1886 Spanish general election

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1886 Spanish general election
← 1884 4 April 1886 (Congress)
25 April 1886 (Senate)		 1891 →
All 395 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate
198 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Registered807,175
Turnout475,712 (58.9%)
  First party Second party Third party
  Práxedes Mateo Sagasta b (cropped).jpg Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (cropped).jpg Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla 1895 (cropped).jpg
Leader Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Antonio Cánovas del Castillo Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla
Party Liberal Conservative Progressive Republican
Leader since 1880 1874 1880
Leader's seat Logroño Cieza —
Seats won 278 C / 131 S 65 C / 26 S 12 C / 0 S
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  Francisco Romero Robledo 1906 (cropped).jpg Emilio Castelar (cropped).jpg José López Domínguez 1897 (cropped).jpg
Leader Francisco Romero Robledo Emilio Castelar José López Domínguez
Party Romerist Possibilist Dynastic Left
Leader since 1886 1879 1884
Leader's seat Antequera Huesca Coín
Seats won 11 C / 4 S 10 C / 4 S 10 C / 2 S
Prime Minister before election

Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
Liberal

Prime Minister after election

Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
Liberal

The 1886 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 4 April and on Sunday, 25 April 1886, to elect the 4th Restoration Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 395 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.[1] The electoral body consisted of about 4.6% of the country population.[2]

Overview[]

Background[]

The Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a constitutional monarchy, awarding the King power to name senators and to revoke laws, as well as the title of commander-in-chief of the army. The King would also play a key role in the system of El Turno Pacífico (the Peaceful Turn) by appointing and toppling governments and allowing the opposition to take power. Under this system, the Conservative and Liberal parties alternated in power by means of election rigging, which they achieved through the encasillado, using the links between the Ministry of Governance, the provincial civil governors, and the local bosses (caciques) to ensure victory and exclude minor parties from the power sharing.[3]

Electoral system[]

The Spanish Cortes were envisaged as "co-legislative bodies", based on a nearly perfect bicameralism. 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, where the Congress had preeminence.[4][5] Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of censitary suffrage, which comprised national males over twenty-five, being taxpayers with a minimum quota of twenty-five pesetas per territorial contribution or fifty per industrial subsidy, as well as being enrolled in the so-called capacity census (either by criteria of Education or for professional reasons).[6]

For the Congress of Deputies, 88 seats were elected using a partial block voting in 26 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 307 being elected under a one-round first-past-the-post system in single-member districts. Candidates winning a plurality in each constituency were elected. 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; in those with four or five seats, for up to three candidates; and for one candidate in single-member districts. 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. The Congress was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants, with each multi-member constituency being allocated a fixed number of seats: 8 for Madrid, 5 for Barcelona and Palma, 4 for Seville and 3 for Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Burgos, Cádiz, Cartagena, Córdoba, Granada, Jaén, Jerez de la Frontera, La Coruña, Lugo, Málaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Pamplona, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santander, Tarragona, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza. The law also provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated throughout the legislature.[4][7]

For the Senate, 180 seats were indirectly elected, with electors voting for delegates instead of senators. Elected delegates—equivalent in number to one-sixth of the councillors in each municipal corporation—would then vote for senators using a write-in, two-round majority voting system. 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. The remaining 33 were allocated to 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 Royal Spanish Academy; the Royal Academies of History, Fine Arts, 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, Cuba–Puerto Rico, León, Seville and Valencia. 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 of the first class; Captain Generals of the Army and the Navy Admiral; the Patriarch of the Indies and archbishops; as well as other high-ranking state figures—and senators for life (who were appointed by the Monarch).[8][9][10]

Election date[]

The term of each House 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. The Monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both Houses at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.[4][7][8]

Results[]

Congress of Deputies[]

← Summary of the 4 April 1886 Congress of Deputies election results →
SpainCongressDiagram1886.svg
Parties and coalitions Popular vote Seats
Votes %
Liberal Party (Liberales) 278
Liberal Conservative Party (Conservadores) 65
Progressive Republican Party (Republicanos Progresistas) 12
Liberal Reformist Party (Romeristas) 11
Possibilist Democratic Party (Posibilistas) 10
Dynastic Left (Izquierda Dinástica) 10
Carlists (Carlistas) 2
Federal Democratic Republican Party (PRDF) 1
Independents (Independientes) 6
Total 475,712 395
Votes cast / turnout 475,712 58.94
Abstentions 331,463 41.06
Registered voters 807,175
Sources[11][2][12][13][14]
Seats
Liberal
 
 70.38%
Conservative
 
 16.46%
Prog. Republican
 
 3.04%
Romerist
 
 2.78%
Possibilist
 
 2.53%
Dynastic Left
 
 2.53%
Carlist
 
 0.51%
PRDF
 
 0.25%
Independent
 
 1.52%

Senate[]

← Summary of the 25 April 1886 Senate of Spain election results →
SpainSenateDiagram1886.svg
Parties and coalitions Seats
Liberal Party (Liberales) 131
Liberal Conservative Party (Conservadores) 26
Liberal Reformist Party (Romeristas) 4
Possibilist Democratic Party (Posibilistas) 4
Dynastic Left (Izquierda Dinástica) 2
Independents (Independientes) 3
Archbishops (Arzobispos) 10
Total elective seats 180
Sources[15][16][17][18]
Seats
Liberal
 
 72.78%
Conservative
 
 14.44%
Romerist
 
 2.22%
Possibilist
 
 2.22%
Dynastic Left
 
 1.11%
Independent
 
 1.67%
Archbishops
 
 5.56%

Cuba[]

← Summary of the 4 April 1886 Congress of Deputies election results in Cuba →
Parties and coalitions Popular vote Seats
Votes %
Constitutional Union Party (Unión Constitucional) 18
Autonomist Liberal Party (Autonomista) 6
Total 13,305 24
Votes cast / turnout 13,305 48.90
Abstentions 13,905 51.10
Registered voters 27,210
Sources[19]
Seats
Const. Union
 
 75.00%
Autonomist
 
 25.00%

References[]

  1. ^ "Real decreto declarando disueltos el Congreso de los Diputados y la parte electiva del Senado, señalando el día 10 de Mayo próximo para reunirse las Cortes, y disponiendo que las elecciones de Diputados se verifiquen el 4 de Abril, y las de Senadores el 25 del mismo" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado (68): 725. 9 March 1886.
  2. ^ a b Caballero Domínguez 1999, p. 50.
  3. ^ Martorell Linares, Miguel Ángel (1997). "La crisis parlamentaria de 1913-1917. La quiebra del sistema de relaciones parlamentarias de la Restauración". Revista de Estudios Políticos. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Constitucionales (96): 139–143 (146).
  4. ^ a b c "Constitución de 1876". Act of 30 June 1876 (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  5. ^ "El Senado en la historia constitucional española". Senate of Spain (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  6. ^ García Muñoz 2002, pp. 105–106.
  7. ^ a b "Ley electoral de los Diputados a Cortes". Law of 28 December 1878 (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  8. ^ a b "Ley electoral de Senadores". Law of 8 February 1877 (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  9. ^ "Ley dictando reglas para la elección de Senadores en las islas de Cuba y Puerto Rico". Law of 9 January 1879 (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  10. ^ "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). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado (184): 23. 3 July 1881.
  11. ^ Martínez Ruiz, Maqueda Abreu & De Diego 1999, p. 109.
  12. ^ Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, p. 1093.
  13. ^ "Elecciones a Cortes 4 de abril de 1886". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Madrid, 6, a las 8 de la mañana". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 6 April 1886. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  15. ^ "Los 44 candidatos que han reunido las oposiciones se descomponen en la siguiente forma". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 28 April 1886. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  16. ^ "El Senado". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Día. 26 April 1886. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Lo que se dice. Consejo de ministros". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Liberal. 26 April 1886. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  18. ^ "La elección de senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Epoca. 28 April 1886. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  19. ^ Roldán de Montaud 1999, pp. 262–265.

Bibliography[]

External links[]

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