Turno

This article is about a 19th and 20th century Spanish political arrangement. For the village in Poland, see Turno, Lublin Voivodeship. For the village in Slovenia, see Turno, Slovenia.

New Theatre "The Twins" from the Spanish magazine Gedeón, 1909.

After almost a whole century of political instability and many civil wars, the aim of the Restoration was to ensure political stability in Spain. Under this plan, El Turno Pacífico (or "The Peaceful Turn") was a system put in place by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo whereby the two "official" parties of the Cánovas Restoration, the Partido Conservador (or Liberal-Conservatives of the centre-right) and Partido Liberal (or the Liberals on the centre-left), alternated in power. Its key features were that the government would first be chosen by the king and would then "make" the election (the so-called encasillado), ensuring victory.

After a period in office, it would then be the turn of the opposition. The key to the system was the link between the minister of the interior, the provincial civil governors, and the local bosses (caciques). With this system, no sector of the bourgeoisie felt isolated and patronage could be doubled. It worked effectively until 1898 but then became more difficult to operate because of divisions within the major parties and the growing mobilization of sectors of the electorate.

Growing opposition was first apparent, above all in Catalonia, after Spain's defeat in the Spanish–American War. A period of grave instability occurred in 1918 and 1919, but between 1920 and 1923, a serious attempt was made to reconstruct the turno. It was brought to an end by the military coup by General Miguel Primo de Rivera in September 1923.

The Turno Pacifico excluded all other parties from the possibility of victory. This was achieved by electoral fraud: caciques in most constituencies would instruct their clients how to vote. Despite being modelled on the United Kingdom, it lacked a responsiveness to popular opinion as (until about 1914) the outcome was broadly decided in advance.

		Deputies
Period	Absten.	PSOE	C. Rep. Soc.	Repub	Rep. Dem.	Democ.	Reform.	Progres.	Constit.	Liber. Dis.	Liber. Of.	Consr. Dis.	Consr. Of.	Moder.	Carlist	Region.	Indep.
23/1/1876	45			5	1				27				333	12			7
20/4/1879						7		7	56				293	11			18
20/8/1881	29					32					297		39		5		19
27/4/1884	28				5					36	31		318				2
4/4/1886				22						10	278	11	56		2		13
1/2/1891				31						9	74	9	253		7		16
5/3/1893				47							281	17	44		7		4
12/4/1896				1							88	10	269		9		24
27/3/1898				16							284	18	66				32
16/4/1899	35			18						29	93	14	222		3		23
19/5/1901	33			19						12	233	8	79		7	6	37
26/4/1903				36						9	93	10	230		7	7	11
10/9/1905				30							229	26	96		5	7	11
21/4/1907	33			17						9	69		252		11	41	5
8/5/1910	17	1		37							219		102		10	8	11
8/3/1914	24.7	1		33						36	85	26	188		7	13	19
9/4/1916	20.3		20				11				230	25	88		10	14	11
24 February 1918	29.6	6		15			8			75	92	57	98		13	32	13
1 June 1919	28.8	6		15			8			81	52	109	93		5	23	10
19 December 1920	33.6	4		15			10			63	40	47	185		8	19	18
29 April 1923	23.2	7		11			20				203	27	81		6	22	32