1879 Spanish general election

Background

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Overview

Under the 1876 Constitution, the Spanish Cortes 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, the first reading of which corresponded to Congress, and impeachment processes against government ministers, in which each chamber had separate powers of indictment (Congress) and trial (Senate).

Electoral system

Voting for the Congress of Deputies was on the basis of censitary suffrage, which comprised national males over 25 years of age fulfilling one of the following criteria:

• Being taxpayers with a minimum quota of Pts 25 per territorial contribution (paid at least one year in advance) or Pts 50 per industrial subsidy (paid at least two years in advance);
• Having a particular position (full academics in the royal academies; members of ecclesiastical councils, including parish priests; active public employees with a yearly salary of at least Pts 2,000; unemployed and retired public employees; general officers of the Army and Navy exempt from service, and retired military and naval chiefs and officers; reporters, chamber secretaries and court clerks of higher courts; and certified teachers);
• Painters and sculptors awarded in national or international exhibitions;
• Those having at least a two-year residency in a municipality, provided that an educational or professional capacity could be proven. In Cuba and Puerto Rico, the taxpayer quota requirement was set at Pts 125 for both the territorial contribution and the industrial or trade subsidy. Those who, having been subject to servitude, had not been freed and exempt from patronage for at least three years, were barred from being electors in the Spanish West Indies. As a result of the Basque Provinces and Navarre not paying territorial and industrial contributions in individual installments—owing to their special chartered regime—electors in those territories were instead required to prove having a capital of Pts 2,400 in real estate, crops or livestock, or Pts 4,800 in industry, commerce, profession or trade. Additionally, voters were required to not being sentenced—by a final court ruling—to perpetual disqualification from political rights or public offices, to afflictive penalties not legally rehabilitated at least two years in advance, nor to other criminal penalties that remained unserved at the time of the election; neither being legally incapacitated, bankrupt, insolvent, nor debtors of public funds (including their substitutes or jointly liable parties).

The Congress of Deputies was entitled to one seat per each 50,000 inhabitants. 111 members were elected in 31 multi-member constituencies using a partial block voting system: 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; and in those with four or five seats, for up to three candidates. The remaining 320 seats were elected in single-member districts using plurality voting and distributed among the provinces of Spain and the Spanish West Indies in proportion to their populations. Up to ten additional members could be elected through cumulative voting in several single-member districts, provided that they obtained more than 10,000 votes overall.

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:

Voting for the elective part of the Senate was on the basis of censitary suffrage, which comprised archbishops and bishops (in the ecclesiastical councils); full academics (in the royal academies); rectors, full professors, enrolled doctors, directors of secondary education institutes and heads of special schools in their respective territories (in the universities); members with at least a three-year-old membership (in the economic societies of Friends of the Country); major taxpayers and Spanish citizens of age, being householders residing in Spain and in full enjoyment of their political and civil rights (for delegates in the local councils); and provincial deputies.

180 seats in the Senate were elected using an indirect, write-in, two-round majority voting system. Voters in the economic societies, the local councils and major taxpayers elected delegates—equivalent in number to one per each 50 members (in each economic society) or to one-sixth of the councillors (in each local council), with an initial minimum of one—who, together with other voting-able electors, would in turn vote for senators. The provinces of Álava, Albacete, Ávila, Biscay, Canaries, 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 special districts comprising 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 six oldest royal academies (the Royal Spanish; History; Fine Arts of San Fernando; Exact, Physical and Natural 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, Havana–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 with an annual income of at least Pts 60,000 (from their own real estate or from rights that enjoy the same legal consideration); captain generals of the Army and admirals of the Navy; the Patriarch of the Indies and archbishops; and the presidents of the Council of State, the Supreme Court, the Court of Auditors and the Supreme Council of War and Navy, after two years of service—as well as senators for life appointed directly by the monarch.

The law provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated in both the Congress and Senate throughout the legislative term.

Eligibility

For the Congress, Spanish citizens of age, of secular status, in full enjoyment of their civil rights and with the legal capacity to vote could run for election, provided that they were not contractors of public works or services, within the territorial scope of their contracts, in the year prior to the election; nor holders of government-appointed offices, presidents of provincial deputations and members of their permanent commissions, local mayors and deputy mayors, as well as presidents of polling stations and civil, mining and forest engineers—during their tenure of office and up to one year after their dismissal—in constituencies within the whole or part of their respective area of jurisdiction; additionally for the Spanish West Indies, those who, having been subject to servitude, had not been freed and exempt from patronage for at least ten years, were barred from running.

For the Senate, eligibility was limited to Spanish citizens over 35 years of age and not subject to criminal prosecution, disfranchisement nor asset seizure, provided that they were entitled to be appointed as senators in their own right or belonged or had belonged to one of the following categories:

• Those who had ever served as senators before the promulgation of the 1876 Constitution; and deputies having served in at least three different congresses or eight terms;
• The holders of a number of positions: presidents of the Senate and the Congress; government ministers; bishops; grandees of Spain not eligible as senators in their own right; and presidents and directors of the royal academies;
• Provided an annual income of at least Pts 7,500 from either their own property, salaries from jobs that cannot be lost except for legally proven cause, or from retirement, withdrawal or termination: full academics of the aforementioned corporations on the first half of the seniority scale in their corps; first-class inspectors-general of the corps of civil, mining and forest engineers; and full professors with at least four years of seniority in their category and practice;
• Provided two prior years of service: Army's lieutenant generals and Navy's vice admirals; and other members and prosecutors of the Council of State, the Supreme Court, the Court of Auditors, the Supreme Council of War and Navy, and the dean of the Court of Military Orders;
• Ambassadors after two years of service and plenipotentiaries after four;
• Those with an annual income of Pts 20,000 or were taxpayers with a minimum quota of Pts 4,000 in direct contributions at least two years in advance, provided that they either belonged to the Spanish nobility, had been previously deputies, provincial deputies or mayors in provincial capitals or towns over 20,000 inhabitants.

Other causes of ineligibility for the Senate were imposed on territorial-level officers in government bodies and institutions—during their tenure of office and up to three months after their dismissal—in constituencies within the whole or part of their respective area of jurisdiction; contractors of public works or services; tax collectors and their guarantors; debtors of public funds (including their substitutes or jointly liable parties); deputies; local councillors (except those in Madrid); and provincial deputies by their respective provinces.

Election date

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 elections were held on 23 January 1876 for the Congress and on 5 April 1877 for the Senate, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 23 January 1881 and 5 April 1882, 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 10 March 1879, with the dissolution decree setting election day for 20 April (Congress) and 3 May 1881 (Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 1 June.

Results

Congress of Deputies

Cuba

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

1. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
2. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
3. "Conocer el Senado. Temas clave. El Senado en la historia constitucional española". [[Senate of Spain]].
4. {{harvp. Law of 28 December. 1878
5. {{harvp. Law of 28 December. 1878
6. {{harvp. Law of 28 December. 1878
7. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
8. {{harvp. Law of 28 December. 1878. Law of 1 January. 1871
9. {{harvp. Decree of 1 April. 1871
10. {{harvp. Law of 28 December. 1878
11. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
12. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
13. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
14. {{harvp. Law of 9 January. 1879
15. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
16. {{harvp. Law of 28 December. 1878
17. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
18. {{harvp. Law of 28 December. 1878
19. {{harvp. Law of 28 December. 1878
20. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
21. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
22. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
23. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
24. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
25. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
26. (10 March 1879). "Real decreto declarando disueltos el Congreso de los Diputados y la parte electiva del Senado y convocando nuevas elecciones".
27. "Elecciones a Cortes 20 de abril de 1879".