1886 Spanish general election

The 1886 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 4 April (for the Congress of Deputies) and on Sunday, 25 April 1886 (for the Senate), to elect the 4th Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain in the Restoration period. All 434 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate. The electorate comprised about 4.6% of the country's population.^[1]

1886 Spanish general election

← 1884 4 April 1886 (Congress) 25 April 1886 (Senate) 1891 →
All 434 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate 218 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Registered	807,175
Turnout	475,712 (58.9%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Antonio Cánovas del Castillo Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla Party Liberal Conservative Republican Leader since 1880 1874 1880 Leader's seat Logroño Cieza — Last election 43 (C) · 15 (S) 342 (C) · 140 (S) 9 (C) · 0 (S) Seats won 308 (C) · 124 (S) 71 (C) · 33 (S) 20 (C) · 3 (S) Seat change 265 (C) · 109 (S) 271 (C) · 107 (S) 11 (C) · 3 (S)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Francisco Romero Robledo Emilio Castelar José López Domínguez Party Liberal Reformist Possibilist Leftist Leader since 1886 1879 1884 Leader's seat Antequera Huesca Coín Last election Did not contest 3 (C) · 2 (S) 36 (C) · 8 (S) Seats won 11 (C) · 4 (S) 11 (C) · 4 (S) 12 (C) · 2 (S) Seat change 11 (C) · 4 (S) 8 (C) · 2 (S) 24 (C) · 6 (S)
Prime Minister before election Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Liberal Prime Minister after election Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Liberal

The election resulted in a large majority for the government-supported candidates of the Liberal Party, which was possible through Antonio Cánovas del Castillo's peaceful handover of power to Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, in what came to be known as the Pact of El Pardo. Running against the pact were the Francisco Romero Robledo and José López Domínguez-led factions within the Conservative and Liberal parties, respectively, but which failed to achieve decisive breakthroughs. The resulting legislature would come to be known as the "Long Parliament" (Spanish: Parlamento Largo): lasting from 1886 to 1891, it would be the only one during the Restoration period to last its full five year-term.^[2]

Overview

Electoral system

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, where the Congress had preeminence.^[3][4] 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.^[5][6] In Cuba and Puerto Rico, the taxpayer quota requirement ascended to 125 Pt for both the territorial contribution and the industrial or trade subsidy.^[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 322 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. The law also provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated throughout the legislature.^{[3][8][10][11]}

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:^{[8][12][13][14]}

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 royal academies of History, Fine Arts of San Fernando, Exact 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 of the first class; 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 (who were appointed by the Monarch).^{[3][15][16][17]}

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 27 April and 8 May 1884, which meant that the legislature's terms would have expired on 27 April and 8 May 1889, respectively. The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.^[3][8][15] There was no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections for 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 8 March 1886, with the dissolution decree setting the election dates for 4 April (for the Congress) and 25 April 1886 (for the Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 10 May.^[18]

Background

The Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a constitutional monarchy, awarding the monarch power to name senators and to revoke laws, as well as the title of commander-in-chief of the army. The monarch would also 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 system, the major political parties of the time, the conservatives and the liberals—characterized as elite parties with loose structures and dominated by internal factions led by powerful individuals—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.^[19][20]

The death of King Alfonso XII in November 1885 at the age of 27, with no heir apparent and with her spouse—Maria Christina of Austria—poised to become queen regent under the provisions of the Constitution, had seen a prospective political crisis being averted by the secret signing of the Pact of El Pardo between Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, incumbent prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party, and Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, leader of the Liberal Party. Through the pact, both political parties—which had dominated Spanish politics during the early Restoration period—aimed to temporarily thwart the political fighting within the monarchist camp and provide stability to the regime by definitely establishing the turno system of alternance. As a result, Cánovas peacefully handed over power to Sagasta, who earlier that year had unified the various factions within his party under the "guarantee law": an agreement under which the Liberals would develop the freedoms and rights recognized during the Democratic Sexenium in exchange for the acceptance of shared sovereignty between the King and the Cortes, a basic principle of the 1876 Constitution.^[21][22] Francisco Romero Robledo, who vied for power with Francisco Silvela within the Conservative party, split off in protest to Cánovas' "voluntary relinquishment" of government.^[23][24][25]

The 1884–1885 period saw some calamities that the Cánovas government had to handle, such as the Alcudia bridge disaster, the 1884 Andalusian earthquake and the 1885 cholera epidemic in Spain. It also saw the Berlin Conference, the starting point of the Scramble for Africa, in which Spain successfully claimed and established the colony of Spanish Sahara. The Carolines Question, a conflict between Spain and the German Empire over the sovereignty of the Caroline Islands and Palau in the western Pacific was resolved through arbitration by the Holy See.^[21]

Results

Congress of Deputies

← Summary of the 4 April 1886 Congress of Deputies election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote		Seats
		Votes	%
	Liberal Party (PL)			308
	Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)			71
	Republican Union (UR)			20
	Dynastic Left (ID)			12
	Liberal Reformist Party (PLR)			11
	Possibilist Democratic Party (PDP)			11
	Traditionalist Communion (Carlist) (CT)			1
Total		475,712		434
Votes cast / turnout		475,712	58.94
Abstentions		331,463	41.06
Registered voters		807,175
Sources[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]

Seats PL   70.97% PLC   16.36% UR   4.61% ID   2.76% PLR   2.53% PDP   2.53% CT   0.23%

Senate

← Summary of the 25 April 1886 Senate of Spain election results →

Parties and alliances		Seats
	Liberal Party (PL)	124
	Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)	33
	Liberal Reformist Party (PLR)	4
	Possibilist Democratic Party (PDP)	4
	Republican Union (UR)	3
	Dynastic Left (ID)	2
	Archbishops (ARCH)	10
Total elective seats		180
Sources[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]

Seats PL   68.89% PLC   18.33% PLR   2.22% PDP   2.22% UR   1.67% ID   1.11% ARCH   5.56%

Distribution by group

Summary of political group distribution in the 4th Restoration Cortes (1886–1891)

Group		Parties and alliances		C	S	Total
	PL		Liberal Party (PL)	289	112	432
			Constitutional Union of Cuba (UCC)	12	8
			Unconditional Spanish Party (PIE)	6	2
			Basque Dynastics (Urquijist) (DV)	1	2
	PLC		Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)	64	27	104
			Constitutional Union of Cuba (UCC)	3	5
			Unconditional Spanish Party (PIE)	4	1
	UR		Progressive Republican Party (PRP)	10	1	23
			Autonomist Liberal Party (PLA)	6	1
			Liberal Reformist Party of Puerto Rico (PLRP)	3	1
			Federal Republican Party (PRF)	1	0
	PLR		Liberal Reformist Party (PLR)	9	4	15
			Constitutional Union of Cuba (UCC)	2	0
	PDP		Possibilist Democratic Party (PDP)	11	4	15
	ID		Dynastic Left (ID)	9	2	14
			Unconditional Spanish Party (PIE)	2	0
			Constitutional Union of Cuba (UCC)	1	0
	CT		Traditionalist Communion (Carlist) (CT)	1	0	1
	ARCH		Archbishops (ARCH)	0	10	10
Total				434	180	614

References

1. Caballero Domínguez 1999, p. 50.
2. Martínez Ruiz, Maqueda Abreu & De Diego 1999, p. 111.
3. Constitución de la Monarquía Española (PDF) (Constitution) (in Spanish). 30 June 1876. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
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. Roldán de Montaud 1999, p. 249.
8. Ley electoral de los Diputados a Cortes (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 28 December 1878. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
9. "Decreto mandando se verifiquen en Puerto-Rico las elecciones ordinarias de Senadores y Diputados á Córtes" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (104). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 841–842. 14 April 1871.
10. Ley mandando que los distritos para las elecciones de Diputados á Córtes sean los que se expresan en la división adjunta (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 1 January 1871. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
11. "Decreto mandando se verifiquen en Puerto-Rico las elecciones ordinarias de Senadores y Diputados á Córtes" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (104). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 841–842. 14 April 1871.
12. "Real decreto dictando reglas para las elecciones de Diputados a Cortes en la Isla de Cuba" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (220). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 376. 8 August 1878.
13. Ley dividiendo la provincia de Guipúzcoa en distritos para la elección de Diputados a Cortes (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 23 June 1885. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
14. Roldán de Montaud 1999, p. 250.
15. Ley electoral de Senadores (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 8 February 1877. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
16. Ley dictando reglas para la elección de Senadores en las islas de Cuba y Puerto Rico (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 9 January 1879. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
17. "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.
18. "Real decreto declarando disueltos el Congreso de los Diputados y la parte electiva del Senado, señalando el día 10 de Mayo próximo para reunirse las Cortes, y disponiendo que las elecciones de Diputados se verifiquen el 4 de Abril, y las de Senadores el 25 del mismo" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (68). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 725. 9 March 1886.
19. Martorell Linares 1997, pp. 139–143.
20. Martínez Relanzón 2017, pp. 147–148.
21. De la Santa Cinta, Joaquín (9 August 2017). "Presidentes del Consejo de Ministros durante el reinado de Alfonso XII. José Posada Herrera y de nuevo Antonio Cánovas del Castillo". El Correo de Pozuelo (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 May 2023.
22. De la Santa Cinta, Joaquín (16 August 2017). "Presidentes del Consejo de Ministros durante la Regencia de María Cristina de Habsburgo-Lorena: Práxedes Mateo Sagasta". El Correo de Pozuelo (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 May 2023.
23. Fernández Almagro 1943, p. 412.
24. Dardé Morales 1986, pp. 224–226.
25. Montagut, Eduardo (24 November 2016). "El Gobierno de Sagasta (1885-1890)". Nueva Tribuna (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 August 2022.
26. López Domínguez 1976, pp. 410–433.
27. Armengol i Segú & Varela Ortega 2001, pp. 655–776.
28. "Noticias electorales". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Siglo Futuro. 5 April 1886. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
29. "Elecciones". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Discusión. 6 April 1886. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
30. "Resultado de las elecciones". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 6 April 1886. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
31. "Los diputados a Cortes". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Liberal. 6 April 1886. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
32. "Candidatos electos". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Día. 6 April 1886. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
33. "Las elecciones generales". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Iberia. 7 April 1886. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
34. "Las elecciones generales". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Imparcial. 8 April 1886. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
35. "Elecciones de senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Imparcial. 28 April 1886. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
36. "Elección de senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Liberal. 26 April 1886. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
37. "El Senado". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Día. 26 April 1886. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
38. "La elección de senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 26 April 1886. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
39. "Elecciones de senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Unión. 26 April 1886. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
40. "Senadores por Puerto Rico". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 27 April 1886. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
41. "Los senadores de Cuba". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 28 April 1886. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
42. "Senadores en la isla de Cuba". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Unión. 29 April 1886. Retrieved 19 August 2022.

Bibliography

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• Fernández Almagro, Melchor (1943). "Las Cortes del siglo XIX y la práctica electoral". Revista de Estudios Políticos (in Spanish) (9–10): 383–419. ISSN 0048-7694. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
• López Domínguez, José María (1976). Elecciones y partidos políticos de Puerto Rico: 1809-1898 (PDF) (Thesis) (in Spanish). Vol. 1. Puerto Rico: Complutense University of Madrid. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
• Dardé Morales, Carlos (1986). "Las elecciones de diputados de 1886" (PDF). Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Contemporánea (in Spanish) (5): 223–259. doi:10.14198/AnContemp.1986.5.10. ISSN 0212-5080. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
• Martorell Linares, Miguel Ángel (1997). "La crisis parlamentaria de 1913-1917. La quiebra del sistema de relaciones parlamentarias de la Restauración". Revista de Estudios Políticos (in Spanish) (96). Madrid: Centro de Estudios Constitucionales: 137–161.
• Caballero Domínguez, Margarita (1999). "El derecho de representación: sufragio y leyes electorales" (PDF). Ayer (in Spanish) (34): 41–63. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
• Martínez Ruiz, Enrique; Maqueda Abreu, Consuelo; De Diego, Emilio (1999). Atlas histórico de España (in Spanish). Vol. 2. Bilbao: Ediciones KAL. pp. 109–120. ISBN 9788470903502.
• Roldán de Montaud, Inés (1999). "Política y elecciones en Cuba durante la restauración" (PDF). Revista de Estudios Políticos (in Spanish) (104): 245–287. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
• Armengol i Segú, Josep; Varela Ortega, José (2001). El poder de la influencia: geografía del caciquismo en España (1875-1923) (in Spanish). Madrid: Marcial Pons Historia. pp. 655–776. ISBN 9788425911521.
• García Muñoz, Montserrat (2002). "La documentación electoral y el fichero histórico de diputados". Revista General de Información y Documentación (in Spanish). 12 (1): 93–137. ISSN 1132-1873. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
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