Senate of Spain

The composition of the Senate is established in Part III of the Spanish Constitution. Each senator represents a province, an autonomous city or an autonomous community. Each mainland province, regardless of its population size, is equally represented by four senators; in the insular provinces, the big islands are represented by three senators and the minor islands are represented by a single senator. Likewise, the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla elect two senators each. This direct election results in the election of 208 senators by the citizens. In addition, the regional legislatures also designate their own representatives, one senator for each autonomous community and another for every million residents, resulting in a total of 58 additional senators.


The Spanish Senate is constitutionally described as a territorial chamber. Consequently, although in general its powers are similar to those of the Congress of Deputies, it is endowed with exceptional powers such as authorising the Government to apply direct rule to a region or to dissolve local government councils. The presiding officer of the Senate is the president of the Senate, who is elected by the members at the first sitting after each national election.

The Spanish parliamentary system is bicameral but asymmetric. The Congress of Deputies has more independent functions, and it can also override most Senate measures. Only the Congress can grant or revoke confidence in the Prime Minister.


Either house may propose an ordinary law (or bill, Spanish: proyecto de ley). A bill passed by Congress can be amended or vetoed by the Senate in which case the bill is then sent back to the lower house, which can override these objections by an absolute majority vote. Organic laws, which govern basic civil rights and regional devolution, need an absolute majority of both congress and senate to pass.


The process for constitutional amendments is more complicated: the rule is to require a three fifths (60%) of both houses, but if the Senate does not achieve such a supermajority and a joint congress-senate committee fails to resolve the issues, the Congress may force the amendment through with a two-thirds vote as long as an absolute majority of the Senate was in favour. But for some specific types of amendments including those related to most clauses related to human rights, both houses must approve of the amendment by a two thirds vote, and an election must be held and the amendment must pass by a two thirds vote a second time, and if that is approved, the people must vote for the amendment in a referendum by majority vote.


The Senate has certain exclusive functions including


Senate reform has been a topic of discussion since the early days of Spanish democracy. One proposal would advance the federalization of Spain by remaking the Senate to represent the autonomous communities of Spain.