Parliament of Catalonia

The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ) is the unicameral legislature of Catalonia. It is formed by 135 members ("diputats"), who are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of Catalonia, by universal suffrage in proportional lists with four constituencies, being this the Catalan provinces. The Parliament building is located in the Ciutadella park.

The most recent parliamentary elections were held on November 28, 2010. The Centre-Left coalition Government, made up of Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV), lost 22 seats, while the Centre-Right parties, Convergence and Union (CiU) and People's Party (PPC), gained a combined 18 seats. CiU now controls 62 of 135 seats, more than twice what any other party holds, but they have yet to negotiate a coalition deal to reach a 68 seat majority.

Also, Catalan Solidarity for Independence (SI), which is a new 2010 electoral coalition of six Catalan independentist minor parties, entered parliament for the first time. They elected 4 deputies to the chamber, making them the 6th largest party.

History

The first representative and legislative bodies in Catalonia were theSanctuary and Truce Assemblies (assemblees de pau i treva), ofwhich the earliest record dates from 1027. These were originallyad hoc, local meetings convened by the Church—Oliba,Bishop of Vic (died 1046) was...
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