allows for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance are required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 days of the election call—15 before 1985—whereas groupings of electors need to secure the signature of at least two percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they seek election (before 1985 this was one permille, with a compulsory minimum of 500 signatures), disallowing electors from signing for more than one list. Amendments in 2007 required a balanced composition of men and women in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition; amendments in 2024 reinforced these through the use of a zipper system.