1893 Spanish general election

1893 Spanish general election

5 March 1893 (Congress) 19 March 1893 (Senate)
All 401 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate 201 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
First party Second party Third party   170x170px 170x170px 170x170px Leader Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Antonio Cánovas del Castillo Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla Party Liberal Party (Spain, 1880) PLC Republican Union (Spain, 1893) Leader since 1872 1874 1893 Leader's seat Logroño Cieza Madrid Seats won 274 C / 116 S 53 C / 30 S 30 C / 1 S   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   170x170px 170x170px 170x170px Leader Francisco Silvela Emilio Castelar Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa Party Conservative Union (Spain) Possibilist Democratic Party Carlist Leader since 1892 1879 1891 Leader's seat La Cañiza Huesca — Seats won 17 C / 4 S 14 C / 9 S 9 C / 1 S
Prime Minister before election Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Liberal Party (Spain, 1880) Elected Prime Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)

The 1893 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 5 March and on Sunday, 19 March 1893, to elect the 6th Restoration Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 401 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

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.

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. Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of universal manhood suffrage, which comprised all national males over twenty-five, having at least a two-year residency in a municipality and in full enjoyment of their civil rights.

For the Congress of Deputies, 88 seats were elected using a partial block voting in 26 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 313 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 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; in those with more than one seat and up to four, for no more than one less; and for one candidate in single-member districts. 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.

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).

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.

Results

Congress of Deputies

← Summary of the 5 March 1893 Congress of Deputies election results →

350px
Parties and coalitions		Popular vote		Seats
		Votes	%
width="1" bgcolor="Template:Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)/meta/color"|	Liberal Party (Liberales)			274
	Liberal Conservative Party (Conservadores)			53
rowspan="5" bgcolor="Template:Republican Union (Spain, 1893)/meta/color"|	Republican Union (Unión Republicana)			30
Progressive Republican Party (PRP)	14
Federal Democratic Republican Party (PRDF)	9
Centralist Republican Party (PRC)	4
Independent Republicans (Rep.i)	3
bgcolor="Template:Conservative Union (Spain)/meta/color"|	Conservative Union (Silvelistas)			17
bgcolor="Template:Possibilist Democratic Party/meta/color"|	Possibilist Democratic Party (Posibilistas)			14
rowspan="3" bgcolor="Template:Traditionalist Communion/meta/color"|	Carlists (Carlistas)			9
Traditionalist Communion (CT)	7
Integrist Party (PI)	2
	Independents (Independientes)			4
Total				401
Votes cast / turnout
Abstentions
Registered voters
Sources

Seats
Liberal			68.33%
Conservative			13.22%
Republican			7.48%
Silvelist			4.24%
Possibilist			3.49%
Carlist			2.24%
Independent			1.00%

Senate

← Summary of the 19 March 1893 Senate of Spain election results →

325px
Parties and coalitions		Seats
width="1" bgcolor="Template:Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)/meta/color"|	Liberal Party (Liberales)	116
	Liberal Conservative Party (Conservadores)	30
bgcolor="Template:Possibilist Democratic Party/meta/color"|	Possibilist Democratic Party (Posibilistas)	9
bgcolor="Template:Conservative Union (Spain)/meta/color"|	Conservative Union (Silvelistas)	4
bgcolor="Template:Republican Union (Spain, 1893)/meta/color"|	Republican Union (Unión Republicana)	1
bgcolor="Template:Traditionalist Communion/meta/color"|	Carlists (Carlistas)	1
	Independents (Independientes)	9
	Archbishops (Arzobispos)	10
Total elective seats		180
Sources

Seats
Liberal			64.44%
Conservative			16.67%
Possibilist			5.00%
Silvelist			2.22%
Republican			0.56%
Carlist			0.56%
Independent			5.00%
Archbishops			5.56%

Cuba

← Summary of the 5 March 1893 Congress of Deputies election results in Cuba →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote		Seats
		Votes	%
width="1" bgcolor="Template:Constitutional Union of Cuba/meta/color"|	Constitutional Union Party (Unión Constitucional)			23
	Autonomist Liberal Party (Autonomista)			7
Total		34,005		30
Votes cast / turnout		34,005	66.34
Abstentions		17,252	33.66
Registered voters		51,257
Sources

Seats
Const. Union			76.67%
Autonomist			23.33%

External links

• Historical archive of deputies (1810–1977). Congress of Deputies (in Spanish).
• Elections in the Revolutionary Sexennium and the Restoration. Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish).