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1993 Spanish general election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 6 June 1993, to elect the members of the 5th Cortes Generales. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 256 seats in the Senate.
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Felipe González's third term in office had seen Spain completing projects like the Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line and hosting events such as the Seville Expo '92 and the Barcelona '92 Summer Olympics, which contributed to the modernization of the country's international image. Several corruption scandals affecting the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) were uncovered during this period: deputy prime minister Alfonso Guerra resigned in 1991 after his brother was accused of nepotism and tax evasion, and a judicial probe was started on the alleged illegal funding of PSOE campaigns (the "Filesa case"). The outset of the early 1990s recession and its impact on the Spanish economy—amid unemployment growth and rising inflation—forced the government to devalue the peseta three times in nine months. As a result of mounting crises and rising political tension, González chose to call a snap election for June 1993.
Amid a large voter turnout of 76.4%, González's PSOE emerged as the largest party for the fourth consecutive time, though it lost the overall majority it had held since 1982 and fell to 159 deputies. In contrast, José María Aznar's People's Party (PP) gained from the collapse of the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) and made significant inroads, increasing its support to 34.8% of the vote and 141 seats. However, the party fell short of opinion poll predictions that gave it the most seats, which was attributed to González being perceived as decisively defeating Aznar in the second of two head-to-head debates held during the campaign. United Left (IU) remained stagnant, with party leader Julio Anguita having suffered a stroke in the week previous to the election that prevented him from campaigning.
For the first time since 1979, the election brought in a hung parliament, but parliamentary arithmetics meant that the PSOE remained the only party able to form a government. González was forced to seek the support of Catalan and Basque nationalist groups—such as Convergence and Union (CiU) and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)—in order to renew his tenure, in exchange for regional concessions. His fourth government was a minority one, in spite of coalition offerings made to CiU and PNV being rejected.
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Background
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The 175-seat victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the 1989 general election, exactly half of Congress, allowed it to govern with a de facto absolute majority or with minor support from other parties, depending on Herri Batasuna's policy of abstentionism.[1][2] Due to election irregularities reported in a number of constituencies, only 332 deputies were sworn in by Felipe González's investiture as prime minister,[3] prompting him to submit a motion of confidence on his government in April 1990,[4][5] which he won.[6]
Internationally, the country would participate in the multinational military coalition formed in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait leading to the Gulf War (which saw an increase in conscientious objectors to compulsory military service in Spain),[7][8] and in the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, which established the European Union (EU) and provided a roadmap towards a common currency.[9] The establishment of a "European citizenship" required a constitutional reform—the first since the approval of the 1978 Spanish Constitution—to introduce active and passive suffrage in local elections for nationals of EU member states.[10][11] Internally, the 1990 liberalization of the television market saw the first private channels in Spain—Antena 3, Telecinco and Canal+—challenging RTVE's monopoly until then.[12] The approval of a new law of citizen security protection—aimed at repealing the public order legislation in force since the Franco's dictatorship and combating drug-related crimes—came under criticism due to its empowerment to law enforcement to enter a home without the need for a warrant or judicial authorization.[13][14] These provisions (which earned the bill the nickname "kick-in-the-door law") would be eventually overturned by the Constitutional Court in November 1993, prompting the resignation of the law's promoter, interior minister José Luis Corcuera.[15][16]
This period also saw Spain hosting events such as the Madrid Conference of 1991,[17] the Seville Expo '92 and the Barcelona '92 Summer Olympics—which allowed the fledgeling democracy to present itself to the international community as a modern country, different from what it had been under the Francoist regime[18][19]—as well as the completion of major infrastructure projects such as the Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line and the establishment of the first AVE service.[20] However, the Spanish economy was hit hard by the effects of the ongoing international recession: the large investments of these years left public administrations and companies highly indebted, while the 1990 oil price shock affected inflation (whose rise forced the government to devalue the peseta three times in nine months; the last of which, on 13 May 1993, would become known as "Black Thursday"), which was followed by an increase of the unemployment rate.[21][22][23]
ETA intensified its attacks in the early 1990s in the run up to the Barcelona Olympics in order to try to gain worldwide attention; this saw the Sabadell bombing in 1990, the Vic and Mutxamel bombings in 1991, and the 1992 Madrid bombing, as well as a number of attacks in the Netherlands. In March 1992, the group leaders at the time—José Luis Álvarez Santacristina "Txelis", José Javier Zabaleta Elosegi "Baldo", Francisco Múgica Garmendia "Pakito" y José Arregi Erostarbe "Fitti"—were detained in the French commune of Bidart thanks to cooperation between Spanish and French forces.[24]
During these years, a string of political scandals began to undermine the government's public image.[25] Alfonso Guerra resigned as deputy prime minister in January 1991,[26] following a scandal involving his brother Juan—amid accusations of nepotism and tax evasion[27]—which had been ongoing for over a year.[28][29] In May, it was revealed that a number of PSOE-linked companies had been paid hundreds of millions for consultancy works that were never carried out (funds which were allegedly used to illegally fund the party's campaigns in 1989) in what would come to be known as the "Filesa case".[30][31][32] Several months later, health minister Julián García Valverde was forced to abandon politics after revelations that RENFE—a state-owned company which he had presided between 1985 and 1991—had purchased lands at an inflated price that suggested a possible embezzlement.[33][34]
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Other scandals saw the "Ibercorp case" that broke out in February 1992, in which it was unveiled that governor of the Bank of Spain Mariano Rubio owned stock shares in the Ibercorp investment bank, that he had concealed these from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) and that he had amassed a fortune by carrying out financial operations based on privileged information; while Rubio denied all accusations, he was replaced from his post in July.[35][36] In November that year, a scheme to collect illegal kickbacks from the awarding of contracts for the purchase of newsprint used by the Official State Gazette (BOE) printing presses was uncovered.[37][38] The scandal would bring about the arrest one year later of former BOE director, Carmen Salanueva,[39][40] who was also accused of fraud by buying paintings at a low price invoking the name of Queen Sofía and Carmen Romero, spouse of then prime minister Felipe González.[41][42]
The growing unpopularity of the government sewed divisions within the ruling PSOE: starting in its 1990 congress, supporters of deputy secretary-general Alfonso Guerra (colloquially referred to as guerristas) clashed with supporters of prime minister Felipe González (renovadores, Spanish for "renovators") over party control.[43] Opposition to the Socialist government coalesced around the newly-amalgamated People's Party (PP)—formed in 1989 by several right-of-centre parties: the People's Alliance (AP), the Christian Democracy (DC) and the Liberal Party (PL)—and its new party leader, José María Aznar,[44] particularly following the 1991 local and regional elections, which saw the PSOE losing important local governments such as Valencia and Seville,[45][46] as well as the collapse of the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) and the farewell of its leader, Adolfo Suárez, from active politics.[47]
On 12 April 1993, Felipe González announced the dissolution of parliament and the calling of a snap election for 6 June, four months ahead of schedule, to solve "tensions in Spanish political life" that prevented his government from "addressing the economic crisis".[48][49] The rising number of revelations of corruption scandal, internal party divisions, and the increasingly hostile opposition staged by the PP were also said to have González's decision.[50][51]
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Overview
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Electoral system
The Spanish Cortes Generales were envisaged as an imperfect bicameral system. The Congress of Deputies had greater legislative power than the Senate, having the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a prime minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority of votes. Nonetheless, the Senate possessed a few exclusive (yet limited in number) functions—such as its role in constitutional amendment—which were not subject to the Congress' override.[52][53] Voting for the Cortes Generales was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age and in full enjoyment of their political rights.[54][55]
For the Congress of Deputies, 348 seats were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Spain, with each being allocated an initial minimum of two seats and the remaining 248 being distributed in proportion to their populations. Ceuta and Melilla were allocated the two remaining seats, which were elected using plurality voting.[56][57] The use of the electoral method resulted in an effective threshold based on the district magnitude and the distribution of votes among candidacies.[58]
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:[59]
For the Senate, 208 seats were elected using an open list partial block voting system, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties. In constituencies electing four seats, electors could vote for up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, for up to two candidates; and for one candidate in single-member districts. Each of the 47 peninsular provinces was allocated four seats, whereas for insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, districts were the islands themselves, with the larger—Majorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife—being allocated three seats each, and the smaller—Menorca, Ibiza–Formentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma—one each. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each. Additionally, autonomous communities could appoint at least one senator each and were entitled to one additional senator per each million inhabitants.[60][61]
The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacated seats; instead, any vacancies that occurred after the proclamation of candidates and into the legislature's term were to be covered by the successive candidates in the list and, when needed, by the designated substitutes, of which the list was required to include three.[62]
Election date
The term of each chamber of the Cortes Generales—the Congress and the Senate—expired four years from the date of their previous election, unless they were dissolved earlier. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE), with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication.[63] The previous election was held on 29 October 1989, which meant that the legislature's term would expire on 29 October 1993. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 5 October 1993, with the election taking place on the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Cortes Generales on Saturday, 4 December 1993.[64]
The prime minister had the prerogative to propose the monarch to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no state of emergency was in force and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since the previous one.[65] Additionally, both chambers were to be dissolved and a new election called if an investiture process failed to elect a prime minister within a two-month period from the first ballot.[66] Barred this exception, there was no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections to the Congress and the Senate. Still, as of 2025, there has been no precedent of separate elections taking place under the 1978 Constitution.
The Cortes Generales were officially dissolved on 13 April 1993 after the publication of the dissolution decree in the BOE, setting the election date for 6 June and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 29 June.[59]
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Parliamentary composition
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The tables below show the composition of the parliamentary groups in both chambers at the time of dissolution.[67][68]
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Parties and candidates
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Eligibility
Spanish citizens of age and with the legal capacity to vote could run for election, provided that they were not sentenced to imprisonment by a final court's decision nor convicted by a judgement, even if not yet final, which imposed a penalty of forfeiture of eligibility or of specific disqualification or suspension from public office under specific offences: rebellion and terrorism when involving crimes against life, physical integrity or freedom of persons. Other general causes of ineligibility were imposed on the following officials:[71][72]
- Members of the Spanish royal family;
- The president and members of the Constitutional Court, the General Council of the Judiciary, the Supreme Court, the Council of State, the Court of Auditors and the Economic and Social Council;
- The Ombudsman;
- The State's Attorney General;
- High-ranking members—undersecretaries, secretaries-general, directors-general and chiefs of staff—of Spanish government departments, the Prime Minister's Office, government delegations, the Social Security and other government agencies;
- Heads of diplomatic missions in foreign states or international organizations (ambassadors and plenipotentiaries);
- Judges and public prosecutors in active service;
- Personnel of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) and law enforcement corps in active service;
- Members of electoral commissions;
- The chair of RTVE;
- The director of the Electoral Register Office;
- The governor and deputy governor of the Bank of Spain;
- The chairs of the Official Credit Institute and other official credit institutions;
- Members of the Nuclear Safety Council.
Additionally, a number of territorial-level officers in the aforementioned categories were barred from running, during their tenure of office, in constituencies within the whole or part of their respective area of jurisdiction.[71][72] Disqualification provisions for the Cortes Generales extended to any employee of a foreign state and to members of regional governments, as well as the impossibility of running simultaneously as candidate for both the Congress and Senate.[73]
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.[74]
Main candidacies
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:
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Campaign
Election debates
- Opinion polls
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Opinion polls
Results
Congress of Deputies
Senate
Maps
Election results by constituency (Congress).
Vote winner strength by constituency (Congress).
Vote winner strength by autonomous community (Congress).
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Aftermath
Government formation
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Notes
- Results for AIC in the 1989 election.
References
Bibliography
External links
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