Vote to measure farm organizations' representativeness and new Agrarian Council

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1. The representativeness of farm organizations will be decided through a direct vote among farmers, held across Spain at the same time and repeated every five years.
2. Organizations will be considered most representative if they get at least 15% of valid votes statewide and, in addition, at least 5% in six autonomous communities.
3. The Ministry will build a voter census. Self-employed farm workers and people receiving common agricultural policy payments over €5,000 a year are included automatically. Those declaring farm income of at least 25% of their total income, and farm companies with minimum revenue of €10,000, may also register.
4. The Agrarian Council is created as an advisory body of the Ministry of Agriculture with ten members proposed by the most representative organizations. Seats are allocated proportionally to votes using the d'Hondt method.
5. Fines are set for authorities, civil servants and individuals who commit irregularities in the vote, such as voting twice or pressuring voters, ranging from €150 to €6,000.
6. The law repeals Law 10/2009 and its implementing regulation. The Agrarian Advisory Committee will keep working until the new Agrarian Council is set up, and the law takes effect twenty days after publication in the official gazette.

Who it affects

• Farmers, livestock breeders and foresters as individuals: Must take part in the vote if listed in the census, and can vote in person or by mail.
• Farm civil and commercial companies: Can register in the census if their sole corporate purpose is farming and they bill at least €10,000.
• National farm professional organizations: Can run as candidates; if they pass the vote thresholds, they are deemed most representative and propose council members.
• Authorities, civil servants and polling board members: Must follow the rules of the vote or face fines.

Words worth knowing

Órgano consultivo (advisory body)

A body that advises and informs the Administration but does not make decisions itself.

Ley d'Hondt (d'Hondt method)

A mathematical system to allocate seats proportionally to votes received.

Censo (census)

Official list of people entitled to take part in the vote.

BOE

Boletín Oficial del Estado, the official gazette where Spanish laws are published.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries