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1893 Spanish general election

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FieldValue
election_name1893 Spanish general election
countrySpain
flag_year1785
typeparliamentary
ongoingno
previous_election1891 Spanish general election
previous_year1891
next_election1896 Spanish general election
next_year1896
seats_for_electionAll 447 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate
224 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
registered4,072,776
turnout2,786,216 (68.4%)
election_date5 March 1893 (Congress)
19 March 1893 (Senate)
image1[[File:Práxedes Mateo Sagasta (cropped).jpg170x170px]]
leader1Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
party1Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)
leader_since11880
leaders_seat1Logroño
last_election1108 D41 S
seats1298 D118 S
seat_change1190 D 77 S
image2[[File:Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (cropped).jpg170x170px]]
leader2Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
party2Conservative Party (Spain)
leader_since21874
leaders_seat2Cieza
last_election2301 D122 S
seats267 D35 S
seat_change2234 D 87 S
image3[[File:Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla 1895 (cropped).jpg170x170px]]
leader3Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla
party3Republican Union (Spain, 1893)
leader_since31893
leaders_seat3Madrid
last_election321 D0 S
seats336 D2 S
seat_change315 D 2 S
image4[[File:Emilio Castelar (cropped).jpg170x170px]]
leader4Emilio Castelar
party4Possibilist Democratic Party
leader_since41879
leaders_seat4Huesca
last_election46 D1 S
seats418 D6 S
seat_change412 D 5 S
image5[[File:Francisco Silvela 1905 (cropped).jpg170x170px]]
leader5Francisco Silvela
party5Silvelist Party
leader_since51892
leaders_seat5Piedrahíta (lost)
last_election5Did not contest
seats517 D4 S
seat_change517 D 4 S
image6[[File:Marqués de Cerralbo (cropped).jpg170x170px]]
leader6Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa
party6Carlist
leader_since61891
leaders_seat6—
last_election64 D1 S
seats68 D2 S
seat_change64 D 1 S
map{{Switcher
titlePrime Minister
posttitlePrime Minister after election
before_electionPráxedes Mateo Sagasta
before_partyLiberal Party (Spain, 1880)
after_electionPráxedes Mateo Sagasta
after_partyLiberal Party (Spain, 1880)

224 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies 19 March 1893 (Senate)

| [[File:1893 Spanish General Election Results Map.svg|x315px|Map of Spain showcasing seat distribution by Congress of Deputies constituency]] | Election results by constituency (Congress) | [[File:1893 Spanish General Senate Election Map.svg|x315px|Map of Spain showcasing seat distribution by Senate constituency]] | Election results by constituency (Senate)

A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 5 March (for the Congress of Deputies) and on Sunday, 19 March 1893 (for the Senate), to elect the members of the 6th Cortes under the Spanish Constitution of 1876, during the Restoration period. All 442 seats in the Congress of Deputies—plus five special districts—were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

Since the Pact of El Pardo, an informal system known as turno or turnismo was operated by the monarchy and the country's two main parties—the Conservatives and the Liberals—to determine in advance the outcome of elections by means of electoral fraud, often achieved through the territorial clientelistic networks of local bosses (the caciques), ensuring that both parties would have rotating periods in power. As a result, elections were often neither truly free nor fair, though they could be more competitive in the country's urban centres where caciquism was weaker.

In this election, the ruling Liberal Party of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta secured a large majority in the Cortes, granting him the required parliamentary support for a new "turn" in power. This came following the downfall of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo's Conservative government in December 1892 as a result of an internal split by former minister Francisco Silvela over the issue of political regeneration. The election also saw a strong performance by pro-republican parties, which went on to win in the two main Spanish cities—Madrid and Barcelona—and secure over 10% of the seats in the Congress.

Background

Do not edit this section here. The content of the section is meant to always be identical to the same section across all the Spanish general election pages for the period 1879-1923. It gets automatically copied here (enter WP:Transclusion in the Wikipedia search bar for technical details). To edit the text here enter "Template:Spanish general election background 1879-1923" into the search bar. But be aware that any edits there will effect multiple articles. Content specific to this article should be added in this article alone.

The 1890–1892 government led by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was characterized by the preservation of the political and legal reforms made by the previous Liberal government and a protectionist economic policy—seeing the approval of the "Cánovas tariff" to imports, aimed at protecting large Castilian farmers and Catalan textile manufacturers from the competition of American wheat and English fabrics. The government fell apart as a result of governance minister Francisco Silvela breaking out of the Conservative Party in November 1891 over a lack of political regeneration—self-evidenced in the unveiling of administrative irregularities and corruption in the City Council of Madrid—but also because of an internal strife with long-time rival Francisco Romero Robledo, who had returned to the Conservatives's fold following the failed experience of his Liberal Reformist Party. In addition, Cánovas's tenure had been plagued by peasant and anarchist rebellions—such as the Jerez uprising or an attempted plot to plant explosives in the Cortes parliament building—with labour conflicts, strikes and protests being commonplace. The government's repression of these movements was frequently regarded as disproportionately severe, which would in turn lead to an increase in anarchist violence throughout the 1890s.

Following Cánovas's resignation in December 1892, Práxedes Mateo Sagasta of the Liberal Party was tasked by Queen Regent Maria Christina with forming a new government and holding a snap election. Shortly before the election, Sagasta's government passed several decrees softening the requisites for being eligible to vote in the overseas territories of Cuba and Puerto Rico, as well as a reorganization of the electoral districts in the latter that saw the creation of several multi-member constituencies.

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 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. In Cuba and Puerto Rico, voting was on the basis of censitary suffrage, comprising males of age fulfilling one of the following criteria:

  • Being taxpayers with a minimum quota of $5 in Cuba and $10 in Puerto Rico—following a 1892 reform—per territorial contribution or per industrial or trade subsidy (paid by the time of registering for voting);
  • 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 $100; unemployed and retired public employees; general officers of the Army and Navy exempt from service, and retired military and naval chiefs and officers; and reporters, chamber secretaries and court clerks of higher courts);
  • Painters and sculptors awarded in national or international exhibitions;
  • Those meeting the two-year residency requirement, provided that an educational or professional capacity could be proven. 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, debtors of public funds (including their substitutes or jointly liable parties), nor homeless.

The Congress of Deputies was entitled to one seat per each 50,000 inhabitants. 116 members were elected in 34 multi-member constituencies using a partial block voting system: 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; and in those with more than one seat and up to four, for no more than one less. The remaining 326 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. 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 five additional special districts.

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

SeatsConstituencies
8Madrid
6Havana
5Barcelona, Palma
4Santa Clara, Seville
3Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Burgos, Cádiz, Cartagena, Córdoba, Granada, Jaén, Jerez de la Frontera, La Coruña, Lugo, Málaga, Matanzas, Mayagüez, Murcia, Oviedo, Pamplona, Pinar del Río, Ponce, San Juan Bautista, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santander, Santiago de Cuba, Tarragona, Valencia, Valladolid, Zaragoza

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); 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, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Guipúzcoa, Huelva, Logroño, Matanzas, Palencia, Pinar del Río, Puerto Príncipe, Santa Clara, Santander, Santiago de Cuba, Segovia, Soria, Teruel, Valladolid and Zamora 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 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; nor holders of government-appointed offices and presidents or members of provincial deputations—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, except for government ministers and civil servants in the Central Administration. A number of other positions were exempt from ineligibility, provided that no more than 40 deputies benefitted from these:

  • Civil, military and judicial positions with a permanent residence in Madrid and a yearly public salary of at least Pts 12,500;
  • The holders of a number of positions: the president, prosecutors and chamber presidents of the territorial court of Madrid; the rector and full professors of the Central University of Madrid; inspectors of engineers; and general officers of the Army and Navy based in Madrid.

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 1 February 1891 for the Congress and on 15 February 1891 for the Senate, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 1 and 15 February 1896, 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 5 January and 4 February 1893, with the dissolution decree setting election day for 5 March (Congress) and 19 March 1893 (Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 5 April.

Results

Congress of Deputies

Parties and alliancesPopular voteSeatsVotes%
Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)}}"Liberal Party (PL)298
Conservative Party (Spain)}}"Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)67
Republican Union (Spain, 1893)}}"Republican Union (UR)36
Possibilist Democratic Party}}"Possibilist Democratic Party (PDP)18
Silvelist Party}}"Silvelist Party (PS)17
Traditionalist Communion}}"Traditionalist Communion (Carlist) (CT)8
Integrist Party}}"Integrist Party (PI)2
Independent politician}}"Independents (INDEP)1
Total447
Votes cast / turnout
Abstentions
Registered voters
Sources

Senate

Parties and alliancesSeats
Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)}}"Liberal Party (PL)
Conservative Party (Spain)}}"Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)
Possibilist Democratic Party}}"Possibilist Democratic Party (PDP)
Silvelist Party}}"Silvelist Party (PS)
Republican Union (Spain, 1893)}}"Republican Union (UR)
Traditionalist Communion}}"Traditionalist Communion (Carlist) (CT)
Independent politician}}"Independents (INDEP)
Nonpartisan}}"Archbishops (ARCH)
Total elective seats180
Sources

Maps

File:1893 Spanish General Election Results Map.svg|Election results by constituency (Congress) File:1893 Spanish General Senate Election Map.svg|Election results by constituency (Senate)

Distribution by group

GroupParties and alliancesCSTotal
Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)}}"PLLiberal Party (Spain, 1880)}}"Liberal Party (PL)275
Constitutional Union of Cuba}}"Constitutional Union of Cuba (UCC)119
Unconditional Spanish Party}}"Unconditional Spanish Party (PIE)111
Urquijists}}"Basque Dynastics (Urquijist) (DV)11
Conservative Party (Spain)}}"PLCConservative Party (Spain)}}"Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)52
Constitutional Union of Cuba}}"Constitutional Union of Cuba (UCC)114
Unconditional Spanish Party}}"Unconditional Spanish Party (PIE)41
Republican Union (Spain, 1893)}}"URProgressive Republican Party (Spain)}}"Progressive Republican Party (PRP)14
Federal Democratic Republican Party}}"Federal Republican Party (PRF)91
Autonomist Liberal Party}}"Autonomist Liberal Party (PLA)70
Centralist Republican Party}}"Centralist Republican Party (PRC)60
Possibilist Democratic Party}}"PDPPossibilist Democratic Party}}"Possibilist Democratic Party (PDP)19
Silvelist Party}}"PSSilvelist Party}}"Silvelist Party (PS)16
Unconditional Spanish Party}}"Unconditional Spanish Party (PIE)10
Traditionalist Communion}}"CTTraditionalist Communion}}"Traditionalist Communion (CT)8
Integrist Party}}"PIIntegrist Party}}"Integrist Party (PI)2
Independent politician}}"INDEPIndependent politician}}"Independents (INDEP)1
Urquijists}}"Basque Dynastics (Urquijist) (DV)01
Nonpartisan}}"ARCHNonpartisan}}"Archbishops (ARCH)0
Total447180627

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

  1. (30 March 1893). "Resultado de la elección de senadores verificada ayer en la provincia de Lérida". El Imparcial.
  2. (1 April 1893). "En Canarias". El Día.
  3. (1 April 1893). "En Puerto Rico han sido electos senadores". La Época.
  4. De la Santa Cinta, Joaquín. (23 August 2017). "Presidentes del Consejo de Ministros durante la Regencia de María Cristina de Habsburgo-Lorena: Vuelve Antonio Cánovas del Castillo". El Correo de Pozuelo.
  5. {{harvp. Royal Decree of 27 December (I). 1892
  6. {{harvp. Royal Decree of 27 December (II). 1892
  7. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
  8. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
  9. "Conocer el Senado. Temas clave. El Senado en la historia constitucional española". [[Senate of Spain]].
  10. {{harvp. Law of 26 June. 1890
  11. {{harvp. Royal Decree of 27 December (I). 1892
  12. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
  13. {{harvp. Law of 26 June. 1890. Law of 28 December. 1878. Law of 1 January. 1871. Law of 21 March. 1883, the {{harvp. Law of 23 June. 1885, the {{harvp. Law of 18 January. 1887, and the {{harvp. Law of 10 July. 1888.
  14. {{harvp. Decree of 1 April. 1871
  15. {{harvp. Law of 26 June. 1890
  16. {{harvp. Royal Decree of 27 December (II). 1892. Royal Decree of 18 December. 1890
  17. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
  18. (30 June 1881). "Real decreto determinando el número de Senadores que habrán de elegirse en cada una de las provincias con motivo de las próximas elecciones".
  19. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
  20. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
  21. {{harvp. Law of 9 January. 1879
  22. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
  23. {{harvp. Law of 26 June. 1890
  24. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
  25. {{harvp. Law of 26 June. 1890
  26. {{harvp. Royal Decree of 27 December (I). 1892
  27. {{harvp. Law of 7 March. 1880
  28. {{harvp. Law of 31 July. 1887.
  29. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
  30. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
  31. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
  32. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
  33. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
  34. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
  35. (5 January 1893). "Real decreto declarando disuelto el Congreso de los Diputados".
  36. (4 February 1893). "Real decreto declarando disuelta la parte electiva del Senado, y mandando que las Cortes se reúnan en Madrid el día 5 de Abril próximo".
  37. (7 March 1893). "Las elecciones en provincias". La Época.
  38. (7 March 1893). "Los nuevos diputados". El Correo Español.
  39. (7 March 1893). "Las elecciones en provincias". El Heraldo de Madrid.
  40. (8 March 1893). "Diputados electos". La Correspondencia de España.
  41. (8 March 1893). "Diputados probables". El Siglo Futuro.
  42. (8 March 1893). "La Iberia". El Liberal.
  43. (10 March 1893). "Las elecciones. Diputados proclamados". El Día.
  44. (20 March 1893). "Elección de senadores en provincias". La Correspondencia de España.
  45. (20 March 1893). "Elección de senadores". El Día.
  46. (20 March 1893). "Los nuevos senadores". El Imparcial.
  47. (20 March 1893). "Elecciones de senadores". El Liberal.
  48. (20 March 1893). "Elección de senadores". La Unión Católica.
  49. (20 March 1893). "Elección de senadores". El Siglo Futuro.
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