Second government of Raimundo Fernández-Villaverde

The Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a semi-constitutional monarchy during the Restoration period, awarding the monarch—under the royal prerogative—the power to appoint government members (including the prime minister); the ability to grant or deny the decree of dissolution of the Cortes, or the adjournment of legislative sessions, to the incumbent or aspiring government that requested it; and the capacity to inform, inspect and ultimately control executive acts by granting or denying the signature of royal decrees; among others.^[8][9]

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.^[10] As a result, governments during this period were dependent on royal confidence, which was frequently secured or lost based on the leaders' ability to guarantee the internal unity and parliamentary cohesion of their parties.^[11][12] In practice, the royal prerogative was not exercised freely by the monarch, but was carried out through the opening of a round of consultations—with the presidents of the chambers, the leaders of the main parties, the potential candidates and other notable figures—prior to government formation, or when prime ministers raised a matter of confidence to the monarch.^[13]

King Alfonso XIII held a round of consultations on 26 January 1905 to determine a solution to the political crisis arising from Azcárraga's resignation.^[14][15][16]

Consultations King of Spain
Date	Consultee	Office/position	Party
26 January 1905	Francisco Romero Robledo	President of the Congress of Deputies		Romerist
	2nd Marquis of Pidal	President of the Senate		Conservative
	Alejandro Pidal y Mon	President of the Congress of Deputies (former)		Conservative
	Francisco Silvela	Prime Minister (former)		Conservative
	Antonio Maura	Leader of the Conservative Party Prime Minister (former)		Conservative
	Raimundo Fernández-Villaverde	Prime Minister (former) President of the Congress of Deputies (former)		Villaverdist
Nominations
Outcome →	Nomination of Francisco Silvela (Conservative)  Declined Nomination of Antonio Maura (Conservative)  Declined Nomination of Raimundo Fernández-Villaverde (Villaverdist) Accepted
Sources[14][15][17]

The outcome of the consultations led Alfonso XIII to entrust the formation of a new government to Francisco Silvela, who declined the nomination due to him "having retired from politics" and not wishing to "get involved in the parties' infighting";^[18] then to Antonio Maura, who declined the nomination on the need to re-open the Cortes as soon as possible to deal with the previous government crises (his own and Azcárraga's), among other reasons;^[19] then to Raimundo Fernández-Villaverde, who accepted the nomination.^[20]

Villaverde's second government saw one cabinet change during its tenure:

• Disagreements over the management of a widespread student conflict—started by the perceived unfairness of certain legal provisions approved during the tenure of Lorenzo Domínguez Pascual at the helm of the Ministry of Public Instruction, as well as the government's inflexibility in addressing the issue^[21]—led to the resignation of Public Instruction Minister Juan de la Cierva on 8 April 1905,^[22][23] being replaced in the post by Carlos Cortezo.^[24]

The Council of Ministers was structured into the office for the prime minister and eight ministries.^[4]