1884 Spanish general election

The 1884 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 27 April and on Thursday, 8 May 1884, to elect the 3rd Restoration Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 393 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.[1]

1884 Spanish general election
27 April 1884 (Congress)
8 May 1884 (Senate)
All 393 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate
197 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 José López Domínguez Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
Party Conservative Dynastic Left Fusionist
Leader since 1874 1884 1880
Leader's seat Madrid Coín Logroño
Seats won 318 C / 140 S 36 C / 8 S 31 C / 15 S
Prime Minister before election

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Conservative

 Elected Prime Minister

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Conservative

Overview

Background

The Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a constitutional monarchy, awarding the King power to name senators and to revoke laws, as well as the title of commander-in-chief of the army. The King would also play a key role in the system of the turno pacífico (English: Peaceful Turn) by appointing and toppling governments and allowing the opposition to take power. Under this system, the Conservative and Liberal parties alternated in power by means of election rigging, which they achieved through the encasillado, 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.[2]

Electoral system

The Spanish Cortes were envisaged as "co-legislative bodies", based on a nearly perfect bicameralism. 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.[3][4] Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of censitary suffrage, which comprised national males over twenty-five, being taxpayers with a minimum quota of twenty-five pesetas per territorial contribution or fifty per industrial subsidy, as well as being enrolled in the so-called capacity census (either by criteria of Education or for professional reasons).[5][6]

For the Congress of Deputies, 88 seats were elected using a partial block voting in 26 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 305 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: 8 for Madrid, 5 for Barcelona and Palma, 4 for Seville and 3 for Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Burgos, Cádiz, Cartagena, Córdoba, Granada, Jaén, Jerez de la Frontera, La Coruña, Lugo, Málaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Pamplona, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santander, Tarragona, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza. The law also provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated throughout the legislature.[3][7]

For the Senate, 180 seats were indirectly elected, with electors voting for delegates instead of senators. Elected delegates—equivalent in number to one-sixth of the councillors in each municipal corporation—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 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 Royal Academies of History, Fine Arts, 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, Cuba–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 of the first class; Captain Generals of the Army and the Navy Admiral; the Patriarch of the Indies and archbishops; as well as other high-ranking state figures—and senators for life (who were appointed by the Monarch).[8][9][10]

Election date

The term of each House 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 Monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both Houses at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.[3][7][8]

Results

Congress of Deputies
← Summary of the 27 April 1884 Congress of Deputies election results →
Parties and coalitions Popular vote Seats
Votes %
Liberal Conservative Party (Conservadores) 318
Dynastic Left (Izquierda Dinástica) 36
Liberal Fusionist Party (Fusionistas) 31
Possibilist Democratic Party (Posibilistas) 3
Republicans (Republicanos) 2
Independents (Independientes) 3
Total 587,458 393
Votes cast / turnout 587,45872.68
Abstentions 220,78527.32
Registered voters 808,243
Sources[11][12][13][14][15]
Seats
Conservative
 
 80.92%
Dynastic Left
 
 9.16%
Fusionist
 
 7.89%
Possibilist
 
 0.76%
Republican
 
 0.51%
Independent
 
 0.76%

Senate
← Summary of the 8 May 1884 Senate of Spain election results →
Parties and coalitions 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[16][17][18][19]
Seats
Conservative
 
 77.78%
Fusionist
 
 8.33%
Dynastic Left
 
 4.44%
Possibilist
 
 1.11%
Moderate
 
 0.56%
Independent
 
 2.22%
Archbishops
 
 5.56%

Cuba
← Summary of the 27 April 1884 Congress of Deputies election results in Cuba →
Parties and coalitions Popular vote Seats
Votes %
Constitutional Union Party (Unión Constitucional) 20
Autonomist Liberal Party (Autonomista) 3
Progressive Liberal Party (Liberal Progresista) 1
Total 13,031 24
Votes cast / turnout 13,03146.54
Abstentions 14,96853.46
Registered voters 27,999
Sources[20]
Seats
Const. Union
 
 83.33%
Autonomist
 
 12.50%
Prog. Liberal
 
 4.17%

References
  1. "Real decreto declarando disueltos el Congreso de los Diputados y la parte electiva del Senado" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado (92): 1. 1 April 1884.
  2. Martorell Linares 1997, pp. 139–143.
  3. "Constitución de 1876". Act of 30 June 1876 (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  4. "El Senado en la historia constitucional española". Senate of Spain (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  5. García Muñoz 2002, pp. 105–106.
  6. Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, p. 1077.
  7. "Ley electoral de los Diputados a Cortes". Law of 28 December 1878 (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  8. "Ley electoral de Senadores". Law of 8 February 1877 (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  9. "Ley dictando reglas para la elección de Senadores en las islas de Cuba y Puerto Rico". Law of 9 January 1879 (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  10. "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). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado (184): 23. 3 July 1881.
  11. Martínez Ruiz, Maqueda Abreu & De Diego 1999, p. 109.
  12. Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, p. 1093.
  13. "Elecciones a Cortes 27 de abril de 1884". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  14. "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.
  15. "De los datos recibidos en los centros oficiales, los diputados electos de oposición se descomponen en la siguiente forma". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 7 May 1884. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  16. "Ayer hemos publicado el resultado de las elecciones senatoriales". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 9 May 1884. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  17. "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.
  18. "Senadores y diputados". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Liberal. 9 May 1884. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  19. "Correspondencias". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). Crónica de Cataluña. 11 May 1884. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  20. Roldán de Montaud 1999, pp. 258–262.

Bibliography
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