A general election was held in Spain on 8 March 1914 (for the Congress of Deputies), and on 22 March 1914 (for the Senate), to elect the members of the 15th under the Spanish Constitution of 1876, during the Restoration period. All 408 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.
The informal systemâÂÂwhich had allowed the country's two main parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals, to alternate in power by determining election outcomes in advance through caciquism and electoral fraudâÂÂbroke down following Antonio Maura's downfall in 1909, as the latter had come to see the Liberal rise to power as the liquidation of the Pact of El Pardo. The government of Prime Minister José Canalejas attempted to enforce a liberal democratic regenerationism to curb the country's problems, seeing the abolition of consumption taxes, the introduction of compulsory military service, laws addressing the social question, the legal groundwork for the establishment of the Commonwealth of Catalonia in order to placate rising Catalan regionalism and the establishment of a Spanish protectorate in Morocco. But his assassination before he could fully realize his agenda (such as fulfilling the separation of church and state or the rebuilding of the with the Conservatives) plunged his plansâÂÂand his partyâÂÂinto chaos.
King Alfonso XIII entrusted the Count of Romanones with the formation of a new cabinet, but an internal crisis over the leadership of the Liberal Party prompted supporters of the Marquis of Alhucemas to split into the Liberal Democratic Party. As a result, Romanones's government fell in October 1913 after being defeated in a vote of confidence. Maura rejected the King's mandate to continue the , leading to the appointment of Eduardo Dato as prime minister instead. This fragmented the Conservative Party into the Maurists (followers of Maura's doctrine), the "suitable ones" (defenders of the system) and the Ciervists (who advocated for Conservative unity of action without affiliating themselves with either faction).
The election saw the Conservative bloc winning a majority of seats in both chambers, but internal infighting between the Maurist and Datist factions would leave the government in an unstable minority position. The Liberals ran divided between the supporters of Romanones and the liberal-democratic faction of the Marquis of Alhucemas. The RepublicanâÂÂSocialist Conjunction had been weakened by the departures of both the Reformist Party of MelquÃÂades ÃÂlvarez (representing a moderate republicanism) and Alejandro Lerroux's Radical Republican Party.
The Restoration system had entered a phase of decline following the national trauma from the SpanishâÂÂAmerican War (the "1898 disaster") and the absence of politically authoritative figureheads since the deaths of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (1897) and Práxedes Mateo Sagasta (1903), weakening the internal unity of both dynastic parties and strengthening the position of faction leaders and local as power brokers. Concurrently, the anti-monarchist opposition became increasingly competitive in urban and some rural districts, partly due to the introduction of universal suffrage since 1890, partly due to the progressive weakening of the pro-government electoral apparatus.
The 1909âÂÂ1910 government crisis had seen both the fall of the Conservative government of Antonio Maura by political pressure from the Liberals under Segismundo Moret, and the latter losing the support of the various factions within his party and being replaced by José Canalejas. As prime minister, Canalejas attempted to enforce his own vision of regenerationism (a "democratic regeneration") to "nationalize" the monarchy and address the country's problems, which at the time included: growing tensions within the armed forces, ChurchâÂÂState relations, the Moroccan and social questionsâÂÂwith an increase in strike action and the emergence of the National Confederation of Labour (CNT), seeing episodes such as the Cullera eventsâÂÂand rising Catalan regionalism. This period saw the implementation of various reforms, such as the abolition of consumption taxes, the introduction compulsory military servicet, or a more appropriate regulation of women's working conditions (the "Law of the Chair" or ).
Canalejas's aim to curb the Catholic Church's influence over public education resulted in a temporary rupture of relations with the Holy See, as well as a media campaign accusing Canalejas of fostering anti-clericalism. Discreet negotiations saw the approval of the Padlock Law () in December 1910, which restricted the establishment of new religious orders during the next two years. His government also laid the legal foundations for the creation of commonwealths of provinces with limited powers in an attempt to placate the ambitions of the Regionalist League, paving the way for the Commonwealth of Catalonia in 1914. Canalejas refrained from intervening in the 5 October 1910 revolution that overthrew the Portuguese monarchy, but had to tackle its repercussions during the pro-republican mutiny aboard the ironclad Numancia in August 1911. The successful Kert campaign helped bring about the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, with the signing of the FrancoâÂÂSpanish Treaty of 1912.
Canalejas also attempted to rebuild the system through a conciliatory stance towards the Conservatives. Their leader, Maura, had come to see the Pact of El Pardo as liquidated following his fall from power in 1909, declaring an "implacable hostility" to the Liberals in powerâÂÂequivalent to the official severance of solidarity ties between the two dynastic parties and a renounce to the power alternationâÂÂas long as they did not publicly retract their actions of the previous biennium. In the ensuing years, the Conservatives would divide among those adhering to Maura's political doctrine against the (the Maurist faction or ), and those advocating for continuity out of loyalty to the monarchy and a desire not to be excluded from power (who would become known as the or "suitable ones").
The assassination of Canalejas in November 1912 put an end to his agenda and plunged his party into chaos. King Alfonso XIII's initial decision to appoint the president of the Congress of Deputies, the Count of Romanones, as prime minister, was met with outrage by MauraâÂÂdeepening his disaffection with the "failed" âÂÂas well as by supporters of minister of state under Canalejas, the Marquis of Alhucemas, who also aspired to the Liberal leadership. The AlhucemasâÂÂRomanones feud and the leadership crisis within the Liberal Party, coupled with the debate on the Law of Commonwealths, brought about the former's split into the Liberal Democratic Party in the summer of 1913 and the latter's downfall in a Senate vote of confidence on 25 October. Maura's refusal to accept the King's mandate and maintain the caused a schism within the Conservative Party between "maurists" and "suitable ones", leading Alfonso XIII to hand over power to the "suitable" Eduardo Dato. A third Conservative faction led by Juan de la CiervaâÂÂgovernance minister under MauraâÂÂsupported restoring unity of action between and , without affiliating itself to either.
Within the republican opposition, the Reformist Party was formed in 1912 by MelquÃÂades ÃÂlvarez, Gumersindo de Azcárate and Benito Pérez Galdós, representing a moderate, accidentalist and democratic republicanism. Concurrently, disagreements with Alejandro Lerroux's Radical Republican Party led to its departure from the RepublicanâÂÂSocialist Conjunction.
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. It was compulsory, excepting those over 70, the clergy andâÂÂwithin their territoriesâÂÂtrial judges and public notaries. Additional restrictions excluded those in active duty, 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, 98 were elected in 28 multi-member constituencies using partial block voting: in constituencies electing ten seats or more, voters could choose up to four candidates less than the number of seats at stake; in those with between eight and ten seats, up to three less; 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 310 seats were elected in single-member districts by plurality voting and distributed among the provinces of Spain according to population. Elections in uncontested districts were to be resolved with the automatic election of the sole candidate(s).
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 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 Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia were allocated four seats each, and the rest three each, for a total of 150. The remaining 30 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, the judiciary and the prosecution ministry, 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:
Additionally, candidates intending to run were required to either have previously served as deputies; or secure the endorsement of either two current or former lawmakers from the same province, three current or former provincial deputies representing a territory that was wholly or partly included in the constituencies they wanted to contest, or at least one twentieth of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election.
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 8 May 1910 for the Congress and on 22 May 1910 for the Senate, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 8 and 22 May 1915, 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 2 January and 13 February 1914, with the corresponding decree setting election day for 8 March (Congress) and 22 March 1914 (Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 2 April.
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