1899 Spanish general election#Senate

{{Spanish general election background 1879-1923}}

Upon assuming office in October 1897, Prime Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta recalled Valeriano Weyler as governor of Cuba and appointed pro-autonomy Segismundo Moret as minister of Overseas, in an attempt to tackle the deteriorating situation in the Cuban War of Independence, with two autonomy charters—for Cuba and Puerto Rico—being approved shortly afterwards.{{sfn|AEBOE|2023|pp=11–12}} The involvement of the United States, especially following the sinking of the USS Maine and the breakout of the Spanish–American War in April 1898, led to a 10-week campaign in which the Sagasta government sued for peace after the loss of two Spanish naval squadrons in the battles of Santiago de Cuba and Manila Bay.{{sfn|AEBOE|2023|pp=12–14}} The war resulted in Spain losing its American and Asia-Pacific colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines and Guam under the terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, with the remaining Spanish possessions in the Pacific being sold to the German Empire.{{cite web |url=https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/5594/praxedes-mateo-sagasta-escolar |title=Práxedes Mateo-Sagasta Escolar |language=es |publisher=Royal Academy of History |access-date=6 September 2022}}

Sagasta resigned in March 1899 over his government's perceived responsibility in these losses, with Queen Regent Maria Christina handing power to Francisco Silvela. Germán Gamazo, several times-minister under Liberal cabinets, had split from the party in October 1898 following the Ribot scandal—a controversy involving Cádiz governor and Gamazo's ally Pascual Ribot—which he attributed to an internal conspiration within the Liberal Party to get rid of him as Development minister.{{sfn|Hidalgo Marín|1995|p=109}}{{cite web |url=https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/10144/german-gamazo-calvo |title=Germán Gamazo Calvo |language=es |publisher=Royal Academy of History |access-date=3 May 2023}}{{cite news |last=Cañas Carrillo |first=Jesús Antonio |date=24 February 2017 |url=https://www.diariodecadiz.es/con-la-venia/origen-leyenda-Pais_0_1112289411.html |title=El origen de la leyenda en El País |language=es |newspaper=Diario de Cádiz |location=Cádiz |access-date=3 May 2023}}{{cite news |date=1 January 1899 |url=https://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/hd/es/viewer?id=e2a62fd4-d5fb-4283-a504-7a19e717a7d8&page=450 |title=Mes de octubre. Día 31. La carta de los gamacistas |language=es |website=National Library of Spain |publisher=El Año Político |access-date=3 May 2023}}

The Spanish {{lang|es|Cortes|italic=no}} were envisaged as "co-legislative bodies", based on a nearly perfect bicameral system.{{harvp|Const. Esp.|1876|loc=tit. II, art. 18–19 & tit. V, art. 41}}. 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, and judicial matters, where preeminence was vested in the Senate.{{harvp|Const. Esp.|1876|loc=tit. V, art. 38 & 42}}.{{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 universal manhood suffrage, which comprised all national males over 25 years of age, having at least a two-year residency in a municipality and in full enjoyment of their civil rights.{{harvp|L Dip|1890|loc=tit. I, art. 1–2}}.{{sfn|García Muñoz|2002|pp=106–107}}{{sfn|Carreras de Odriozola|Tafunell Sambola|2005|p=1077}}

For the Congress of Deputies, 91 seats were elected using a partial block voting system in 26 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 310 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. Additionally, literary universities, economic societies of Friends of the Country and officially organized chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture were entitled to one seat per each 5,000 registered voters that they comprised, which resulted in one additional special district for the 1899 election.{{harvp|Const. Esp.|1876|loc=tit. IV, art. 27–31}}.{{harvp|L Dip|1890|loc=tit. III, art. 21–24}}.

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:{{harvp|L Dip|1890|loc=trans. prov. 1}}, applying {{harvp|L Dip|1871|loc=art. 1}} and {{harvp|L Dip|1878|loc=tit. I, art. 2}}.Rules modifying constituency boundaries:

• {{cite act |title=Ley dividiendo la provincia de Guipúzcoa en distritos para la elección de Diputados a Cortes |type=Law |language=es |date=23 June 1885 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1885/175/A00877-00878.pdf |access-date=6 May 2023}}
• {{cite act |title=Ley dividiendo el distrito electoral de Tarrasa en dos, que se denominarán de Tarrasa y de Sabadell |type=Law |language=es |date=18 January 1887 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1887/022/A00211-00211.pdf |access-date=6 May 2023}}
• {{cite act |title=Ley fijando la división de la provincia de Álava en distritos electorales para Diputados a Cortes |type=Law |language=es |date=10 July 1888 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1888/193/A00117-00117.pdf |access-date=6 May 2023}}
• {{cite act |title=Leyes aprobando la división electoral de las provincias de León y Vizcaya |type=Law |language=es |date=2 August 1895 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1895/216/A00457-00458.pdf |access-date=6 May 2023}}
• {{cite act |title=Leyes aprobando la división electoral en las provincias de Sevilla y de Barcelona |type=Law |language=es |date=5 July 1898 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1898/190/A00140-00140.pdf |access-date=22 September 2022}}

For the Senate, 180 seats were indirectly elected by the local councils and major taxpayers, with electors voting for delegates instead of senators. Elected delegates—equivalent in number to one-sixth of the councillors in each local council—would then vote for senators using a write-in, two-round majority voting system. Following a redistribution of the 19 senators allocated to Cuba and Puerto Rico as a result of the loss by Spain of these colonies, 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. The remaining 30 were allocated to special districts comprising 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 other royal academies (History; Fine Arts of San Fernando; Exact, Physical and Natural 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 with an annual income of at least 60,000 Pt (from their own real estate or from rights that enjoy the same legal consideration); Captain Generals of the Army and the Navy Admiral; the Patriarch of the Indies and archbishops; and the presidents of the Council of State, the Supreme Court, the Court of Auditors, the Supreme War Council and the Supreme Council of the Navy, after two years of service—as well as senators for life appointed directly by the monarch.{{harvp|Const. Esp.|1876|loc=tit. III, art. 20–26}}.{{harvp|L Sen|1877|loc=ch. I, art. 1–2}}.{{cite journal |publisher=Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado |journal=Gaceta de Madrid |issue=76 |date=16 March 1899 |language=es |title=Real decreto disponiendo el número de Senadores que han de elegir las provincias que se citan |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1899/076/A01021-01021.pdf |page=1021}}

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 previous Congress and Senate elections were held on 27 March and 10 April 1898, which meant that the legislature's terms would have expired on 27 March and 10 April 1903, respectively. 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. V, art. 32}}.{{harvp|L Sen|1877|loc=ch. III, art. 11}}. There was no constitutional requirement for concurrent elections to the Congress and the Senate, nor for the elective part of the Senate to be renewed in its entirety except in the case that a full dissolution was agreed by the monarch. Still, there was only one case of a separate election (for the Senate in 1877) and no half-Senate elections taking place under the 1876 Constitution.

The Cortes were officially dissolved on 16 March 1899, with the dissolution decree setting the election dates for 16 April (for the Congress) and 30 April 1899 (for the Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 2 June.{{cite journal |publisher=Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado |journal=Gaceta de Madrid |issue=76 |date=16 March 1899 |language=es |title=Real decreto declarando disueltos el Congreso de los Diputados y la parte electiva del Senado, y convocando á nuevas elecciones en las fechas que se expresan |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1899/076/A01021-01021.pdf |page=1021}}

For the Congress, Spanish citizens of age and with the legal capacity to vote could run for election, provided that they were not sentenced to perpetual disqualification from political rights or public offices by a final court's decision, or to afflictive penalties if no legal rehabilitation had been obtained at least two years in advance of the election, or to other criminal penalties if the serving of the sentence could not be proven before taking the office of deputy. Other causes of ineligibility were imposed on those physically or morally incapacitated; bankrupt or insolvent persons who had not paid out their debts; and contractors of public works or services; as well as a number of territorial-level officers in government bodies and institutions being barred from running, during their tenure of office, in constituencies within the whole or part of their respective area of jurisdiction.{{harvp|Const. Esp.|1876|loc=tit. IV, art. 29}}.{{harvp|L Dip|1890|loc=tit. III, art. 3–5}}.

For the Senate, eligibility was limited to those entitled to be appointed as senators in their own right or those who had belonged to one of the following categories: presidents of the Senate and the Congress of Deputies; deputies who had belonged to at least three different congresses or serving for at least eight terms; government ministers; other Grandees of Spain; Army's lieutenant generals and Navy's vice admirals, two years after their appointment; ambassadors after two years of service and plenipotentiary ministers after four; other members and prosecutors of the Council of State, the Supreme Court, the Court of Auditors, the Supreme War Council and the Supreme Council of the Navy, and the Dean of the Court of Military Orders, after two years of service; presidents and directors of the Royal Spanish Academy and the other royal academies (History; Fine Arts of San Fernando; Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences; Moral and Political Sciences and Medicine); full academics of the aforementioned corporations occupying the first half of the seniority scale in their corps, first-class general inspectors of the corps of Civil Engineers, Mines and Forests, full-time university professors with at least four years of seniority in their category and practice (and provided that those had an annual income of at least 7,500 Pt from their own property, salaries from jobs that cannot be lost except for legally proven cause, or from retirement, withdrawal or termination); as well as those who had an annual income of 20,000 Pt or were taxpayers with a minimum quota of 4,000 Pt in direct contributions at least two years in advance, as long as they were of the Spanish nobility, had been previously deputies, provincial deputies or mayors in provincial capitals or towns over 20,000 inhabitants, as well as those who had ever held the office of senator before the promulgation of the 1876 Constitution.{{harvp|Const. Esp.|1876|loc=tit. III, art. 22}}.{{harvp|L Sen|1877|loc=ch. II, art. 4}}.

{{bar box

|title=Seats

|titlebar=#ddd

|width=550px

|barwidth=500px

|bars=

{{bar percent|UC–PLC|{{party color|Conservative Union (Spain)}}|59.70}}

{{bar percent|PL|{{party color|Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)}}|22.89}}

{{bar percent|G|{{party color|Gamacists}}|7.96}}

{{bar percent|FR|{{party color|Republican Fusion}}|2.74}}

{{bar percent|T|{{party color|Tetuanists}}|2.74}}

{{bar percent|CC|{{party color|Traditionalist Communion}}|0.75}}

{{bar percent|PLR|{{party color|Liberal Reformist Party (Spain)}}|0.75}}

{{bar percent|PRF|{{party color|Federal Democratic Republican Party}}|0.50}}

{{bar percent|RB|{{party color|Autonomist Republican Union Party}}|0.25}}

{{bar percent|INDEP|{{party color|Independent politician}}|1.74}}

}}

{{bar box

|title=Seats

|titlebar=#ddd

|width=550px

|barwidth=500px

|bars=

{{bar percent|UC–PLC|{{party color|Conservative Union (Spain)}}|57.22}}

{{bar percent|PL|{{party color|Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)}}|26.11}}

{{bar percent|G|{{party color|Gamacists}}|3.89}}

{{bar percent|T|{{party color|Tetuanists}}|3.89}}

{{bar percent|CC|{{party color|Traditionalist Communion}}|2.22}}

{{bar percent|FR|{{party color|Republican Fusion}}|0.56}}

{{bar percent|PLR|{{party color|Liberal Reformist Party (Spain)}}|0.56}}

{{bar percent|INDEP|{{party color|Independent politician}}|0.56}}

{{bar percent|ARCH|{{party color|Nonpartisan}}|5.00}}

}}

File:1899 Spanish general election (Congress of Deputies).svg|Election results by constituency (Congress).

{{notelist}}

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{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite act |italics=y |title=Ley mandando que los distritos para las elecciones de Diputados a Cortes sean los que se expresan en la división adjunta |type=Law |date=1 January 1871 |reporter=Gaceta de Madrid |volume=27 |issn=0212-1220 |language=es |url=https://boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1871/027/A00217-00232.pdf |access-date=21 August 2022 |ref={{harvid|L Dip|1871}}}}
• {{cite act |italics=y |title=Constitución de la Monarquía Española |type=Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy |date=30 June 1876 |reporter=Gaceta de Madrid |volume=184 |issn=0212-1220 |language=es |url=https://boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1876/184/A00009-00012.pdf |access-date=19 August 2022 |ref={{harvid|Const. Esp.|1876}}}}
• {{cite act |italics=y |title=Ley electoral de Senadores |type=Law |date=8 February 1877 |reporter=Gaceta de Madrid |volume=41 |issn=0212-1220 |language=es |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1877/041/A00373-00375.pdf |access-date=19 August 2022 |ref={{harvid|L Sen|1877}}}}
• {{cite act |italics=y |title=Ley electoral de los Diputados a Cortes |type=Law |date=28 December 1878 |reporter=Gaceta de Madrid |volume=364 |issn=0212-1220 |language=es |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1878/364/A00885-00890.pdf |access-date=19 August 2022 |ref={{harvid|L Dip|1878}}}}
• {{cite act |italics=y |title=Ley electoral para Diputados a Cortes |type=Law |date=26 June 1890 |reporter=Gaceta de Madrid |volume=180 |issn=0212-1220 |language=es |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1890/180/A00901-00908.pdf |access-date=19 August 2022 |ref={{harvid|L Dip|1890}}}}
• {{cite journal |last=Fernández Almagro |first=Melchor |year=1943 |title=Las Cortes del siglo XIX y la práctica electoral |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2126375 |language=es |journal=Revista de Estudios Políticos |issue=9–10 |pages=383–419 |issn=0048-7694 |access-date=16 December 2020}}
• {{cite journal |last=Hidalgo Marín |first=Inés Sofía |year=1995 |title=La familia Gamazo: elite castellana en la restauración (1874-1923) |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=66395 |language=es |journal=Investigaciones históricas: Época moderna y contemporánea |editor=University of Valladolid |issue=15 |pages=107–118 |issn=0210-9425 |access-date=3 May 2023}}
• {{cite journal |last=Martorell Linares |first=Miguel Ángel |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 |location=Madrid |publisher=Centro de Estudios Constitucionales |language=es |journal=Revista de Estudios Políticos |issue=96 |year=1997 |pages=137–161}}
• {{cite book |last1=Martínez Ruiz |first1=Enrique |last2=Maqueda Abreu |first2=Consuelo |last3=De Diego |first3=Emilio |year=1999 |title=Atlas histórico de España |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_RL9S5uSF8C&pg=PA109 |language=es |volume=2 |location=Bilbao |publisher=Ediciones KAL |pages=109–120 |isbn=9788470903502}}
• {{cite book |last1=Armengol i Segú |first1=Josep |last2=Varela Ortega |first2=José |year=2001 |title=El poder de la influencia: geografía del caciquismo en España (1875-1923) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY99T3Mg5ykC |language=es |location=Madrid |publisher=Marcial Pons Historia |pages=655–776 |isbn=9788425911521}}
• {{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-Skłodowska, Sectio K |volume=24 |issue=1 |year=2017 |doi=10.17951/k.2017.24.1.145 |pages=145–154|s2cid=159328027 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |author=AEBOE |year=2023 |title=El desastre de 1898 visto por las figuras políticas de la Restauración: 125 años de la guerra de Cuba (1898-2023) |url=https://www.boe.es/biblioteca_juridica/abrir_pdf.php?id=PUB-DH-2023-280 |language=es |location=Madrid |journal=Official State Gazette |editor=State Agency for the Official State Gazette |isbn=9788434029002 |access-date=3 May 2023}}

{{refend}}

{{Spanish elections}}

Category:1899 elections in Spain

Category:1899 in Spain

1899

Category:April 1899