General Assemblies of Álava

The General Assemblies of Álava (in Basque: Arabako Batzar Nagusiak, in Spanish: Juntas Generales de Álava) are the parliament of Álava, a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country.

The General Assemblies are integrated by 51 members for a period of four years. The General Assembly meets at the Province Palace in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Functions
Among the powers of the General Assemblies are:
 * Approval of chartered rules, through which matters in which the province has competences are regulated. When it comes to exclusive powers of the province, these regional regulations have rank equivalent to law. Among the matters in which Álava has exclusive powers are the operation of chartered bodies such as the Provincial Council or the General Assembly themselves; the budgets and accounts of Álava, the sector plans, the tax regime, the tax and financing regime of the town councils, provincial and local assets and local demarcations.
 * Election of the General Deputy of Álava, who is the head of the government of the province.
 * Approval of the budgets of the province.
 * Monitor and develop the activity of the Provincial Council.

Election
The General Assemblies have 51 members, elected by proportional representation for each constituency, which in this case corresponds to the comarcas of the province. 39 members are returned for Vitoria-Gasteiz, which contains the largest municipality of the province. Five members are returned for Ayala, and seven for Tierras Esparsas, which contains the five remanining comarcas: Gorbeialdea, Llanada Alavesa, Añana, Montaña Alavesa and Rioja Alavesa. A threshold of the 3% is established for having any seats.

Elections to General Assembly are called by the General Deputy (in Spanish: Diputado General). The election date and period from calling elections to polling day always coincide with local election periods.

Candidates to General Assembly are subject to the same requirements as those presenting their candidatures to other elections: i.e., to the stipulations of the Spanish law governing elections. Candidates are announced 27 days after the call to elections, provided of course they comply with the regulations. The campaign begins 38 days after elections are announced, by which time the political parties have to provide their lists of candidates. The campaign lasts 15 days and ends at midnight on the penultimate day before polling.

Presidents of the General Assembly
The President of the General Assembly of Álava is the presiding officer of that legislature.