1879 Spanish general election

{{Spanish general election background 1879-1923}}

The Spanish {{lang|es|Cortes|italic=no}} 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.{{harvp|Const. Esp.|1876|loc=tit. II, art. 18–19 & tit. V, art. 32–47}}.{{cite web |url=https://www.senado.es/web/conocersenado/temasclave/historiaconstitucional/index.html |title=El Senado en la historia constitucional española |website=Senate of Spain |language=es |access-date=26 December 2016}} Voting for the {{lang|es|Cortes|italic=no}} 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 education criteria or for professional reasons).{{sfn|García Muñoz|2002|pp=105–106}}{{sfn|Carreras de Odriozola|Tafunell Sambola|2005|p=1077}}

For the Congress of Deputies, 88 seats were elected using a partial block voting system in 26 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 304 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.{{harvp|Const. Esp.|1876|loc=tit. IV, 27–31}}.{{cite act |title=Ley electoral de los Diputados a Cortes |type=Law |work=Gaceta de Madrid |language=es |date=28 December 1878 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1878/364/A00885-00890.pdf |access-date=27 December 2016}}{{efn|Amendments in the electoral law throughout 1877 had seen the approval of separate laws for both chambers, with a modified version of the 1865 electoral law being provisionally reinstated for the Congress until a final, definitive law was approved in 1878.{{cite act |title=Ley reformando la electoral de Diputados a Cortes, y restableciendo la penal para los delitos electorales de 22 de Junio de 1864 |type=Law |work=Gaceta de Madrid |language=es |date=20 July 1877 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1877/217/A00375-00379.pdf |access-date=27 December 2016}}}}

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, the Canary Islands, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Guipúzcoa, Huelva, Logroño, Matanzas, Palencia, Pinar del Río, Puerto Príncipe, Santa Clara, Santander, Santiago de Cuba, Segovia, Soria, Teruel and Valladolid 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).{{harvp|Const. Esp.|1876|loc=tit. III, art. 20–26}}.{{cite act |title=Ley electoral de Senadores |type=Law |work=Gaceta de Madrid |language=es |date=8 February 1877 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1877/041/A00373-00375.pdf |access-date=27 December 2016}}{{cite act |title=Ley dictando reglas para la elección de Senadores en las islas de Cuba y Puerto Rico |type=Law |work=Gaceta de Madrid |language=es |date=9 January 1879 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1879/015/A00137-00137.pdf |access-date=27 December 2016}}

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. The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.{{harvp|Const. Esp.|1876|loc=tit. III, art. 24; tit. IV, art. 30; tit. V, art. 32}}.

{{bar box

|title=Popular vote

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{{bar percent|Conservative|{{party color|Conservative Party (Spain)}}|64.75}}

{{bar percent|Liberal Left|{{party color|Liberal Left Coalition}}|22.42}}

{{bar percent|Centre|{{party color|Parliamentary Centre}}|3.29}}

{{bar percent|Moderate|{{party color|Moderate Party (Spain)}}|2.66}}

{{bar percent|Ultramontanist|{{party color|Traditionalist Communion}}|1.28}}

{{bar percent|PFUV|{{party color|Basque Union}}|0.62}}

{{bar percent|Independent|{{party color|Independent politician}}|3.66}}

{{bar percent|Others|#777777|1.33}}

}}

{{bar box

|title=Seats

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{{bar percent|Conservative|{{party color|Conservative Party (Spain)}}|73.47}}

{{bar percent|Liberal Left|{{party color|Liberal Left Coalition}}|16.33}}

{{bar percent|Centre|{{party color|Parliamentary Centre}}|3.32}}

{{bar percent|Moderate|{{party color|Moderate Party (Spain)}}|2.81}}

{{bar percent|Ultramontanist|{{party color|Traditionalist Communion}}|1.79}}

{{bar percent|PFUV|{{party color|Basque Union}}|0.26}}

{{bar percent|Independent|{{party color|Independent politician}}|1.53}}

}}

{{bar box

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{{bar percent|Const. Union|{{party color|Constitutional Union of Cuba}}|70.33}}

{{bar percent|Liberal|{{party color|Liberal Party of Cuba}}|29.17}}

}}

• Encasillado

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{{refbegin}}

• {{cite act |italics=y |title=Constitución de la Monarquía Española |type=Spanish Monarchy Constitution |date=30 June 1876 |orig-date=version as of 2 July 1876 |reporter=Gaceta de Madrid |volume=184 |issn=0212-1220 |language=es |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1876/184/A00009-00012.pdf |access-date=12 September 2024 |ref={{harvid|Const. Esp.|1876}}}}
• {{cite journal |last=Martorell Linares |first=Miguel Ángel |year=1997 |title=La crisis parlamentaria de 1913-1917. La quiebra del sistema de relaciones parlamentarias de la Restauración |url=https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/RevEsPol/article/view/45498 |language=es |journal=Revista de Estudios Políticos |issue=96 |pages=137–161 |issn=0048-7694 |access-date=13 September 2020}}
• {{cite journal |last=Roldán de Montaud |first=Inés |year=1999 |title=Política y elecciones en Cuba durante la restauración |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=27552 |language=es |journal=Revista de Estudios Políticos |issue=104 |pages=245–287 |access-date=19 December 2020}}
• {{cite journal |last=Caballero Domínguez |first=Margarita |year=1999 |title=El derecho de representación: sufragio y leyes electorales |url=http://revistaayer.com/sites/default/files/articulos/34-2-ayer34_DerechosyConstitucion_Flaquer.pdf |language=es |journal=Ayer |issue=34 |pages=41–63 |access-date=12 December 2020}}
• {{cite journal |last=García Muñoz |first=Montserrat |year=2002 |title=La documentación electoral y el fichero histórico de diputados |url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/RGID/article/view/RGID0202120093A |language=es |journal=Revista General de Información y Documentación |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=93–137 |issn=1132-1873 |access-date=13 September 2020}}
• {{cite book |last1=Carreras de Odriozola |first1=Albert |last2=Tafunell Sambola |first2=Xavier |year=2005 |orig-year=1989 |title=Estadísticas históricas de España, siglos XIX-XX |url=http://www.fbbva.es/TLFU/dat/autores.pdf |language=es |volume=1 |location=Bilbao |publisher=Fundación BBVA |pages=1072–1097 |edition=II |isbn=84-96515-00-1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924010950/http://www.fbbva.es/TLFU/dat/autores.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2015 |df=dmy-all}}
• {{cite journal |last=Martínez Relanzón|first=Alejandro|title=Political Modernization in Spain Between 1876 and 1923 |url=https://journals.umcs.pl/k/article/view/4152/5068 |location=Madrid |publisher=Maria Curie-Skłodowska University |journal=Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Sklodowska, sectio K|volume=24 |issue=1 |year=2017 |doi=10.17951/k.2017.24.1.145 |pages=145–154|doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last=Villa García |first=Roberto |year=2013 |title=Elecciones sin Turno: los comicios a diputado de 1879 |url=https://ojs.ehu.eus/index.php/HC/article/view/12773/11553 |language=es |journal=Historia Contemporánea |issue=46 |pages=111–142 |issn=1130-2402 |access-date=12 December 2020}}

{{refend}}

• [https://www.congreso.es/web/guest/indice-historico Historical archive of deputies (1810–1977)]. Congress of Deputies (in Spanish).
• [http://www.historiaelectoral.com/he1800b.html Elections in the Revolutionary Sexennium and the Restoration]. Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish).

{{Spanish elections}}

Category:1879 elections in Spain

Category:1879 in Spain

1879

Category:April 1879