1910 Spanish general election

Background

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The Restoration system had entered a phase of decline following the national trauma from the Spanish–American War (the "1898 disaster") and the absence of politically authoritative figureheads since the deaths of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (1897) and Práxedes Mateo Sagasta (1903), weakening the internal unity of both dynastic parties and strengthening the position of faction leaders and local caciques as power brokers. Concurrently, the anti-monarchist opposition became increasingly competitive in urban and some rural districts, partly due to the introduction of universal suffrage since 1890, partly due to the progressive weakening of the pro-government electoral apparatus.

Antonio Maura, who had briefly served as prime minister between 1903 and 1904, was reappointed to the post in January 1907, forming what would become known as the "Long Government" (gobierno largo). Aiming to secure a solid parliamentary majority that enabled him to implement his agenda—a regenerationist approach from power (a "revolution from above") that would end political corruption and curb the power of local caciques to secure popular support for the monarchy—Maura used the system's own mechanisms to organize a rigged election and secure a disproportionate amount of seats at the expense of the Liberals, breaching a tacit pact between the elites of the two parties. He immediately passed a new electoral law introducing compulsory voting, independent scrutineers, additional election crimes, judicial arbitration by the Supreme Court in disputed cases and a transfer of the power to review electoral rolls from local councils to the Geographic and Statistic Institute, while allowing the automatic election of unopposed candidates.

Through the Pact of Cartagena, Maura's government strengthened ties with the United Kingdom and France following the Tangier Crisis, while also approving the 1908 Navy Law that would authorize the construction of the España-class battleships. The government promoted the protection and strengthening of national industry to increase employment and raise living standards, whereas Maura's approach to the social question aimed at defusing labour disputes through conciliation, arbitration or containing them within legal channels (such as a legal framework for labour strikes and the creation of the National Welfare Institute).

The government also suffered several major defeats, such as opposition to its proposed Law on Terrorism in 1908, whose heavily repressive nature prompted the birth of a Liberal–republican "Left Bloc", seeing monarchists and republicans allying for the first time against one of the dynastic parties with support from the "Trust" press (the media group comprising the three main liberal newspapers: El Liberal, El Imparcial and El Heraldo de Madrid). In the flagship proposal of his Spanish nationalist agenda, Maura attempted to reform the local administration by introducing municipal self-governance, decentralization and corporate suffrage, but the Liberal–republican opposition was able to obstruct the passage of this law. Seeking to strengthen cohesion among the various party factions that questioned his position, Liberal leader Segismundo Moret maintained this strategy during this period.

In July 1909, the attack on Spanish railway workers by Riffian tribes led to the outbreak of the second Melillan campaign; the disaster of Wolf Ravine later that month, in which over 150 Spanish soldiers were killed, prompted the government to order the immediate mobilization of reservists from Barcelona. The recruitment proved unpopular, unleashing a wave of anti-war unrest among the working class—motivated by anger at wealthier families being able to "exempt" their offspring from military service by paying a fee (the redención en metálico or "cash redemption") or by hiring a replacement ("substitution"), in a system known as the quintas—that reached its peak during the events of the Tragic Week. The state's heavy-handed response (with over 100 killed and 1,700 arrested in the riots and a two-month suspension of constitutional rights across the country) and the execution of anarchist activist Francisco Ferrer on 13 October sparked widespread outrage: protests took place in major cities across Europe and Latin America under the chant "Maura, no!", with the scale of the international outcry being compared to that of the Dreyfus affair. The parliamentary counterattack from the Left Bloc proved effective: Maura resigned on 21 October and King Alfonso XIII appointed Moret as prime minister. This episode became the first occasion in the Restoration system that political pressure from the dynastic party in opposition was successful in bringing down the party in power, which would lead to Maura declaring the liquidation of the Pact of El Pardo and "implacable hostility" to the Liberals in power.

Once in power, the Liberal Party saw itself embroiled in an internal crisis, as Moret marginalized the Count of Romanones due to his involvement with the Spanish Rif Mining Company (CEMR), whereas his Left Bloc's dominance over more experienced Liberals was a cause of concern for others. With election preparations underway, mounting political pressure from Romanones and various party sectors—fearing that Moret would relegate them in the encasillado in favour of newcomers and republican allies—led the King to deny Moret a parliamentary dissolution, prompting the latter's resignation and the appointment of José Canalejas in his place on 9 February 1910. Moret's downfall marked both the first time that the monarchy prevented the first government in a new "turn" from calling an election, and that it bypassed the official leader of one of the dynastic leaders.

In the aftermath of the Tragic Week and with the Liberal takeover of power leading to the breakdown of the "Left Bloc", a number of anti-monarchist parties joined into the Republican–Socialist Conjunction ahead of incoming elections, including Pablo Iglesias Posse's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), Alejandro Lerroux's Radical Republican Party (PRR) and a faction within the Republican Union opposed to Nicolás Salmerón's decision to join Catalan Solidarity in 1906. The Catalan Solidarity alliance, having been internally weakened following the favourable stance of the Regionalist League towards Maura's proposed Local Administration Law and the PRR's successes in the 1908 Barcelona by-elections, disbanded entirely following the Tragic Week.

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. The new electoral law of 1907 introduced compulsory voting, though those older than 70, the clergy, first instance judges and public notaries (the latter two categories, within their respective area of jurisdiction) were exempt from this obligation. Additionally, voters were required to not being in active military service; nor 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. 98 members were elected in 28 multi-member constituencies using a partial block voting system: in constituencies electing ten seats or more, electors could vote for no more than four candidates less than the number of seats to be allocated; in those with more than eight seats and up to ten, for no more than three less; 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 306 seats were elected in single-member districts using plurality voting and distributed among the provinces of Spain in proportion to their populations. The 1907 electoral reform abolished special districts and introduced that, in those with uncontested elections (the number of candidates being equal to or less than the number of seats at stake), candidates were to be elected automatically without a vote.

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 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 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, Oviedo, Salamanca, Santiago, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza; and the economic societies of 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 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, the judiciary, the prosecution ministry 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.

Amendments to the electoral law in 1907 introduced, for candidates intending to run, the requirement to either have previously served as deputies, elected in a general or by-election; to secure the endorsement of two current or former senators or deputies from the same provinces, or from three current or former provincial deputies representing a territory that, in whole or in part, was included in the constituencies for which they sought election; or to secure the endorsement of at least one twentieth of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election.

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 21 April 1907 for the Congress and on 5 May 1907 for the Senate, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 21 April and 5 May 1912, 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 14 April 1910, with the dissolution decree setting election day for 8 May (Congress) and 22 May 1910 (Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 15 June.

Results

Congress of Deputies

Senate

Maps

File:1910 Spanish general election (Congress of Deputies).svg|Election results by constituency (Congress). File:1910 Spanish general election (Senate).svg|Election results by constituency (Senate).

Distribution by group

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

1. (16 May 1910). "Real decreto disponiendo que las elecciones de Senadores que, con arreglo al Real decreto de 14 de Abril último, tendrán lugar en todas las provincias de la Monarquía el día 22 del corriente, se verifiquen en la de Canarias el día 27 del actual". Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado.
2. (28 May 1910). "Senadores por Canarias". La Época.
3. Montagut, Eduardo. (24 March 2016). "El republicanismo durante la Restauración borbónica".
4. {{harvnb. Juliá. 1999. es. encasillado: he maintained electoral fraud while breaking the pact between the liberal and conservative elites. [{{langx. es. ... Maura dejó para mejor ocasión no ya la limpieza electoral sino también el encasillado equilibrado: mantuvo el fraude electoral a la vez que rompía el pacto entre las elites liberal y conservadora.]"
5. Villa Caro, Raúl. (16 June 2016). "El Presidente de Gobierno Antonio Maura clave de la Escuadra del Siglo XX en Exponav". [[Exponav]].
6. (22 October 1909). "Dimisión del gobierno. Los liberales en el poder". El Imparcial.
7. Fayanás Escuer, Edmundo. (24 May 2024). "El republicanismo en los inicios del siglo XX". Nueva Tribuna.
8. Montagut, Eduardo. (22 July 2015). "Solidaritat Catalana". Nueva Tribuna.
9. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
10. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
11. "Conocer el Senado. Temas clave. El Senado en la historia constitucional española". [[Senate of Spain]].
12. {{harvp. Law of 8 August. 1907
13. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
14. {{harvp. Law of 8 August. 1907. Law of 26 June. 1890. Law of 28 December. 1878. Law of 1 January. 1871. Law of 23 June. 1885, the {{harvp. Law of 18 January. 1887, the {{harvp. Law of 10 July. 1888, the {{harvp. Law of 18 June. 1895, the {{harvp. Law of 2 August. 1895, the {{harvp. Law of 5 July. 1898, the {{harvp. Law of 7 August. 1899, the {{harvp. Law of 24 March. 1902, and the {{harvp. Law of 5 April. 1904.
15. {{harvp. Law of 8 August. 1907
16. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
17. (16 March 1899). "Real decreto disponiendo el número de Senadores que han de elegir las provincias que se citan".
18. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
19. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
20. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
21. {{harvp. Law of 8 August. 1907
22. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
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24. {{harvp. Law of 7 March. 1880
25. {{harvp. Law of 31 July. 1887.
26. {{harvp. Law of 8 August. 1907
27. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
28. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
29. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
30. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
31. {{harvp. Constitution. 1876
32. {{harvp. Law of 8 February. 1877
33. (14 April 1910). "Real decreto declarando disueltos el Congreso de los Diputados y la parte electiva del Senado, y disponiendo que las Cortes se reúnan en Madrid el 15 de Junio próximo, y que las elecciones de Diputados y Senadores se verifiquen el 8 y 22 de Mayo próximo, respectivamente".
34. (8 May 1910). "Las elecciones de hoy. Candidatos que luchan". El Imparcial.
35. (9 May 1910). "El resultado de las elecciones". El Heraldo de Madrid.
36. (9 May 1910). "Datos oficiales de toda España". La Mañana.
37. (9 May 1910). "Las elecciones". El Globo.
38. (9 May 1910). "Las elecciones generales". La Época.
39. (9 May 1910). "Resultados oficiales". El Siglo Futuro.
40. (13 May 1910). "El nuevo Congreso". La Época.
41. (22 May 1910). "La elección de senadores". El Imparcial.
42. (23 May 1910). "Los nuevos senadores". El País.
43. (23 May 1910). "Los nuevos senadores". La Mañana.
44. (23 May 1910). "Elección de senadores". El Liberal.
45. (23 May 1910). "Elección de senadores". El Globo.
46. (23 May 1910). "La elección de senadores". La Correspondencia de España.