1910 Spanish general election

1910 Spanish general election

8 May 1910 (Congress) 22 May 1910 (Senate)
All 404 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate 203 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
First party Second party Third party   Leader José Canalejas Antonio Maura Benito Pérez Galdós Party Liberal Conservative Republican–Socialist Leader since 1910 1905 1909 Leader's seat Ferrol Palma Madrid Last election 85 seats 246 seats 7 seats Seats won 215 115 27 Seat change 130 131 20
Prime Minister before election José Canalejas Liberal Prime Minister after election José Canalejas Liberal

The 1910 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 8 May (for the Congress of Deputies) and on Sunday, 22 May 1910 (for the Senate), to elect the 14th Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain in the Restoration period. All 404 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

Overview

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. Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of 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. Amendments to the electoral law in 1907 introduced compulsory voting, though those older than 70, the clergy, first instance judges and public notaries were exempt from this obligation.

For the Congress of Deputies, 98 seats were elected using a partial block voting system in 28 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 306 being elected under a one-round first-past-the-post system in single-member districts. Candidates winning a plurality in each constituency were elected. 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; in those with more than one seat and up to four, for no more than one less; and for one candidate in single-member districts. 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. The Congress was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants, with each multi-member constituency being allocated a fixed number of seats. The law also provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated throughout the legislature.

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:

Seats	Constituencies
8	Madrid
7	Barcelona
5	Palma de Mallorca, Seville
4	Cartagena
3	Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Burgos, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Jerez de la Frontera, La Coruña, Las Palmas, Lugo, Málaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Pamplona, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santander, Tarragona, Valencia, Valladolid, Zaragoza

For the Senate, 180 seats were indirectly elected by the local councils and major taxpayers, with electors voting for delegates instead of senators. Elected delegates—equivalent in number to one-sixth of the councillors in each local council—would then vote for senators using a write-in, two-round majority voting system. 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. 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 Royal Spanish Academy; the royal academies of History, Fine Arts of San Fernando, Exact 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. 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 of the first class; 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 War Council and the Supreme Council of the Navy, after two years of service—as well as senators for life (who were appointed by the Monarch).

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 21 April and 5 May 1907, which meant that the legislature's terms would have expired on 21 April and 5 May 1912, respectively. The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.

The Cortes were officially dissolved on 14 April 1910, with the dissolution decree setting the election dates for 8 May (for the Congress) and 22 May 1910 (for the Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to convene on 15 June.

Background

The Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a constitutional monarchy, awarding the monarch power to name senators and to revoke laws, as well as the title of commander-in-chief of the army. The monarch would also 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 system, the major political parties of the time, the conservatives and the liberals—characterized as elite parties with loose structures and dominated by internal factions led by powerful individuals—alternated in power by means of election rigging, which they achieved through the encasillado, 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.

Results

Congress of Deputies

← Summary of the 8 May 1910 Congress of Deputies election results →

Parties and coalitions			Seats
			Seats	+/−
		Liberal Party (Ministerials) (PL)	215	+130
		Liberal Party (PL)1	213	+131
		Basque Dynastics (Din.v)	2	–1
Total Liberals			215	+130
		Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)2	115	–131
Total Conservatives			115	–131
		Republican–Socialist Conjunction (CRS)	27	+20
		Republicans (Rep)	16	+16
		Radical Republican Party (PRR)3	8	+7
		Federal Democratic Republican Party (PRDF)	2	–4
		Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	1	+1
		Republican Nationalist Federal Union (UFNR)4	11	–14
		Autonomist Republican Union Party (PURA)	2	±0
		Independent Republicans (Rep.i)	1	±0
Total Republicans			41	+6
		Traditionalist Communion (CT)2	10	–4
		Independent Catholics (Cató.i)	3	–1
		Integrist Party (PI)2	2	±0
		Independent Traditionalists (Trad.i)	0	–1
Total Carlists and Traditionalists			15	–6
		Regionalist League (LR)	10	–4
		Independent Catalan Nationalists (Nac.cat.i)	1	–1
Total Regionalists			11	–5
	Independents (Indep)		4	+3
	Vacants		3	+3
Total			404	±0
Sources
Footnotes: 1 Liberal Party results are compared to the combined totals of the Liberal Party and Monarchist Democratic Party in the 1907 election. 2 Liberal Conservative Party, Traditionalist Communion and Integrist Party ran together under the Anti-Liberal Catholic Alliance label in Navarre. 3 Radical Republican Party results are compared to Anti-Solidarity Republicans totals in the 1907 election. 4 Republican Nationalist Federal Union results are compared to the combined totals of Republican Union Party and Republican Nationalist Centre in the 1907 election.

Seats (parties/coalitions) PL   53.22% PLC   28.47% CRS   6.68% UFNR   2.72% LR   2.48% CT   2.48% Cató.i   0.74% PI   0.50% PURA   0.50% Nac.cat.i   0.25% Rep.i   0.25% Indep   0.99%

Seats (factions) Liberals   53.22% Conservatives   28.47% Republicans   10.15% Carlists   3.71% Regionalists   2.72% Others   0.99%

Bibliography

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