Conservative Party (Spain)

Conservative Party Partido Liberal-Conservador
Leaders	Antonio Cánovas, Arsenio Martínez-Campos, Francisco Silvela, Antonio Maura, Eduardo Dato, José Sánchez-Guerra
Founded	1874 (1874)
Dissolved	1931 (1931)
Merger of	Moderate Party, Liberal Union
Ideology	Monarchism Centralization Liberal conservatism
Political position	Centre-right
Politics of Spain Political parties Elections

The Liberal Conservative Party (Template:Lang-es, PLC), simply called Conservative Party (Template:Lang-es, PC), was a Spanish political party founded in 1876 by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo.

History

Foundation

The Conservative tag was for the type of ideas which, when thinking of questions of state, then dominated in Spain. The political formation of Spain by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo at the request of Alfonso XII of Spain, who assumed the crown after the failure of the First Spanish Republic. The Conservative Party brought together a varied group of people, from the supporters of Isabel II of Spain prior to the Republic to the members of other groups he had formed. Its existence was linked to Cánovas himself and on his death in 1897 it was kept going by Francisco Silvela.

In 1885 the party signed the Pact of El Pardo with the Liberal Party of Sagasta, in which the parties agreed to alternate (turno) in power after the death of Alfonso XII of Spain. The pact was guaranteed by the caciquiles networks right across Spain in both parties and was intended to keep out of power radical socialist, anarchist or republican parties that wished to destroy the monarchy.

Electoral performance

Congress of Deputies

Election	Leader	#	Seats	Gov't	Notes
1876	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo	1st	317 / 391		Majority gov't
1879	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo	1st	295 / 392		Majority gov't
1881	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo	2nd	62 / 392		Main opposition
1884	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo	1st	311 / 393		Majority gov't
1886	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo	2nd	83 / 395		Main opposition
1891	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo	1st	251 / 400		Majority gov't
1893	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo	2nd	70 / 401		Main opposition
1896	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo	1st	272 / 401		Majority gov't
1898	Francisco Silvela	2nd	82 / 401		Main opposition
1899	Francisco Silvela	1st	228 / 402		Majority gov't
1901	Francisco Silvela	2nd	84 / 402		Main opposition
1903	Francisco Silvela	1st	219 / 403		Majority gov't
1905	Antonio Maura	2nd	107 / 404		Main opposition
1907	Antonio Maura	1st	249 / 404		Majority gov't
1910	Antonio Maura	2nd	115 / 404		Main opposition
1914	Eduardo Dato	1st	193 / 408		Minority gov't
1916	Eduardo Dato	2nd	88 / 409		Main opposition
1918	Eduardo Dato	1st	98 / 409		National unity gov't
1919	Eduardo Dato	2nd	94 / 409		Minority gov't
1920	Eduardo Dato	1st	174 / 409		Minority gov't
1923	José Sánchez Guerra	1st	93 / 409		Main opposition

Party leaders

• 1876–97 Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
• 1897–1905 Francisco Silvela
• 1905–13 Antonio Maura
• 1913–21 Eduardo Dato e Iradier
• 1921–23 Vacant
• 1923–30 Vacant (dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera);
• 1930–31 Juan de la Cierva y Peñafiel

See also

• Liberal Party (Spanish Restoration)