cond Vice President (and Minister
of Economy and Finance) Rodrigo RATO Figaredo (since 5 May 1996)
cabinet: Council of Ministers designated by the president
note: there is also a Council of State that is the supreme
consultative organ of the government
elections: the monarch is hereditary; president proposed by the
monarch and elected by the National Assembly following legislative
elections; election last held 12 March 2000 (next to be held NA 2004);
vice presidents appointed by the monarch on proposal of the president
election results: Jose Maria AZNAR Lopez (PP) elected president;
percent of National Assembly vote - 44%

Legislative branch: bicameral; General Courts or National Assembly or
Las Cortes Generales consists of the Senate or Senado (259 seats - 208
members directly elected by popular vote and the other 51 appointed by
the regional legislatures to serve four-year terms) and the Congress
of Deputies or Congreso de los Diputados (350 seats; members are
elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation
to serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held 12 March 2000 (next to be held NA March
2004); Congress of Deputies - last held 12 March 2000 (next to be held
NA March 2004)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by
party - PP 127, PSOE 61, CiU 8, PNV 6, CC 5, PIL 1; Congress of
Deputies - percent of vote by party - PP 44.5%, PSOE 34%, CiU 4.2%, IU
5.4%, PNV 1.5%, CC 1%, BNG 1.3%; seats by party - PP 183, PSOE 125,
CiU 15, IU 8, PNV 7, CC 4, BNG 3, other 5

Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Tribunal Supremo

Political parties and leaders: Basque Nationalist Party or PNV [Xabier
ARZALLUS Antia]; Canarian Coalition or CC (a coalition of five
parties) ; Convergence and Union or CiU [Jordi
PUJOL i Soley, secretary general] (a coalition of the Democratic
Convergence of Catalonia or CDC and the
Democratic Union of Catalonia or UDC );
Galician Nationalist Bloc or BNG ; Party of
Independents from Lanzarote or PIL ; Popular Party or PP
; Spanish Communist Party or PCE [Francisco
FRUTOS]; Spanish Socialist Workers Party or PSOE [Joaquin ALMUNIA
Amann, secretary general]; United Left or IU (a coalition of parties
including the PCE and other small parties)

Political pressure groups and leaders: business and landowning
interests; Catholic Church; Euskal Herritarok or EH ;
free labor unions (authorized in April 1977); on the extreme left, the
Basque Fatherland and