A general election was held in Spain on 5 March 1893 (for the Congress of Deputies), and on 19 March 1893 (for the Senate), to elect the members of the 6th under the Spanish Constitution of 1876, during the Restoration period. All 442 seats in the Congress of DeputiesâÂÂplus five special districtsâÂÂwere up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.
Since the Pact of El Pardo, an informal system known as or was operated by the monarchy and the country's two main partiesâÂÂthe Conservatives and the LiberalsâÂÂto determine in advance the outcome of elections by means of electoral fraud, often achieved through the territorial clientelistic networks of local bosses (the ), ensuring that both parties would have rotating periods in power. As a result, elections were often neither truly free nor fair, though they could be more competitive in the country's urban centres where caciquism was weaker.
In this election, the ruling Liberal Party of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta secured a large majority in the , granting him the required parliamentary support for a new "turn" in power. This came following the downfall of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo's Conservative government in December 1892 as a result of an internal split by former minister Francisco Silvela over the issue of political regeneration. The election also saw a strong performance by pro-republican parties, which went on to win in the two main Spanish citiesâÂÂMadrid and BarcelonaâÂÂand secure over 10% of the seats in the Congress.
The 1890âÂÂ1892 government led by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was characterized by the preservation of the political and legal reforms made by the previous Liberal government and a protectionist economic policyâÂÂseeing the approval of the "Cánovas tariff" to imports, aimed at protecting large Castilian farmers and Catalan textile manufacturers from the competition of American wheat and English fabrics. The government fell apart as a result of governance minister Francisco Silvela breaking out of the Conservative Party in November 1891 over a lack of political regenerationâÂÂself-evidenced in the unveiling of administrative irregularities and corruption in the City Council of MadridâÂÂbut also because of an internal strife with long-time rival Francisco Romero Robledo, who had returned to the Conservatives's fold following the failed experience of his Liberal Reformist Party. In addition, Cánovas's tenure had been plagued by peasant and anarchist rebellionsâÂÂsuch as the Jerez uprising or an attempted plot to plant explosives in the Cortes parliament buildingâÂÂwith labour conflicts, strikes and protests being commonplace. The government's repression of these movements was frequently regarded as disproportionately severe, which would in turn lead to an increase in anarchist violence throughout the 1890s.
Following Cánovas's resignation in December 1892, Práxedes Mateo Sagasta of the Liberal Party was tasked by Queen Regent Maria Christina with forming a new government and holding a snap election. Shortly before the election, Sagasta's government passed several decrees softening the requisites for being eligible to vote in the overseas territories of Cuba and Puerto Rico, as well as a reorganization of the electoral districts in the latter that saw the creation of several multi-member constituencies.
Under the 1876 Constitution, the Spanish were conceived as "co-legislative bodies", forming a nearly perfect bicameral system. Both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate exercised legislative, oversight and budgetary functions, sharing almost equal powers, except in budget laws (taxation and public credit)âÂÂwhose first reading corresponded to CongressâÂÂand in impeachment processes against government ministers, where Congress handled indictment and the Senate the trial.
Voting for the Congress of Deputies was based on universal manhood suffrage, comprising all Spanish national males over 25 years of age with full civil rights, provided they had two years of residence in a municipality. In the Spanish West Indies was based on censitary suffrage and comprised males of legal age who met at least one of the following requirements:
Additional restrictions excluded those deprived of political rights or disqualification from public office by a final court ruling, under criminal penalties, legally incapacitated, bankrupt people, debtors of public funds, and homeless.
The Congress of Deputies had one seat per 50,000 inhabitants. Of these, 116 were elected in 34 multi-member constituencies using partial block voting: in constituencies electing eight seats or more, voters could choose up to three candidates less than the number of seats at stake; in those with between four and eight seats, up to two less; and in those with between one and four seats, up to one less. The remaining 326 seats were elected in single-member districts by plurality voting and distributed among the provinces of Spain and the Spanish West Indies according to population. Additionally, universities, economic societies of Friends of the Country and officially organized chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture, had one seat per 5,000 registered voters; this resulted in five additional single-member districts.
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 also based on censitary suffrage, comprising archbishops and bishops (in the ecclesiastical councils); full academics (in the royal academies); university authorities and professors (in the universities); members with three years of seniority (in the economic societies of Friends of the Country); major taxpayers and Spanish citizens of legal age, resident householders with full political and civil rights (for delegates in the local councils); and provincial deputies.
180 Senate seats were elected using indirect, write-in, two-round majority voting. Delegates chosen by economic societies, local councils and major taxpayersâÂÂtogether with other qualified electorsâÂÂvoted for senators. The provinces of ÃÂlava, Albacete, ÃÂvila, Biscay, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Guipúzcoa, Huelva, Logroño, Matanzas, Palencia, Pinar del RÃÂo, Puerto PrÃÂncipe, Santa Clara, Santander, Santiago de Cuba, Segovia, Soria, Teruel, Valladolid and Zamora were allocated two seats each, and the rest three each, for a total of 147. The remaining 33 seats were allocated to special institutional districts (one each), including major archdioceses, royal academies, universities and economic societies of Friends of the Country. Another 180 seats consisted of senators in their own right (such as the monarch's offspring and the heir apparent once coming of age, grandees of Spain with sufficient income, certain general officersâÂÂcaptain generals and admiralsâÂÂarchbishops, and the heads of higher courts and state institutions after two years of service), as well as senators for life directly appointed by the monarch.
The law provided for by-elections to fill vacant seats during the legislative term.
For the Congress, secular Spanish citizens of legal age, with full civil rights and the right to vote could run for election. Causes of ineligibility applied to contractors of public works or services within the relevant territory; and to holders of certain government-appointed posts, or provincial deputation members, during their term of office and for one year afterwards. Government ministers and civil servants in the Central Administration were exempt from these causes. Special exemptions from ineligibility were granted to certain individuals, capping at 40 the number of deputies able to benefit from these:
For the Senate, eligibility was limited to Spanish citizens over 35 years of age who were not under criminal prosecution, disfranchisement nor asset seizure, and who either qualified to be senators in their own right or belonged (or had belonged) to certain categories:
Other ineligibility provisions for the Senate also applied to a number of territorial officials within their areas of jurisdiction, during their term of office and for up to three months afterwards; contractors of public works or services; tax collectors and their guarantors; debtors of public funds; deputies; local councillors (except those in Madrid); and provincial deputies within their respective provinces.
The term of each chamber of the âÂÂthe Congress and one-half of the elective part of the SenateâÂÂexpired five years from the date of their previous election, unless they were dissolved earlier. The previous elections were held on 1 February 1891 for the Congress and on 15 February 1891 for the Senate, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 1 and 15 February 1896, respectively.
The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given timeâÂÂeither jointly or separatelyâÂÂand 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 were officially dissolved on 5 January and 4 February 1893, with the corresponding decree setting election day for 5 March (Congress) and 19 March 1893 (Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 5 April.
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