1881 Spanish general election

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1881 Spanish general election
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←  1879 21 August 1881 (Congress)
2 September 1881 (Senate)		 1884  →
All 432 [a] seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate
217 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Registered846,961
Turnout604,758 (71.4%)
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Praxedes Mateo Sagasta b (cropped).jpg Antonio Canovas del Castillo (cropped).jpg Emilio Castelar (cropped).jpg
Leader Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Antonio Cánovas del Castillo Emilio Castelar
Party Fusionist Conservative Democratic
Leader since188018741879
Leader's seat Zamora Cieza Huesca
Seats won297 C / 135 S 48 C / 15 S 32 C / 12 S
Prime Minister before election

Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
Liberal

Prime Minister after election

Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
Liberal

A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 21 August (for the Congress of Deputies) and on Friday, 2 September 1881 (for the Senate), to elect the members of the 2nd Restoration Cortes. All 432 [a] seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

Contents

Background

Following the Bourbon Restoration in 1874, the Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a semi-constitutional monarchy , awarding the monarch —under the royal prerogative —the right of legislative initiative together with the bicameral Cortes ; the capacity to veto laws passed by the legislative body; the power to appoint government members (including the prime minister ); the ability to grant or deny parliamentary dissolution , the adjournment of legislative sessions and the signature of royal decrees ; as well as the title of commander-in-chief of the armed forces . [1] [2] The monarch would play a key role in the turno system by appointing and dismissing governments, which would then organize elections to provide themselves with a parliamentary majority. This informal system allowed the two major " dynastic " political parties at the time, the Conservatives and the Liberals —characterized as oligarchic , elite parties with loose structures dominated by internal factions, each led by powerful individuals—to alternate in power by means of electoral fraud ( pucherazo ). This was achieved by assigning candidates to districts before the elections were held ( encasillado ), then arrange their victory through the links between the Ministry of Governance and the territorial clientelistic networks of provincial governors and local bosses (the caciques ), excluding minor parties from the power sharing. [3] [4]

Overview

Electoral system

The Spanish Cortes were envisaged as "co-legislative bodies", based on a nearly perfect bicameral system. [5] 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, the first reading of which corresponded to Congress, and impeachment processes against government ministers, in which each chamber had separate powers of indictment (Congress) and trial (Senate). [6] [7] Voting for each chamber of the Cortes was on the basis of censitary suffrage:

Voters were required to not being sentenced—by a final court ruling—to perpetual disqualification from political rights or public offices, to afflictive penalties not legally rehabilitated at least two years in advance, nor to other criminal penalties that remained unserved at the time of the election; neither being legally incapacitated, bankrupt, insolvent, nor debtors of public funds. [8] [11]

The Congress of Deputies was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants, distributed among the provinces of Spain. [15] 111 seats were distributed among 31 multi-member constituencies and elected using a partial block voting system: in constituencies electing eight seats, electors could vote for up to six candidates; in those with seven seats, for up to five candidates; in those with six seats, for up to four; and in those with four or five seats, for up to three candidates. [16] The remaining seats—320 for the 1881 election—were allocated to single-member districts and elected using plurality voting. [17] [18] Additionally, up to ten deputies could be elected through cumulative voting in several single-member constituencies, provided that they obtained more than 10,000 votes overall. [19]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats: [17] [20]

SeatsConstituencies
8 Havana, Madrid
5 Barcelona, Palma, Santa Clara
4 Santiago de Cuba, Seville
3 Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Burgos, Cádiz, Cartagena, Córdoba, Granada, Jaén, Jerez de la Frontera, La Coruña, Lugo, Málaga, Matanzas, Murcia, Oviedo, Pamplona, Pinar del Río, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santander, Tarragona, Valencia, Valladolid, Zaragoza

For the Senate, 180 seats were elected using an indirect, write-in, two-round majority voting system. [21] [22] Voters in the economic societies, the local councils and major taxpayers elected delegates—equivalent in number to one per each 50 members (in each economic society) or to one-sixth of the councillors (in each local council), with an initial minimum of one—who, together with other voting-able electors, would in turn vote for senators. [23] The provinces of Álava, Albacete, Ávila, Biscay, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Guipúzcoa, Huelva, Logroño, Matanzas, Palencia, Pinar del Río, Puerto Príncipe, Santa Clara, Santander, Santiago de Cuba, Segovia, Soria, Teruel, Valladolid and Zamora were allocated two seats each, whereas each of the remaining provinces was allocated three seats, for a total of 147. [24] [25] [26] The remaining 33 were allocated to special districts comprising a number of institutions, electing one seat each—the archdioceses of Burgos, Granada, Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Cuba, 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, Havana, Oviedo, Salamanca, Santiago, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza; and the economic societies of Friends of the Country from Madrid, Barcelona, Havana–Puerto Rico, León, Seville and Valencia. [25] [27]

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 Pts 60,000 (from their own real estate or from rights that enjoy the same legal consideration); captain generals of the Army and admirals of the Navy; 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. [28]

The law provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated in both the Congress and Senate throughout the legislature's term. [29] [30]

Eligibility

For the Congress, Spanish citizens of age, of secular status, in full enjoyment of their civil rights and with the legal capacity to vote could run for election, provided that they were not contractors of public works or services, within the territorial scope of their contracts, in the year prior to the election; nor holders of government-appointed offices, presidents of provincial deputations and members of their permanent commissions, local mayors and deputy mayors, as well as presidents of polling stations and civil, mining and forest engineers—during their tenure of office and up to one year after their dismissal—in constituencies within the whole or part of their respective area of jurisdiction; [31] [32] additionally for the Spanish West Indies, those who, having been subject to servitude, had not been freed and exempt from patronage for at least ten years, were barred from running. [33] A number of other positions were exempt from ineligibility, provided that no more than 40 deputies benefitted from these: [34]

For the Senate, eligibility was limited to Spanish citizens over 35 years of age and not subject to criminal prosecution, disfranchisement nor asset seizure, provided that they were entitled to be appointed as senators in their own right or belonged or had belonged to one of the following categories: [35] [36]

Other causes of ineligibility for the Senate were imposed on territorial-level officers in government bodies and institutions—during their tenure of office and up to three months after their dismissal—in constituencies within the whole or part of their respective area of jurisdiction; contractors of public works or services; tax collectors and their guarantors; debtors of the State; deputies; local councillors (except those in Madrid); and provincial deputies for their respective provinces. [37]

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. [38] The previous Congress and Senate elections were held on 20 April and 3 May 1879, which meant that the legislature's terms would have expired on 20 April and 3 May 1884, respectively. The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election. [39] [40] 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 25 June 1881, with the dissolution decree setting the election dates for 21 August (for the Congress) and 2 September 1881 (for the Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 20 September. [41]

Results

Congress of Deputies

Overall

Mainland Spain

← Summary of the 21 August 1881 Congress of Deputies election results →
SpainCongressDiagram1881.svg
Parties and alliancesPopular voteSeats
Votes%
Liberal Fusionist Party (Fusionistas)297
Liberal Conservative Party (Conservadores)48
Progressive–Possibilist Democrats (Demócratas)32
Democratic Progressive Party (PPD)12
Democratic Party (PD)10
Independent Monarchist Progressives (Prog.i)10
Catholic Union (UC)3
Traditionalists (Tradicionalistas)2
Fuerist Party of the Basque Union (PFUV)1
Independents (Independientes)9
Total604,758392
Votes cast / turnout604,75871.40
Abstentions242,20328.60
Registered voters846,961
Sources [42] [43] [44]
Seats
Fusionist
 
75.77%
Conservative
 
12.24%
Democratic
 
8.16%
UC
 
0.77%
Traditionalist
 
0.51%
PFUV
 
0.26%
Independent
 
2.30%

Cuba

← Summary of the 21 August 1881 Congress of Deputies election results in Cuba →
Parties and alliancesPopular voteSeats
Votes%
Constitutional Union Party (Unión Conservadora)18
Liberal Party (Liberal)4
Progressive Liberal Party (Liberal Progresista)2
Total24
Votes cast / turnout
Abstentions
Registered voters31,295
Sources [45]
Seats
Const. Union
 
75.00%
Liberal
 
16.67%
Prog. Liberal
 
8.33%

Elected deputies

The following table lists the elected deputies: [46] [47] [48] [49]

By-elections

Senate

← Summary of the 2 September 1881 Senate of Spain election results →
SpainSenateDiagram1881.svg
Parties and alliancesSeats
Liberal Fusionist Party (Fusionistas)135
Liberal Conservative Party (Conservadores)15
Progressive–Possibilist Democrats (Demócratas)12
Democratic Progressive Party (PPD)8
Democratic Party (PD)4
Independents (Independientes)8
Archbishops (Arzobispos)10
Total elective seats180
Sources [50] [51] [52]
Seats
Fusionist
 
75.00%
Conservative
 
8.33%
Democratic
 
6.67%
Independent
 
0.56%
Archbishops
 
5.56%

Notes

  1. 1 2 Including one seat by cumulative voting.

References

  1. ↑ Calero 1987, p. 275.
  2. ↑ Constitution (1876), arts. 18, 22, 32, 41, 44 & 51–54.
  3. ↑ Martorell Linares 1997, pp. 139–143.
  4. ↑ Martínez Relanzón 2017, pp. 147–148.
  5. ↑ Constitution (1876) , arts. 18–19 & 41.
  6. ↑ Constitution (1876) , arts. 38, 42 & 45.
  7. ↑ "El Senado en la historia constitucional española". Senate of Spain (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  8. 1 2 Law of 28 December (1878) , arts. 14–20.
  9. ↑ García Muñoz 2002, pp. 105–106.
  10. ↑ Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, p. 1077.
  11. 1 2 Law of 28 December (1878) , arts. 142–143.
  12. ↑ Roldán de Montaud 1999, p. 249.
  13. ↑ Law of 28 December (1878) , trans. art. 1.
  14. ↑ Law of 8 February (1877) , arts. 1–3, 12–13 & 25.
  15. ↑ Constitution (1876) , arts. 27–28.
  16. ↑ Law of 28 December (1878) , art. 84.
  17. 1 2 Law of 28 December (1878) , arts. 1–3, applying Law of 1 January (1871) , art. 1.
  18. ↑ Decree of 1 April (1871) , arts. 2–3.
  19. ↑ Law of 28 December (1878) , art. 115.
  20. ↑ Roldán de Montaud 1999, pp. 250.
  21. ↑ Constitution (1876) , art. 20.
  22. ↑ Law of 8 February (1877) , arts. 21–22 & 53.
  23. ↑ Law of 8 February (1877) , arts. 1 & 30–31.
  24. ↑ Law of 8 February (1877) , art. 2.
  25. 1 2 Law of 9 January (1879) , arts. 1–3.
  26. ↑ "Real decreto determinando el número de Senadores que habrán de elegirse en cada una de las provincias con motivo de las próximas elecciones" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (184). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 23. 3 July 1881.
  27. ↑ Law of 8 February (1877) , art. 1.
  28. ↑ Constitution (1876) , arts. 20–21.
  29. ↑ Law of 8 February (1877) , arts. 56–59.
  30. ↑ Law of 28 December (1878) , arts. 110–113.
  31. ↑ Constitution (1876) , arts. 29 & 31.
  32. ↑ Law of 28 December (1878) , arts. 7–10.
  33. ↑ Law of 28 December (1878) , art. 141.
  34. ↑ Law of 7 March (1880) , arts. 1–4.
  35. ↑ Constitution (1876) , arts. 22 & 26.
  36. ↑ Law of 8 February (1877) , art. 4.
  37. ↑ Law of 8 February (1877) , arts. 5–9.
  38. ↑ Constitution (1876) , arts. 24 & 30.
  39. ↑ Constitution (1876) , art. 32.
  40. ↑ Law of 8 February (1877) , art. 11.
  41. ↑ Real decreto declarando disueltos el Congreso de los Diputados y la parte electiva del Senado (PDF) (Royal Decree). Madrid Gazette (in Spanish). King of Spain. 25 June 1881. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  42. ↑ Martínez Ruiz, Maqueda Abreu & De Diego 1999, p. 109.
  43. ↑ Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, p. 1093.
  44. ↑ For election results: For registered voters:
  45. ↑ Roldán de Montaud 1999, pp. 254–258.
  46. ↑ "Elecciones Generales por Provincias". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Correspondencia de España. 22 August 1881. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  47. ↑ "Elecciones". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Fígaro. 24 August 1881. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  48. ↑ "El futuro Congreso". Biblioteca Virtual de Andalucía (in Spanish). El Defensor de Granada. 26 August 1881. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  49. ↑ "Archivo histórico de diputados". Congress of Deputies (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  50. ↑ "Las elecciones y el Senado". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Imparcial. 3 September 1881. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  51. ↑ "Segun cálculos muy verosímiles, las oposiciones traerán al Senado 15 demócratas, 12 conservadores, 10 ultramontanos y 3 independientes". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 3 September 1881. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  52. ↑ "Más noticias sobre senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 4 September 1881. Retrieved 13 December 2020.

Bibliography

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