1899 Spanish general election

The 1899 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 16 April and on Sunday, 30 April 1899, to elect the 9th Restoration Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 402 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.[1]

1899 Spanish general election

16 April 1899 (Congress) 30 April 1899 (Senate)
All 402 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate 202 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
First party Second party Third party   Leader Francisco Silvela Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Germán Gamazo Party UC Liberal Gamacists Leader since 1892 1872 1899 Leader's seat Piedrahita Logroño Medina del Campo Last election 86 seats[lower-alpha 1] 268 seats[lower-alpha 1] Did not contest Seats won 228 102 28 Seat change 142 166 28
Prime Minister before election Francisco Silvela UC Elected Prime Minister Francisco Silvela UC

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 the turno pacífico (English: 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.

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.[2][3] Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of universal manhood suffrage, which comprised all national males over twenty-five, having at least a two-year residency in a municipality and in full enjoyment of their civil rights.[4]

For the Congress of Deputies, 91 seats were elected using a partial block voting in 26 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 311 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 or more, electors could vote for no more than three candidates less than the number of seats to be allocated; in those with more than four seats and up to eight, for no more than two less; in those with more than one seat and up to four, for no more than one less; and for one candidate in single-member districts. 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, 7 for Barcelona, 5 for Palma and 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.[2][5][6][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 Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia were allocated four seats each, whereas each of the remaining provinces was allocated three seats, for a total of 150.[lower-alpha 2] The remaining 30 were allocated to a number of institutions, electing one seat each—the Archdioceses of Burgos, Granada, Santiago de Compostela, 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, Oviedo, Salamanca, Santiago, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza; and the Economic Societies of Friends of the Country from Madrid, Barcelona, 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][1]

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.[2][5][8]

Results

Congress of Deputies

← Summary of the 16 April 1899 Congress of Deputies election results →

Parties and coalitions			Seats
			Seats	+/−
		Conservative Union–Conservative Party (Ministerials) (UC–PLC)	228	+142
		Conservative Union–Conservative Party (UC–PLC)	215	+133
		Polavieja Conservatives (C.pola)	8	+8
		Independent Conservatives (Cons.i)	3	+3
		Basque Dynastics (Din.v)	2	–2
		Tetuanist Conservatives (T)^1	12	+3
		Liberal Reformist Party (PLR)	4	–2
Total Conservatives			244	+143
		Liberal Party (PL)	102	–166
		Gamacist Liberals (LG)	28	+28
Total Liberals			130	–138
		Republican Fusion (FR)	11	±0
		Republican Fusion (FR)	10	+1
		Centralist Republican Party (PRC)	1	–1
		Independent Republicans (Rep.i)	3	+3
		Federal Democratic Republican Party (PRDF)	2	+2
		Blasquist Republicans (Blasq.rep)	1	±0
		Independent Republican Possibilists (Pos.i)	0	–6
Total Republicans			17	–1
		Carlist Coalition (CT–PI)	3	–3
		Traditionalist Communion (CT)	2	–4
		Integrist Party (PI)	1	+1
		Independent Catholics (Cató.i)	2	+1
Total Carlists and Traditionalists			5	–2
	Independents (Indep)		6	–1
Total			402	+1
Sources[9][10]

Seats (parties/coalitions) UC–PLC   56.72% PL   25.37% LG   6.97% T   2.99% FR   2.74% PLR   1.00% Rep.i   0.75% CT–PI   0.75% PRDF   0.50% Cató.i   0.50% Blasq.rep   0.25% Indep   1.49%

Seats (factions) Conservatives   60.70% Liberals   32.34% Republicans   4.23% Carlists   1.24% Others   1.49%

Notes

1. Data adjusted to account for the Basque Dynastic's alignment with the ruling coalition, alternating between the Conservatives and the Liberals from 1881 to 1914.
2. As a result of the loss of the colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico, the 19 senators allocated to these provinces were redistributed among the remaining provinces.

Bibliography

• Carreras de Odriozola, Albert; Tafunell Sambola, Xavier (2005) [1989]. Estadísticas históricas de España, siglos XIX-XX (PDF) (in Spanish). Volume 1 (II ed.). Bilbao: Fundación BBVA. pp. 1072–1097. ISBN 84-96515-00-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015.

References

1. "Royal decree declaring dissolved the Congress of Deputies and the elective part of the Senate". Royal Decree of 16 March 1899 (PDF). Gazette of Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
2. "Spanish Constitution of 1876". Act of 30 June 1876 (PDF). Gazette of Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
3. "El Senado en la historia constitucional española". senado.es (in Spanish). Senate of Spain. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
4. Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, pp. 1077.
5. "Electoral Law for Deputies to Cortes of 1890". Electoral Law of 26 June 1890 (PDF). Gazette of Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
6. "Electoral Law for Deputies to Cortes of 1878". Electoral Law of 28 December 1878 (PDF). Gazette of Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
7. "Laws approving the electoral divisions in the provinces of Seville and Barcelona". Law of 5 July 1898 (PDF). Gazette of Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 July 2018.
8. "Electoral Law for Senators of 1877". Electoral Law of 8 February 1877 (PDF). Gazette of Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
9. "Cortes election 16 April 1899". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
10. "Graphs and analysis: Elections in the Revolutionary Sexennium and the Restoration 1869-1923". historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish). Electoral History. Retrieved 24 September 2017.

External links

• Historical archive of deputies (1810–1977) from www.congreso.es, the official Congress of Deputies web portal (in Spanish)
• Elections in the Sexenio Revolucionario and the Restoration at www.historiaelectoral.com (in Spanish/Catalan)