A general election was held in Spain from Friday, 15 January to Monday, 18 January 1869, to elect the members of the Constituent Cortes in the Democratic Sexennium period. 363 of 381 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election. In the Canary Islands the election was held from 27 to 30 January, in Puerto Rico it was held from 30 May to 1 June, and in Cuba it was indefinitely postponed.[a]
As for the Democratic Party, following several assemblies held between October and November 1868, it decided to withdraw its support for the government after concluding that the provisions of the Pact of Ostend had been fulfilled, advocate for the establishment of a federal republic and re-establish itself as the Federal Democratic Republican Party (PRDF). A faction of the party opposed this decision and decided to opt for the "democratic monarchy" proposed by the government, becoming popularly known as the Cimbrios and joining the government's ticket. One of the factors that most helped the popularization of the PRDF in the country's urban areas would be its opposition to the consumption taxes—established in 19th-century Spain and taxing essential goods—and the quintas, a system of forced recruitment of young people into the Spanish Army which saw wealthier families being able to "exempt" their offspring from military service by paying a fee (the redención en metálico or "cash redemption") or by hiring a replacement ("substitution"). Many had hoped these would be abolished with the success of the Revolution and felt betrayed by the government's decision to uphold them.[6][7]
The Carlist movement only became established as a political party in the Revolution of 1868, having previously preferred military procedures; as a result the Catholic–Monarchist Communion was formed to participate in the election, although still subordinated to the Royal Carlist Armies.[8]
Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of universal manhood suffrage, which comprised all national males over 25 years of age and with a neighborhood certificate.[11][12][13] In Cuba and Puerto Rico, voting was on the basis of censitary suffrage, comprising males of age fulfilling one of the following criteria:[14]
Being taxpayers with a minimum quota of 50 escudos per territorial contribution or per industrial or trade subsidy;
Directors or heads of industrial establishments and commercial managers and certified teachers);
Painters and sculptors awarded in national or international exhibitions.
Additionally, voters were required to not being sentenced—by a final court ruling—to disqualification from political rights, to afflictive penalties not legally rehabilitated; neither being criminally prosecuted with an arrest warrant; nor being legally incapacitated, bankrupt, insolvent, or debtors of public funds.[15][16]
The Congress of Deputies was entitled to one seat per each 45,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 22,500. All 381 members were elected in 88 multi-member constituencies using plurality voting and distributed among the provinces of Spain and the Spanish West Indies in proportion to their populations. Provinces electing between six and ten seats were divided into two sub-provincial constituencies, and into three for those electing over ten seats, with the exception of the Balearics and the Canary Islands, which were divided according to their special circumstances.[17][18][19] Elections in the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico were delayed or indefinitely postponed due to administrative reasons or the military situation.[2]
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:[18][20]
The law provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated in the Congress throughout the legislative term, provided that this comprised at least one third of the seats assigned to a given province.[21]
Eligibility
Spanish citizens with the legal capacity to vote could run for election, provided that they were not holders of government-appointed offices in constituencies within the whole or part of their respective area of jurisdiction; nor held any public, civil, military or overseas position that required residence outside of Madrid;[22] additionally for the Spanish West Indies, ineligibility extended to those having been convicted of crimes related to the repression of slave trade.[23] A number of positions were exempt from ineligibility:[24][25]
Holders of government-appointed offices exercising their duties in the province of Madrid, provided that they were running in that province, that their exercise of jurisdiction or command was not affected and that their powers were not limited to the province itself;
The election decree was issued on 6 December 1868, setting the election dates from 15 to 18 January 1869 in most of the country and from 27 to 30 January in the Canary Islands, scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 11 February.[26][27][28] The publication of the election decree for Puerto Rico was delayed until 30 April, setting the election dates for the island from 30 May to 1 June.[29] In Cuba, elections were indefinitely postponed due to the outbreak of the Ten Years' War.[1][2]
1 2 3 Elections in Cuba were indefinitely postponed due to the outbreak of the Ten Years' War, resulting in the vacancy of the 18 seats allocated to the island.[1][2]
1 2 In the Canary Islands, the election was held from 27 to 30 January 1869. In Puerto Rico, it was held from 30 May to 1 June 1869.
1 2 3 Decree of 1 April (1871), explanatory statement: "On the island of Cuba, the work of preparing electoral lists was hampered by the state of war that prevailed there and the necessary replacement of the electoral districts established by the decree, now law, of 14 December 1868, with new districts. In Puerto Rico, the difficulties arose first from the election that was to be held for the provincial deputation, and then from the need to form new lists subject to the conditions for exercising the right to vote set forth in Article 10 of the draft Constitution of this Antillean island. [Spanish: En la isla de Cuba embarazaron los trabajos de formación de las listas electorales el estado de guerra que allí se sostiene y la precisa sustitución por nuevos distritos de las circunscripciones de elección establecidos por el decreto, hoy ley, de 14 de diciembre de 1868. En Puerto Rico las dificultades nacieron, primero de la elección que debió celebrarse de la Diputación provincial, y después de la necesidad de formar nuevas listas con sujeción a las condiciones que para ejercer el derecho electoral declara el art. 10 del proyecto de Constitución de esta Antilla.]".
Vilches, Jorge (2001). Progreso y libertad: el Partido Progresista en la revolución liberal española (in Spanish). Madrid: Alianza Editorial. ISBN8420667684.
Fontana, Josep; Villares, Ramón (2007). "La época del liberalismo". Historia de España (in Spanish). Vol.6. Barcelona: Crítica/Marcial Pons. ISBN9788498928075.
Duarte Montserrat, Ángel (2013). El republicanismo. Una pasión política (in Spanish). Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra. ISBN9788437631325.
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