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1918 Spanish general election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 24 February (for the Congress of Deputies)[a] and on Sunday, 10 March 1918 (for the Senate), to elect the members of the 17th Restoration Cortes. All 409 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.
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The election was held in the wake of the Spanish crisis of 1917, a series of events that threatened the government and the Restoration system by posing a three-way challenge: military (the Defence Juntas, a military union movement created without the approval of the Spanish legislature), political (the Assembly of Parliamentarians in Barcelona demanding a recognition of regional autonomy) and social (the 1917 general strike in response to the worsening living conditions of the working classes). These three challenges were aggravated by the rising cost of living and high inflation rates resulting from the economic boom sparked by Spain's neutrality in World War I and an uneven redistribution of national income.
The resulting parliament was the most fragmented since the approval of the 1876 Constitution, with neither the ruling liberal bloc of Prime Minister Manuel García Prieto nor the opposition conservative bloc under Eduardo Dato beinge able to muster a parliamentary majority. Amid growing unstability, the feeling that no one was willing or able to seize power and the threat of a possible abdication of King Alfonso XIII, a national unity government was formed between the Conservative, Liberal Democratic, Liberal, Liberal Left, Maurist and Regionalist League parties with Antonio Maura as new prime minister.
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Background
The Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a constitutional monarchy, awarding the monarch the right of legislative initiative together with the bicameral Cortes; the capacity to veto laws passed by the legislative body; the power to appoint senators and government ministers; as well as the title of commander-in-chief of the army and navy. The monarch would play a key role in the system of el turno pacífico (English: the Peaceful Turn) by appointing and dismissing governments and allowing the opposition to take power. Under this informal system, the two major political parties at the time, the Conservatives and the Liberals—characterized as elite parties with loose structures dominated by internal factions, each led by powerful individuals—alternated in power by means of election rigging, which they achieved through the encasillado, assignating the seats in the general elections before they were held by using the links between the Ministry of Governance, the provincial civil governors and the local bosses (caciques) to ensure victory and exclude minor parties from the power sharing.[2][3] The result was "a liberal system without democracy".[4]
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Electoral system
The Spanish Cortes were envisaged as "co-legislative bodies", based on a nearly perfect bicameral system. Both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate had legislative, control and budgetary functions, sharing equal powers except for laws on contributions or public credit, where the Congress had preeminence.[5][6] Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of compulsory, universal manhood suffrage, which comprised all national males over 25 years of age, having at least a two-year residency in a municipality and in full enjoyment of their civil rights. Those older than 70, the clergy, first instance judges and public notaries were exempt from this obligation.[7][8]
The Congress of Deputies was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants. 98 seats were distributed among 28 multi-member constituencies and elected using a partial block voting system: in constituencies electing ten seats or more, electors could vote for no more than four candidates less than the number of seats to be allocated; in those with more than eight seats and up to ten, for no more than three less; in those with more than four seats and up to eight, for no more than two less; and in those with more than one seat and up to four, for no more than one less. The remaining seats—311 for the 1918 election—were allocated to single-member districts and elected using plurality voting. Additionally, in those districts where the number of candidates was equal or less than the number of seats up for election, candidates were to be automatically elected.[9][10]
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:[11][12]
For the Senate, 180 seats were elected using a write-in, two-round majority voting system.[13] Local councils and major taxpayers elected delegates—equivalent in number to one-sixth of the councillors in each local council—who would in turn vote for senators.[14] The provinces of Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia were allocated four seats each, whereas each of the remaining provinces was allocated three seats, for a total of 150.[15][16] The remaining 30 were allocated to special districts comprising a number of institutions, electing one seat each—the archdioceses of Burgos, Granada, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Tarragona, Toledo, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza; the six oldest royal academies (the Royal Spanish; History; Fine Arts of San Fernando; Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences; Moral and Political Sciences and Medicine); the universities of Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Oviedo, Salamanca, Santiago, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza; and the economic societies of Friends of the Country from Madrid, Barcelona, León, Seville and Valencia.[17]
An additional 180 seats comprised senators in their own right—the monarch's offspring and the heir apparent once coming of age; Grandees of Spain with an annual income of at least 60,000 Pt (from their own real estate or from rights that enjoy the same legal consideration); Captain Generals of the Army and the Navy Admiral; the Patriarch of the Indies and archbishops; and the presidents of the Council of State, the Supreme Court, the Court of Auditors, the Supreme Council of War and Navy, after two years of service—as well as senators for life appointed directly by the monarch.[18]
The law provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated in both the Congress and Senate throughout the legislature's term.[19][20]
Election date
The term of each chamber of the Cortes—the Congress and one-half of the elective part of the Senate—expired five years from the date of their previous election, unless they were dissolved earlier. The previous Congress and Senate elections were held on 9 April and 23 April 1916, which meant that the legislature's terms would have expired on 9 April and 23 April 1921, respectively. The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.[21][22] There was no constitutional requirement for concurrent elections to the Congress and the Senate, nor for the elective part of the Senate to be renewed in its entirety except in the case that a full dissolution was agreed by the monarch. Still, there was only one case of a separate election (for the Senate in 1877) and no half-Senate elections taking place under the 1876 Constitution.
The Cortes were officially dissolved on 10 January 1918, with the dissolution decree setting the election dates for 24 February (for the Congress) and 10 March 1918 (for the Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 18 March.[23]
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Results
Congress of Deputies
Senate
Distribution by group
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Notes
References
Bibliography
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