1903 Spanish general election#Congress of Deputies

{{Spanish general election background 1879-1923}}

The last period in power of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta (1901–1902) saw the coming of age of King Alfonso XIII in May 1902, but also the continuation of the social and regionalist conflicts that had afflicted previous governments. A general strike in Barcelona in February 1902 was violently suppressed, while the government proved unable to address the improvement of labour conditions demanded by the working classes.{{cite news |last=Pons |first=Marc |date=17 February 2017 |url=https://www.elnacional.cat/es/efemerides/efemeride-huelga-general-jornada-9-horas_138069_102.html |title=Huelga general, por la jornada de 9 horas |language=es |newspaper=El Nacional |location=Tarragona |access-date=3 May 2023}} Sagasta's cabinet also proved unable to resolve the religious question—regarding a disproportionate growth in the establishment of religious congregations, considered contrary to law—nor to tackle Catalan regionalism through decentralizing formulas, but was able to approve a major reform of the education system underwent by public instruction minister Álvaro de Figueroa (comprising a new study plan in secondary education, the reestablishment of academic freedom, the attribution to the State of the payment of primary school teachers and an expansion of compulsory schooling).{{cite news |last=De la Santa Cinta |first=Joaquín |date=13 September 2017 |url=https://elcorreodepozuelo.com/2017/09/13/presidentes-del-consejo-ministros-la-regencia-maria-cristina-habsburgo-lorena-francisco-silvela-le-vielleuze-marcelo-azcarraga-palmero-praxedes-mateo-sagasta/ |title=Presidentes del Consejo de Ministros durante la Regencia de María Cristina de Habsburgo-Lorena: Francisco Silvela Le Vielleuze, Marcelo Azcárraga Palmero y Práxedes Mateo Sagasta |language=es |newspaper=El Correo de Pozuelo |access-date=4 May 2023}}

Sagasta tendered his resignation as prime minister two times throughout 1902—first to Queen Regent Maria Christina in March, then to newly-crowned King Alfonso XIII in November—but they were both rejected. However, growing criticism from the opposition, waning support within his party and a deteriorating health condition forced his final resignation on 6 December 1902 and the entrustment of government to Francisco Silvela of the Conservative Party. Sagasta would die of bronchopneumonia one month after leaving power, on 5 January 1903, at age 77.{{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}}{{cite web |title=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta y Escolar |url=https://www.congreso.es/es/web/guest/presidentes-del-congreso-de-los-diputados?p_p_id=diputadomodule&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&codigo=70920&tipoHistorico=1 |language=es |publisher=Congress of Deputies |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. 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.{{cite act |title=Constitución de la Monarquía Española |type=Constitution |language=es |date=30 June 1876 |url=https://boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1876/184/A00009-00012.pdf |access-date=19 August 2022}}{{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.{{sfn|García Muñoz|2002|pp=106–107}}{{sfn|Carreras de Odriozola|Tafunell Sambola|2005|p=1077}}

For the Congress of Deputies, 95 seats were elected using a partial block voting system in 27 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 308 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. The law also provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated throughout the legislature.{{cite act |title=Ley electoral de los Diputados a Cortes |type=Law |language=es |date=28 December 1878 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1878/364/A00885-00890.pdf |access-date=19 August 2022}}{{cite act |title=Ley electoral para Diputados a Cortes |type=Law |language=es |date=26 June 1890 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1890/180/A00901-00908.pdf |access-date=19 August 2022}}{{cite act |title=Ley mandando que los distritos para las elecciones de Diputados á Córtes sean los que se expresan en la división adjunta |type=Law |language=es |date=1 January 1871 |url=https://boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1871/027/A00217-00232.pdf |access-date=21 August 2022}}

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:{{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 Alava en distritos electorales para Diputados á 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}}{{cite act |title=Ley mandando que en lo sucesivo sean cuatro los Diputados á Cortes que elegirá la circunscripción electoral de Cartagena |type=Law |language=es |date=7 August 1899 |url=https://boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1899/222/A00517-00517.pdf |access-date=10 October 2022}}{{cite act |title=Ley estableciendo una circunscripción para elegir tres Diputados á cortes, que la constituirán los cuatro partidos judiciales de Ayamonte, Hueva, Moguer y la Palma, con todas las poblaciones que de ellos forman parte |type=Law |language=es |date=24 March 1902 |url=https://boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1902/086/A01315-01315.pdf |access-date=30 October 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. 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 royal academies of History, Fine Arts of San Fernando, Exact 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 of the first class; 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 (who were appointed by the Monarch).{{cite act |title=Ley electoral de Senadores |type=Law |language=es |date=8 February 1877 |url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1877/041/A00373-00375.pdf |access-date=19 August 2022}}{{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 19 May and 2 June 1901, which meant that the legislature's terms would have expired on 19 May and 2 June 1906, respectively. The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election. 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 26 March 1903, with the dissolution decree setting the election dates for 26 April (for the Congress) and 10 May 1903 (for the Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 18 May.{{cite journal |publisher=Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado |journal=Gaceta de Madrid |issue=86 |date=27 March 1903 |language=es |title=Real decreto declarando disueltos al Congreso de los Diputados y parte electiva del Senado, y disponiendo que las Cortes se reúnan en Madrid el 18 de Mayo próximo |url=https://boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1903/086/A01313-01313.pdf |page=1313}}

{{bar box

|title=Seats

|titlebar=#ddd

|width=550px

|barwidth=500px

|bars=

{{bar percent|PLC|{{party color|Conservative Party (Spain)}}|56.58}}

{{bar percent|PL|{{party color|Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)}}|23.57}}

{{bar percent|PUR|{{party color|Republican Union Party (Spain)}}|6.95}}

{{bar percent|PDM|{{party color|Monarchist Democratic Party}}|2.23}}

{{bar percent|PRF|{{party color|Federal Democratic Republican Party}}|1.99}}

{{bar percent|CT|{{party color|Traditionalist Communion}}|1.74}}

{{bar percent|PLR|{{party color|Liberal Reformist Party (Spain)}}|1.74}}

{{bar percent|T|{{party color|Tetuanists}}|1.49}}

{{bar percent|LR|{{party color|Regionalist League of Catalonia}}|0.99}}

{{bar percent|PI|{{party color|Integrist Party}}|0.74}}

{{bar percent|INDEP|{{party color|Independent politician}}|1.99}}

}}

{{bar box

|title=Seats

|titlebar=#ddd

|width=550px

|barwidth=500px

|bars=

{{bar percent|PLC|{{party color|Conservative Party (Spain)}}|56.11}}

{{bar percent|PL|{{party color|Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)}}|27.78}}

{{bar percent|T|{{party color|Tetuanists}}|3.33}}

{{bar percent|PDM|{{party color|Monarchist Democratic Party}}|2.22}}

{{bar percent|LR|{{party color|Regionalist League of Catalonia}}|1.11}}

{{bar percent|PUR|{{party color|Republican Union Party (Spain)}}|0.56}}

{{bar percent|PRF|{{party color|Federal Democratic Republican Party}}|0.56}}

{{bar percent|CT|{{party color|Traditionalist Communion}}|0.56}}

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

{{bar percent|INDEP|{{party color|Independent politician}}|2.22}}

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

}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{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=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}}
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• {{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 }}

{{refend}}

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