A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 8 May (for the Congress of Deputies)[a] and on Sunday, 22 May 1910 (for the Senate),[b] to elect the members of the 14th Restoration Cortes. All 404 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.
The informal turno system had allowed the country's two main parties—the Conservatives and the Liberals—to alternate in power by determining in advance the outcome of elections through electoral fraud, often facilitated by the territorial clientelistic networks of local bosses (the caciques). The absence of politically authoritative figureheads since the deaths of Cánovas and Sagasta, together with the national trauma from the Spanish–American War, weakened the internal unity of both parties and allowed faction leaders and local caciques to strengthen their positions as power brokers.
Antonio Maura's return to power in 1907 was characterized by his attempt to implement regenerationism from inside the system (a "revolution from above") and a Spanish nationalist agenda. Legislatively prolific but politically controversial, Maura's tenure oversaw the Pact of Cartagena, the passage of a new electoral law, a naval shipbuilding programme, a promotion of national industry and an approach to the social question that included the approval of legal channels for labour dispute resolution, a legal framework for labour strikes and the creation of bodies responsible for social welfare. He also attempted—but failed—to reform local government through decentralization and corporatism, as well as passing a heavily repressive Law on Terrorism. The outbreak of war in Morocco, followed by Maura's decision to call up reservists and conscripts from Barcelona, unleashed a wave of anti-military unrest that reached its height during the Tragic Week. The government's repressive response (with Francisco Ferrer's execution sparking international outrage) ultimately led to Maura's downfall in October 1909 before completing his agenda.
In the government crisis that ensued, King Alfonso XIII appointed Liberal leader Segismundo Moret as new prime minister. However, concerns from various party sectors towards the latter's alliances with republicans (dubbed the "Left Bloc") ultimately led to his resignation after only four months—before an election could be organized—and in a new government under José Canalejas. While Canalejas managed to secure a parliamentary majority in ensuing election and re-assert his leadership over the Liberal Party, the crisis further eroded the Restoration regime. The end of the Left Bloc led the left-wing anti-monarchist parties joining into the Republican–Socialist Conjunction, which saw the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)—whose leader, Pablo Iglesias Posse, had abandoned the party's isolationist stance—secure parliamentary representation for the first time.
The Restoration system had entered a phase of decline following the national trauma from the Spanish–American War (the "1898 disaster") and the absence of politically authoritative figureheads since the deaths of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (1897) and Práxedes Mateo Sagasta (1903),[9] weakening the internal unity of both dynastic parties and strengthening the position of faction leaders and local caciques as power brokers.[10][11] Concurrently, the anti-monarchist opposition became increasingly competitive in urban and some rural districts, partly due to the introduction of universal suffrage since 1890, partly due to the progressive weakening of the pro-government electoral apparatus.[12][13][14]
The government also suffered several major defeats, such as opposition to its proposed Law on Terrorism in 1908, whose heavily repressive nature prompted the birth of a Liberal–republican "Left Bloc", seeing monarchists and republicans allying for the first time against one of the dynastic parties with support from the "Trust" press (the media group comprising the three main liberal newspapers: El Liberal, El Imparcial and El Heraldo de Madrid).[26][29][30] In the flagship proposal of his Spanish nationalist agenda, Maura attempted to reform the local administration by introducing municipal self-governance, decentralization and corporate suffrage,[31][32][33] but the Liberal–republican opposition was able to obstruct the passage of this law.[26][34][35] Seeking to strengthen cohesion among the various party factions that questioned his position, Liberal leader Segismundo Moret maintained this strategy during this period.[19]
In July 1909, the attack on Spanish railway workers by Riffian tribes led to the outbreak of the second Melillan campaign; the disaster of Wolf Ravine later that month, in which over 150 Spanish soldiers were killed, prompted the government to order the immediate mobilization of reservists from Barcelona.[26][36] The recruitment proved unpopular, unleashing a wave of anti-war unrest among the working class—motivated by anger at 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")—that reached its peak during the events of the Tragic Week.[29] The state's heavy-handed response (with over 100 killed and 1,700 arrested in the riots and a two-month suspension of constitutional rights across the country)[37] and the execution of anarchist activist Francisco Ferrer on 13 October sparked widespread outrage: protests took place in major cities across Europe and Latin America under the chant "Maura, no!", with the scale of the international outcry being compared to that of the Dreyfus affair.[26][38][39] The parliamentary counterattack from the Left Bloc proved effective: Maura resigned on 21 October and King Alfonso XIII appointed Moret as prime minister.[34][40][41] This episode became the first occasion in the Restoration system that political pressure from the dynastic party in opposition was successful in bringing down the party in power,[42] which would lead to Maura declaring the liquidation of the Pact of El Pardo and "implacable hostility" to the Liberals in power.[43][44]
Once in power, the Liberal Party saw itself embroiled in an internal crisis, as Moret marginalized the Count of Romanones due to his involvement with the Spanish Rif Mining Company (CEMR), whereas his Left Bloc's dominance over more experienced Liberals was a cause of concern for others.[34][45][46] With election preparations underway, mounting political pressure from Romanones and various party sectors—fearing that Moret would relegate them in the encasillado in favour of newcomers and republican allies—led the King to deny Moret a parliamentary dissolution, prompting the latter's resignation and the appointment of José Canalejas in his place on 9 February 1910.[34][47][48] Moret's downfall marked both the first time that the monarchy prevented the first government in a new "turn" from calling an election,[49] and that it bypassed the official leader of one of the dynastic leaders.[50]
For the Congress, it 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 (the latter two categories, within their respective area of jurisdiction) were exempt from this obligation.[58][59][60]
Electors were required to not being in active military service; nor 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, debtors of public funds, nor homeless.[58]
For the Senate, it comprised archbishops and bishops (in the ecclesiastical councils); full academics (in the royal academies); rectors, full professors, enrolled doctors, directors of secondary education institutes and heads of special schools in their respective territories (in the universities); members with at least a three-year-old membership (in the economic societies of Friends of the Country); major taxpayers and Spanish citizens of age, being householders residing in Spain and in full enjoyment of their political and civil rights (for delegates in the local councils); and provincial deputies.[61]
The Congress of Deputies was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants, distributed among the provinces of Spain.[62] 98 seats were distributed among 28 multi-member constituencies and elected using a partial block voting system: 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; and in those with more than one seat and up to four, for no more than one less.[63] The remaining seats—306 for the 1910 election—were allocated to single-member districts and elected using plurality voting.[64] 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.[65]
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:[64][66]
The law provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated in both the Congress and Senate throughout the legislature's term.[74][75]
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; nor holders of government-appointed offices, the judiciary, the prosecution ministry and presidents or members of provincial deputations—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, except for government ministers and civil servants in the Central Administration.[76][77] A number of other positions were exempt from ineligibility, provided that no more than 40 deputies benefitted from these:[78][79]
Civil, military and judicial positions with a permanent residence in Madrid and a yearly public salary of at least Pts 12,500;
Amendments to the electoral law in 1907 introduced, for candidates intending to run, the requirement to either have previously served as deputies, elected in a general or by-election; to secure the endorsement of two current or former senators or deputies from the same provinces, or from three current or former provincial deputies representing a territory that, in whole or in part, was included in the constituencies for which they sought election; or to secure the endorsement of at least one twentieth of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election.[80]
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:[81][82]
Those who had ever served as senators before the promulgation of the 1876 Constitution; and deputies having served in at least three different congresses or eight terms;
The holders of a number of positions: presidents of the Senate and the Congress; government ministers; bishops; grandees of Spain not eligible as senators in their own right; and presidents and directors of the royal academies;
Provided an annual income of at least Pts 7,500 from either their own property, salaries from jobs that cannot be lost except for legally proven cause, or from retirement, withdrawal or termination: full academics of the aforementioned corporations on the first half of the seniority scale in their corps; first-class inspectors general of the corps of civil, mining and forest engineers; and full professors with at least four years of seniority in their category and practice;
Provided two prior years of service: Army's lieutenant generals and Navy's vice admirals; and other members and prosecutors of the Council of State, the Supreme Court, the Court of Auditors, the Supreme Council of War and Navy, and the dean of the Court of Military Orders;
Those with an annual income of Pts 20,000 or were taxpayers with a minimum quota of Pts 4,000 in direct contributions at least two years in advance, provided that they either belonged to the Spanish nobility, had been previously deputies, provincial deputies or mayors in provincial capitals or towns over 20,000 inhabitants.
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.[83]
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.[84] 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.[85][86] 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 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 reconvene on 15 June.[87]
↑ Juliá 1999, pp.29–30: "...Maura not only left the electoral cleanup to a better occasion, but also the balanced encasillado: he maintained electoral fraud while breaking the pact between the liberal and conservative elites. [Spanish: ...Maura dejó para mejor ocasión no ya la limpieza electoral sino también el encasillado equilibrado: mantuvo el fraude electoral a la vez que rompía el pacto entre las elites liberal y conservadora.]"
↑ Royal Academy of History 2022, Ferrera Cuesta, Carlos. Personajes: Segismundo Moret y Prendergast. Retrieved 18 August 2025: "...This decision was crucial in the history of the Restoration: for the first time, the Monarch breached the turno system by choosing a politician over the leader of a dynastic party. [Spanish: ...Tal decisión fue crucial en la historia de la Restauración: por primera vez, el Monarca vulneraba el sistema del turno al escoger a un político por encima del líder de un partido dinástico.]".
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