1884 Spanish general election

1884 Spanish general election
← 1881 27 April 1884 (Congress)
8 May 1884 (Senate)		 1886 →
All 433 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate
217 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Registered808,243
Turnout587,458 (72.7%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Antonio Cánovas del Castillo Práxedes Mateo Sagasta José López Domínguez
Party Conservative Fusionist Leftist
Leader since 1874 1880 1884
Leader's seat Madrid Logroño Coín
Seats won 342 C / 140 S 43 C / 15 S 36 C / 8 S
Prime Minister before election

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Conservative

Prime Minister after election

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Conservative

The 1884 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 27 April (for the Congress of Deputies) and on Thursday, 8 May 1884 (for the Senate), to elect the 3rd Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain in the Restoration period. All 433 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

Overview

Electoral system

The Spanish Cortes were envisaged as "co-legislative bodies", based on a nearly perfect bicameral system.[1] 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.[2][3] Voting for the Cortes 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 25 Pt per territorial contribution (paid at least one year in advance) or 50 Pt per industrial subsidy (paid at least two years in advance); having a particular position (royal academy numerary members; ecclesiastic individuals; active, unemployed or retired public employees; military personnel; widely recognized painters and sculptors; public teachers; etc.); or having at least a two-year residency in a municipality, provided that an educational or professional capacity could be proven.[4][5][6] In Cuba and Puerto Rico, the taxpayer quota requirement was set at 125 Pt for both the territorial contribution and the industrial or trade subsidy; additionally for Cuba, those subject to ineligibility causes were barred from being electors, as well as those who, having been subject to servitude, had not been freed and exempt from patronage for at least three years.[7][8][9]

For the Congress of Deputies, 111 seats were elected using a partial block voting system in 31 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 321 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, 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; in those with four or five seats, for up to three candidates; and for one candidate in single-member districts. Additionally, up to ten deputies could be elected through cumulative voting in several single-member constituencies, provided that they obtained more than 10,000 votes overall. The Congress was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants, with each multi-member constituency being allocated a fixed number of seats.[10][11][12]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:[13][14][15]

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

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 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 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, 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 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.[16][17][18][19]

The law provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated in both the Congress and Senate throughout the legislature's term.[20][21]

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 Congress and Senate elections were held on 21 August and 2 September 1881, which meant that the legislature's terms would have expired on 21 August and 2 September 1886, respectively. The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.[22][23] 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 31 March 1884, with the dissolution decree setting the election dates for 27 April (for the Congress) and 8 May 1884 (for the Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 20 May.[24]

Background

The Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a constitutional monarchy, awarding the monarch the right of legislative initiative together with the bicameral Cortes; the capacity to veto laws passed by the legislative body; the power to appoint senators and government ministers; as well as the title of commander-in-chief of the army and navy. The monarch would play a key role in the system of el turno pacífico (English: the Peaceful Turn) by appointing and dismissing governments and allowing the opposition to take power. Under this informal system, the major political parties at the time, the Conservatives and the Liberals—characterized as elite parties with loose structures dominated by internal factions, each led by powerful individuals—alternated in power by means of election rigging, which they achieved through the encasillado, assignating the seats in the general elections before they were held by using the links between the Ministry of Governance, the provincial civil governors and the local bosses (caciques) to ensure victory and exclude minor parties from the power sharing.[25][26] The result was "a liberal system without democracy".[27]

Candidates

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.[28][29]

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.[30][31]

Results

Congress of Deputies

← Summary of the 27 April 1884 Congress of Deputies election results →
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes %
Liberal Conservative Party (PLC) 342
Liberal Fusionist Party (PLF) 43
Dynastic Left (ID) 36
Independent Republicans (R.IND) 9
Possibilist Democratic Party (PDP) 3
Total 433
Votes cast / turnout 587,458 72.68
Abstentions 220,785 27.32
Registered voters 808,243
Sources[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]
Seats
PLC
 
 78.98%
PLF
 
 9.93%
ID
 
 8.31%
R.IND
 
 2.08%
PDP
 
 0.69%

Senate

← Summary of the 8 May 1884 Senate of Spain election results →
Parties and alliances Seats
Liberal Conservative Party (Conservadores) 140
Liberal Fusionist Party (Fusionistas) 15
Dynastic Left (Izquierda Dinástica) 8
Possibilist Democratic Party (Posibilistas) 2
Moderate Party (Moderados) 1
Independents (Independientes) 4
Archbishops (Arzobispos) 10
Total elective seats 180
Sources[46][47][48][49]
Seats
Conservative
 
 77.78%
Fusionist
 
 8.33%
Dynastic Left
 
 4.44%
Possibilist
 
 1.11%
Moderate
 
 0.56%
Independent
 
 2.22%
Archbishops
 
 5.56%

References

  1. ^ Const. Esp. (1876), tit. II, art. 18–19 & tit. V, art. 41.
  2. ^ Const. Esp. (1876), tit. V, art. 38 & 42.
  3. ^ "El Senado en la historia constitucional española". Senate of Spain (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  4. ^ L Dip (1878), tit. III, ch. I, art. 14–20.
  5. ^ García Muñoz 2002, pp. 105–106.
  6. ^ Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, p. 1077.
  7. ^ L Dip (1878), tit. VIII, art. 142–143.
  8. ^ RD Cuba (1878), art. 5–6.
  9. ^ Roldán de Montaud 1999, p. 249.
  10. ^ Const. Esp. (1876), tit. IV, art. 27–31.
  11. ^ L Dip (1878), tit. I, art. 1–3, applying L Dip (1871), art. 1.
  12. ^ D Puerto Rico (1871), art. 2–3.
  13. ^ L Dip (1878), tit. I, art. 2.
  14. ^ RD Cuba (1878), art. 1 & 7.
  15. ^ Roldán de Montaud 1999, pp. 250.
  16. ^ Const. Esp. (1876), tit. III, art. 20–26.
  17. ^ L Sen (1877), ch. I, art. 1–2.
  18. ^ L Cuba & Puerto Rico (1879), art. 1–3.
  19. ^ "Real decreto determinando el número de Senadores que habrán de elegirse en cada una de las provincias con motivo de las próximas elecciones" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (184). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 23. 3 July 1881.
  20. ^ L Sen (1877), ch. V, art. 56–59.
  21. ^ L Dip (1878), tit. IV, ch. IV, art. 110–113.
  22. ^ Const. Esp. (1876), tit. V, art. 32.
  23. ^ L Sen (1877), ch. III, art. 11.
  24. ^ "Real decreto declarando disueltos el Congreso de los Diputados y la parte electiva del Senado" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (92). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 1. 1 April 1884.
  25. ^ Martorell Linares 1997, pp. 139–143.
  26. ^ Martínez Relanzón 2017, pp. 147–148.
  27. ^ "La Restauración borbónica. Implantación y afianzamiento de un nuevo sistema político (1874-1902)". TocaSociales.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  28. ^ Const. Esp. (1876), tit. IV, art. 29.
  29. ^ L Dip (1878), tit. II, art. 7–9.
  30. ^ Const. Esp. (1876), tit. III, art. 22.
  31. ^ L Sen (1877), ch. II, art. 4.
  32. ^ López Domínguez 1976, pp. 390–408.
  33. ^ Armengol i Segú & Varela Ortega 2001, pp. 655–776.
  34. ^ "Elecciones generales para Diputados a Cortes verificadas en los años de 1881 y 1884" (PDF). National Institute of Statistics (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  35. ^ "Lucha electoral". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 27 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  36. ^ "Elecciones de diputados a Cortes". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Correspondencia de España. 28 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  37. ^ "Elecciones en provincias". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Día. 28 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  38. ^ "El resultado de las elecciones". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Globo. 28 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  39. ^ "Elecciones de diputados". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Día. 29 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  40. ^ "Elecciones en provincias". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Liberal. 29 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  41. ^ "Resultado de las elecciones". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Globo. 29 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  42. ^ "Resultado de las elecciones". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 29 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  43. ^ "Elecciones en provincias". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Siglo Futuro. 29 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  44. ^ "Las elecciones en Cuba y Puerto Rico". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Imparcial. 30 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  45. ^ "Los diputados por Cuba y Puerto Rico". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Liberal. 30 April 1884. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  46. ^ "Ayer hemos publicado el resultado de las elecciones senatoriales". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 9 May 1884. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  47. ^ "Los resultados hasta ahora conocidos de la elección de senadores dan la cifra de 21 a la oposición". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). Diario Ilustrado. 9 May 1884. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  48. ^ "Senadores y diputados". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Liberal. 9 May 1884. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  49. ^ "Correspondencias". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). Crónica de Cataluña. 11 May 1884. Retrieved 13 December 2020.

Bibliography