A general election was held in Spain on 12 April 1896 (for the Congress of Deputies), and on 26 April 1896 (for the Senate), to elect the members of the 7th under the Spanish Constitution of 1876, during the Restoration period. All 445 seats in the Congress of DeputiesâÂÂplus two 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.
The previous Liberal government of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta had resigned in March 1895, following the outbreak of revolution in Cuba and a period dominated by social conflict and war in Morocco. Conservative leader Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was tasked to form a new government, but the general election was delayed by over a year until their feasibility in Cuba could be ensured. The election resulted in a large majority for the Conservatives amidst the boycott of most pro-republican parties.
This would be the last election to be contested by Cánovas, as he would be assassinated while in office in August 1897 by an anarchist, Michele Angiolillo.
The 1892âÂÂ1895 period of Liberal government under Práxedes Mateo Sagasta had been dominated by the situation in Cuba and Puerto RicoâÂÂwith attempts from Overseas minister Antonio Maura to grant limited autonomy to the islands failing to materializeâÂÂas well as the First Melillan campaign against the Sultanate of Morocco and the persistence of social conflict (with notable incidents such as an attempted 1893 attack on Captain General of Catalonia Arsenio MartÃÂnez Campos leading to the approval of a Law of repression of anarchism in 1894). This period also saw the Gamazada, a popular uproar in Navarre to a plan by finance minister Germán Gamazo to suppress the fuerosâÂÂestablished in the Compromise Act of 1841âÂÂthat was thwarted by Gamazo's resignation in 1894.
The outbreak of revolution in Cuba in February 1895 and the subsequent TenientadaâÂÂthe assault and looting of two Madrid newspapers (El Resumen and El Globo) by groups of civilians and military personnel who were upset about published opinions on an alleged reluctancy from military officers to embark to CubaâÂÂcaused the downfall of Sagasta's cabinet. In March 1895, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo of the Conservative Party was entrusted with the formation of a new government, but electoral preparations were delayed until newly-appointed Cuba governor Valeriano Weyler could ensure the feasibility of holding elections in the colony.
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, however, voting remained based on censitary suffrage and included 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 329 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 two 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 5 March 1893 for the Congress and on 19 March 1893 for the Senate, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 5 and 19 March 1898, 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 28 February 1896, with the corresponding decree setting election day for 12 April (Congress) and 26 April 1893 (Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 11 May.
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