A general election was held in Spain on 6 June 1993 to elect the members of the 5th under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 256 seats in the Senate.
Felipe González's third term in office had seen Spain completing projects like the MadridâÂÂSeville high-speed rail line and hosting events such as the Seville Expo '92 and the Barcelona '92 Summer Olympics, which contributed to the modernization of the country's international image. Several corruption scandals affecting the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) were uncovered during this period: Deputy Prime Minister Alfonso Guerra resigned in 1991 after his brother was accused of nepotism and tax evasion, and a judicial probe was started on the alleged illegal funding of PSOE campaigns (the "Filesa case"). The outset of the early 1990s recession and its impact on the Spanish economyâÂÂamid unemployment growth and rising inflationâÂÂforced the government to devalue the peseta three times in nine months. As a result of mounting crises and rising political tensions, González chose to call a snap election for June 1993.
Amid a large voter turnout of 76.4%, González's PSOE emerged as the largest party for the fourth consecutive time, though it lost the overall majority it had held since 1982 and fell to 159 deputies. In contrast, José MarÃÂa Aznar's People's Party (PP) gained from the collapse of the Democratic and Social Centre and made significant inroads, increasing its support to 34.8% of the vote and 141 seats. However, the PP fell short of opinion poll predictions that gave it the most seats, which was attributed to González being perceived as decisively defeating Aznar in the second of two head-to-head debates held during the campaign. United Left remained stagnant, with party leader Julio Anguita having suffered a stroke in the week previous to the election that prevented him from campaigning.
For the first time since 1979, the election brought in a hung parliament, but parliamentary arithmetics meant that the PSOE remained the only party able to form a government. González was forced to seek the support of Catalan and Basque nationalist groupsâÂÂsuch as Convergence and Union (CiU) and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)âÂÂin order to renew his tenure, in exchange for regional concessions. His fourth government was a minority one, in spite of coalition offerings made to CiU and PNV being rejected.
The 175-seat victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the 1989 general election, exactly half of Congress, allowed it to govern with a de facto absolute majority or with minor support from other parties, depending on Herri Batasuna's policy of abstentionism. Due to election irregularities reported in a number of constituencies, only 332 deputies were sworn in by Felipe González's investiture as prime minister, prompting him to submit a motion of confidence on his government in April 1990, which he won.
Internationally, the country would participate in the multinational military coalition formed in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait leading to the Gulf War (which saw an increase in conscientious objectors to compulsory military service in Spain), and in the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, which established the European Union (EU) and provided a roadmap towards a common currency. The establishment of a "European citizenship" required a constitutional reformâÂÂthe first since the approval of the 1978 Spanish ConstitutionâÂÂto introduce active and passive suffrage in local elections for nationals of EU member states. Internally, the 1990 liberalization of the television market saw the first private channels in SpainâÂÂAntena 3, Telecinco and Canal+âÂÂchallenging RTVE's monopoly until then. The approval in 1992 of a new Law on Citizen Security ProtectionâÂÂaimed at repealing the public order legislation in force since the Franco's dictatorship and combating drug-related crimesâÂÂcame under criticism due to its empowerment to law enforcement to enter a home without the need for a warrant or judicial authorization. These provisions (which earned the bill the nickname "kick-in-the-door law") would be eventually overturned by the Constitutional Court in November 1993, prompting the resignation of the law's promoter, interior minister José Luis Corcuera.
This period also saw Spain hosting events such as the Madrid Conference of 1991, the Seville Expo '92 and the Barcelona '92 Summer OlympicsâÂÂwhich allowed the fledgeling democracy to present itself to the international community as a modern country, different from what it had been under the Francoist regimeâÂÂas well as the completion of major infrastructure projects such as the MadridâÂÂSeville high-speed rail line and the establishment of the first AVE service. However, the Spanish economy was hit hard by the effects of the ongoing international recession: the large investments of these years left public administrations and companies highly indebted, while the 1990 oil price shock affected inflation (whose rise forced the government to devalue the peseta three times in nine months; the last of which, on 13 May 1993, would become known as "Black Thursday"), which was followed by an increase of the unemployment rate.
The Basque separatist group ETA intensified its attacks in the early 1990s in the run up to the Barcelona Olympics in order to try to gain worldwide attention; this saw the Sabadell bombing in 1990, the Vic and Mutxamel bombings in 1991, and the 1992 Madrid bombing, as well as a number of attacks in the Netherlands. In March 1992, the group leaders at the timeâÂÂJosé Luis ÃÂlvarez Santacristina "Txelis", José Javier Zabaleta Elosegi "Baldo", Francisco Múgica Garmendia "Pakito" y José Arregi Erostarbe "Fitti"âÂÂwere detained in the French commune of Bidart thanks to cooperation between Spanish and French forces.
During these years, a string of political scandals began to undermine the government's public image. Alfonso Guerra resigned as deputy prime minister in January 1991, following a scandal involving his brother JuanâÂÂamid accusations of nepotism and tax evasionâÂÂwhich had been ongoing for over a year. In May, it was revealed that a number of PSOE-linked companies had been paid hundreds of millions for consultancy works that were never carried out (funds which were allegedly used to illegally fund the party's campaigns in 1989) in what would come to be known as the "Filesa case". Several months later, health minister Julián GarcÃÂa Valverde was forced to abandon politics after revelations that RENFEâÂÂa state-owned company which he had presided between 1985 and 1991âÂÂhad purchased lands at an inflated price that suggested a possible embezzlement.
Other scandals saw the "Ibercorp case" that broke out in February 1992, in which it was unveiled that governor of the Bank of Spain Mariano Rubio owned stock shares in the Ibercorp investment bank, that he had concealed these from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) and that he had amassed a fortune by carrying out financial operations based on privileged information; while Rubio denied all accusations, he was replaced from his post in July. In November that year, a scheme to collect illegal kickbacks from the awarding of contracts for the purchase of newsprint used by the Official State Gazette (BOE) printing presses was uncovered. The scandal would bring about the arrest one year later of former BOE director, Carmen Salanueva, who was also accused of fraud by buying paintings at a low price invoking the name of Queen SofÃÂa and Carmen Romero, spouse of then prime minister Felipe González.
The growing unpopularity of the government sewed divisions within the ruling PSOE: starting in its 1990 congress, supporters of deputy secretary-general Alfonso Guerra (colloquially referred to as guerristas) clashed with supporters of prime minister Felipe González (renovadores, Spanish for "renovators") over party control. Opposition to the Socialist government coalesced around the newly-amalgamated People's Party (PP)âÂÂformed in 1989 by several right-of-centre parties: the People's Alliance (AP), the Christian Democracy (DC) and the Liberal Party (PL)âÂÂand its new party leader, José MarÃÂa Aznar, particularly following the 1991 local and regional elections, which saw the PSOE losing important local governments such as Valencia and Seville, as well as the collapse of the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) and the farewell of its leader, Adolfo Suárez, from active politics.
On 12 April 1993, Felipe González announced the dissolution of parliament and the calling of a snap election for 6 June, four months ahead of schedule, to solve "tensions in Spanish political life" that prevented his government from "addressing the economic crisis". The mounting revelations of scandals, internal party divisions, and increasingly hostile opposition from the PP were also said to have contributed to González's decision.
Under the 1978 Constitution, the Spanish were conceived as an imperfect bicameral system. The Congress of Deputies held greater legislative power than the Senate, having the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a prime minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority. Nonetheless, the Senate retained a limited number of specific functionsâÂÂsuch as ratifying international treaties, authorizing cooperation agreements between autonomous communities, enforcing direct rule, regulating interterritorial compensation funds, and taking part in constitutional amendments and in the appointment of members to the Constitutional Court and the General Council of the JudiciaryâÂÂwhich were not subject to override by Congress.
Voting for each chamber of the was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age with full political rights, provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final court ruling, nor being legally incapacitated.
The Congress of Deputies had a minimum of 300 and a maximum of 400 seats, with the electoral law fixing its size at 350. Of these, 348 were elected in 50 multi-member constituencies corresponding to the provinces of SpainâÂÂeach of which was assigned an initial minimum of two seats and the remaining 248 distributed in proportion to populationâÂÂusing the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency. The remaining two seats were allocated to Ceuta and Melilla as single-member districts elected by plurality voting. The use of this electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:
208 Senate seats were elected using open-list partial block voting: in constituencies electing four seats, voters could choose up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, up to two; and in single-member districts, one. Each of the 47 peninsular provinces was allocated four seats, while in insular provincesâÂÂsuch as the Balearic and Canary IslandsâÂÂthe districts were the islands themselves, with the larger ones (Mallorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife) being allocated three seats each, and the smaller ones (Menorca, IbizaâÂÂFormentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma) one each. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each. Additionally, autonomous communities could appoint at least one senator each and were entitled to one additional senator for every million inhabitants.
The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes.
Spanish citizens of legal age and with the right to vote could run for election, provided that they had not been sentenced to imprisonment by a final court ruling or convictedâÂÂwhether final or notâÂÂof offences that involved loss of eligibility or disqualification from public office (such as rebellion or terrorism, when involving crimes against life, physical integrity or personal freedom). Additional causes of ineligibility applied to the following officials:
Other ineligibility provisions also applied to a number of territorial officials in these categories within their areas of jurisdiction, as well as to employees of foreign states and members of regional governments. Incompatibility rules further extended to a range of senior public officials, as well as prohibiting the simultaneous holding of the positions of deputy and senator or of a national and regional parliamentary seat.
The term of each chamber of the âÂÂthe Congress and the SenateâÂÂexpired four years from the date of their previous election, unless they were dissolved earlier. The election decree was required to be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the scheduled expiration date of parliament and published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE), with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication. The previous election was held on 29 October 1989, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 29 October 1993. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 5 October 1993, with the election taking place up to the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible date for election day on 4 December 1993.
The prime minister had the prerogative to propose the monarch to dissolve both chambers at any given timeâÂÂeither jointly or separatelyâÂÂand call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no state of emergency was in force and that dissolution did not occur before one year after a previous one. Additionally, both chambers were to be dissolved and a new election called if an investiture process failed to elect a prime minister within a two-month period from the first ballot. Barring this exception, there was no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections to the Congress and the Senate. Still, as of , there has been no precedent of separate elections taking place under the 1978 Constitution.
The were officially dissolved on 13 April 1993 with the publication of the dissolution decree in the BOE, setting election day for 6 June and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 29 June.
The tables below show the composition of the parliamentary groups in both chambers at the time of dissolution.
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:
Legislation
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