1871 Spanish general election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A general election was held in Spain from 8 to 11 March 1871 to elect the members of the 1st Cortes under the Spanish Constitution of 1869, during the Democratic Sexennium period. 406 of 424 seats in the Congress of Deputies and all 200 seats in the Senate were up for election. In the Canary Islands the election was held until 15 March, in Puerto Rico it was held from 20 to 23 June, and in Cuba it was indefinitely postponed.[a]
_2.jpg)
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8â11 March 1871
8â15 March 1871 (Canary Islands) 20â23 June 1871 (Puerto Rico) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 424 seats in the Congress of Deputies[a] and all 200 seats in the Senate 213 seats needed for a majority in the Congress and 101 in the Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
.png)
The election was held following the promulgation of the 1869 Constitution and the swearing-in of Amadeo I as King of Spain on 2 January 1871. Francisco Serrano, a member of the Liberal Union (part of the ruling MonarchistâDemocratic Coalition together with the Progressive Party and the Cimbrios Democrats), was the prime minister before the election.
Background
Following the approval and promulgation of the Spanish Constitution of 1869, which enshrined Spain as a constitutional monarchy, the Constituent Cortes searched for a suitable candidate from a new dynasty to replace the House of Bourbon, with Francisco Serrano serving as regent and Juan Prim as prime minister in the meantime.[3]
Prince Amadeo of Savoy was chosen as new King of Spain on 16 November 1870 and sworn-in as Amadeo I on 2 January 1871, but Prim's assassination on 27 December left Amadeo without his proponent and main supporter. A new coalition cabinet formed by the Liberal Union, the Progressive Party and the Cimbrios Democrats was formed by Serrano, who called a snap election as a show of legitimacy for the new monarch, whose foreign origins made him unpopular with the general populace.[3] In order to ensure the victory of the MonarchistâDemocratic Coalition, Serrano reinstated first-past-the-post voting, which made it easier for the government to use electoral fraud in rural districts. Voters were required to present an "electoral card" (cédula electoral) that mayors were entitled to award to its constituents; as most of these were aligned with the governing coalition, they could refuse awarding the card to voters that were hostile to the government.[4] They also employed voter intimidation tactics through the partida de la porra aligned to the Progressive Party, to violently attack opponents.[5]
The enthronement of Amadeo I led to the Federal Democratic Republican Party (PRDF) splitting into two factions: the "benevolent" (benevolentes), who aimed at deposing Amadeo through legal means, and the "intransigent" (intransigentes), who dubbed the system as illegitimate and chose to abstain from electoral participation, advocating instead for the proclamation of a "federal republic from below" through violent insurrection.[6] For Carlists, the good results obtained on the previous election, coupled with the failure of uprising attempts in the summers of 1869 and 1870 (the latter known as la escocada), led to the movement favouring electoral means to achieve power. Ramón Cabrera, de facto leader of the movement, resigned as captain general of the Royal Carlist Army and retired from politics due to disagreements with Carlos de Borbón.[7] The pretender assumed the chieftainship of the party and named a Central Council presided by the Marquis of Villadarias, who organised electoral activity and propaganda.[8]
As a result of the Liberal Union's decision to support Amadeo's election, two factions split up and ran on their own in the 1871 election: the "montpensierists" (montpensieristas), supporters of the Duke of Montpensier's claim to the throne (led by the Duke himself and Antonio de los RÃos Rosas), and the conservative "alfonsists", who supported the claim of Isabella II's son, Alfonso de Borbón (led by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo).[9]
Overview
Under the 1869 Constitution, the Spanish Cortes were conceived as "co-legislative bodies", forming a nearly perfect bicameral system.[10] Both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate exercised legislative, oversight and budgetary functions, sharing almost equal powers, except in budget laws (taxation and public credit) or military forceâwhose first reading corresponded to Congress, which also had greater preeminenceâand in impeachment processes against government ministers, where Congress handled indictment and the Senate the trial.[11][12]
Date
The term of each chamber of the Cortesâthe Congress and one-quarter of the Senateâexpired three years from the date of their previous election, unless they were dissolved earlier.[13] Election day was held over several voting days: the first was used to elect polling station officials, and the remaining ones were devoted to the parliamentary election itself.[14]
The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given timeâeither jointly or separatelyâand call a snap election.[15] Only elections to renew one-quarter of the Senate were constitutionally required to be held concurrently with elections to the Congress, though the former could be renewed in its entirety in the case that a full dissolution was agreed by the monarch.[13]
The Cortes had been officially dissolved since 2 January 1871, following the swearing-in of Amadeo I as King of Spain.[3] The election decree was issued on 14 February, setting election day to start on 8 March (extended until 15 March in the Canary Islands) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 3 April.[16][17] The publication of the corresponding decree for Puerto Rico was delayed until 1 April, setting election day in the island for between 20 and 23 June.[18][19] In Cuba, elections were indefinitely postponed due to the Ten Years' War.[1][2]
Electoral system
Voting for each chamber of the Cortes was based on universal manhood suffrage, comprising all Spanish national males over 25 years of age with full civil rights.[20][21][22] In Puerto Rico, voting was based on censitary suffrage, comprising Spanish males of voting age who were either literate or taxpayers with a minimum quota of 16 escudos in direct taxes.[23][24] Additional restrictions excluded those deprived of political rights or barred from public office by a final sentence, criminally imprisoned (without bail) or convicted, and homeless.[25]
The Congress of Deputies had one seat per 40,000 inhabitants or fraction above 20,000. All were elected in single-member districts using plurality voting and distributed among the provinces of Spain according to population.[26] Cuba and Puerto Rico were allocated 18 and 15 seats, respectively.[27][a] As a result of the aforementioned allocation, 424 single-member districts were established.[28][29]
All 200 Senate seats were elected using indirect, two-round majority voting. Delegates chosen by local councilsâeach of which was assigned an initial minimum of one delegate, with one additional delegate for every six councillorsâvoted for senators together with provincial deputies. Provinces and the whole of Puerto Rico were allocated four seats each.[30][31]
For the Congress, the law provided for by-elections to fill vacant seats during the legislative term.[32] For the Senate, any vacancies arising during the legislative term were filled in the chamber's next full or one-quarter election, with senators elected this way serving the remainder of their seat's original term.[33]
Candidates
Nomination rules
For the Congress, Spanish males with the right to vote could run for election.[34]
For the Senate, eligibility was limited to Spanish males over 40 years of age, with full civil rights, who belonged (or had belonged) to certain categories:[35]
- Holders of a number of senior public or institutional posts, including the presidents of the Congress; the heads and members of higher courts and state institutions;[b] deputies elected in three general elections or in the Constituent Cortes; government ministers; certain general officers (captain generals, admirals, lieutenant generals and vice admirals); ambassadors; archbishops and bishops; university rectors; heads of the royal academies; four-time provincial deputies; and two-time local mayors of towns over 30,000;
- Senior officials after two years of service, including plenipotentiaries and full professors;
- Being among the 50 largest taxpayers by property tax, or among the 20 largest by corporate tax, in each province.
Ineligibility provisions for both chambers also applied to a number of territorial officials within their areas of jurisdiction or relevant territories, during their term of office and up to three months afterwards; public contractors; tax collectors; and public debtors.[36] Additionally in Puerto Rico, ineligibility extended to those convicted of slave trade crimes.[37]
Incompatibility rules barred representing multiple constituencies simultaneously, as well as combining:[38]
- Legislative roles (deputy, senator, provincial deputy and local councillor) with each other;
- The role of senator with any post not explicitly permitted under Senate eligibility requirements;
- The role of deputy with any government-appointed post, with exceptionsâand as many as 40 deputies allowed to simultaneously benefit from theseâincluding government ministers; and a number of specific posts based in Madrid, such as general officers, chiefs in the Central Administration (provided a public salary of Pts 12,500); senior court officials; university authorities and professors; and chief engineers with two years of service.
Results
Congress of Deputies
 | |||||
| Parties and alliances | Popular vote | Seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Total | +/â | ||
| MonarchistâDemocratic Coalition (PâULâD) | 235 | â24 | |||
| Federal Democratic Republican Party (PRDF) | 52 | â17 | |||
| CatholicâMonarchist Communion (CMC) | 51 | +28 | |||
| Moderate Party (PM) | 18 | +17 | |||
| Liberal Reformist Party (PLR)1 | 14 | +10 | |||
| Alfonsist Conservatives (A) | 9 | +9 | |||
| Montpensierists (M) | 7 | +7 | |||
| Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)2 | 1 | â6 | |||
| Independents (INDEP) | 19 | +19 | |||
| Vacant[a] | 18 | ±0 | |||
| Total | 424 | +43 | |||
| Votes cast / turnout | |||||
| Abstentions | |||||
| Registered voters | |||||
| Sources[39][40][41] | |||||
Footnotes:
| |||||
Notes
- 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]
- These comprised the Council of State, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Council of War and the Court of Auditors.
- In the Canary Islands, the election was held until 15 March 1871. In Puerto Rico, the election was held from 20 to 23 June 1871.