1905 Spanish general election

1905 Spanish general election

10 September 1905 (Congress) 24 September 1905 (Senate)
All 404 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate 203 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
First party Second party Third party   Leader Eugenio Montero Ríos Antonio Maura Nicolás Salmerón Party Liberal–Democratic Conservative Republican Leader since 1902 1905 1903 Leader's seat Senator (for life) Palma Barcelona Last election 104 (C) · 54 (S)[a] 234 (C) · 107 (S)[b] 28 (C) · 1 (S) Seats won 226 (C) · 108 (S) 105 (C) · 48 (S) 25 (C) · 1 (S) Seat change 122 (C) · 54 (S) 129 (C) · 59 (S) 3 (C) · 0 (S)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader None[c] Enric Prat de la Riba Francisco Romero Robledo Party Villaverdist Regionalist Liberal Reformist Leader since — 1902 1898 Leader's seat — — Antequera Last election Did not contest 4 (C) · 2 (S) 7 (C) · 1 (S) Seats won 16 (C) · 4 (S) 7 (C) · 2 (S) 7 (C) · 1 (S) Seat change 16 (C) · 4 (S) 3 (C) · 0 (S) 0 (C) · 0 (S)
Prime Minister before election Eugenio Montero Ríos Liberal Prime Minister after election Eugenio Montero Ríos Liberal

The 1905 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 10 September (for the Congress of Deputies) and on Sunday, 24 September 1905 (for the Senate), to elect the 12th Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain in the Restoration period. All 404 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

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.^[1][2] Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of universal manhood suffrage, which comprised all national males over 25 years of age, having at least a two-year residency in a municipality and in full enjoyment of their civil rights.^[3][4]

For the Congress of Deputies, 98 seats were elected using a partial block voting system in 28 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 306 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 or more, electors could vote for no more than three candidates less than the number of seats to be allocated; in those with more than four seats and up to eight, for no more than two less; in those with more than one seat and up to four, for no more than one less; and for one candidate in single-member districts. The Congress was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants, with each multi-member constituency being allocated a fixed number of seats. Additionally, literary universities, economic societies of Friends of the Country and officially organized chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture were entitled to one seat per each 5,000 registered voters that they comprised. The law also provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated throughout the legislature.^[1][5][6][7]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:^{[6][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}

Seats	Constituencies
8	Madrid
7	Barcelona
5	Palma, Seville
4	Cartagena
3	Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Burgos, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Jerez de la Frontera, La Coruña, Las Palmas^(+2), Lugo, Málaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Pamplona, 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 Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia were allocated four seats each, whereas each of the remaining provinces was allocated three seats, for a total of 150. The remaining 30 were allocated to special districts comprising a number of institutions, electing one seat each—the archdioceses of Burgos, Granada, Santiago de Compostela, 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, Oviedo, Salamanca, Santiago, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza; and the economic societies of Friends of the Country from Madrid, Barcelona, 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).^[1][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 26 April and 10 May 1903, which meant that the legislature's terms would have expired on 26 April and 10 May 1908, respectively. The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.^[1][6][16] 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 17 August 1905, with the dissolution decree setting the election dates for 10 September (for the Congress) and 24 September 1905 (for the Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 11 October.^[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]

Results

Congress of Deputies

← Summary of the 10 September 1905 Congress of Deputies election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote		Seats
		Votes	%
	Liberal Party–Monarchist Democratic Party (PL–PDM)			226
	Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)			105
	Republican Union Party (PUR)			25
	Villaverdist Conservatives (V)			16
	Liberal Reformist Party (PLR)			7
	Regionalist League (LR)			7
	Federal Republican Party (PRF)			5
	Traditionalist Communion (Carlist) (CT)			4
	Integrist Party (PI)			3
	Independents (INDEP)			6
Total				404
Votes cast / turnout
Abstentions
Registered voters
Sources[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]

Seats PL–PDM   55.94% PLC   25.99% PUR   6.19% V   3.96% PLR   1.73% LR   1.73% PRF   1.24% CT   0.99% PI   0.74% INDEP   1.49%

Senate

← Summary of the 24 September 1905 Senate of Spain election results →

Parties and alliances		Seats
	Liberal Party–Monarchist Democratic Party (PL–PDM)	109
	Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)	47
	Villaverdist Conservatives (V)	4
	Traditionalist Communion (Carlist) (CT)	2
	Regionalist League (LR)	2
	Republican Union Party (PUR)	1
	Liberal Reformist Party (PLR)	1
	Federal Republican Party (PRF)	1
	Independents (INDEP)	4
	Archbishops (ARCH)	9
Total elective seats		180
Sources[30][31][32][33][34]

Seats PL–PDM   60.00% PLC   26.67% V   2.22% CT   1.11% LR   1.11% PUR   0.56% PLR   0.56% PRF   0.56% INDEP   2.22% ARCH   5.00%

Distribution by group

Summary of political group distribution in the 12th Restoration Cortes (1905–1907)

Group		Parties and alliances		C	S	Total
	PL–PDM		Liberal Party–Monarchist Democratic Party (PL–PDM)	225	107	334
			Basque Dynastics (Urquijist) (DV)	1	1
	PLC		Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)	105	48	153
	PUR		Republican Union Party (PUR)	25	1	26
	V		Villaverdist Conservatives (V)	16	4	20
	LR		Regionalist League (LR)	7	2	9
	PLR		Liberal Reformist Party (PLR)	7	1	8
	PRF		Federal Republican Party (PRF)	5	1	6
	CT		Traditionalist Communion (Carlist) (CT)	4	2	6
	PI		Integrist Party (PI)	3	0	3
	INDEP		Independents (INDEP)	5	4	10
			Independent Catholics (CAT)	1	0
	ARCH		Archbishops (ARCH)	0	9	9
Total				404	180	584

See also

• Encasillado

Notes

1. Results for PL (95 deputies and 50 senators) and PDM (9 deputies and 4 senators) in the 1903 election.
2. Results for PLC (228 deputies and 101 senators) and T (6 deputies and 6 senators) in the 1903 election.
3. Its leader, Raimundo Fernández-Villaverde, had died on 15 July 1905.

References

1. Constitución de la Monarquía Española (PDF) (Constitution) (in Spanish). 30 June 1876. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
2. "El Senado en la historia constitucional española". Senate of Spain (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 December 2016.
3. García Muñoz 2002, pp. 106–107.
4. Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, p. 1077.
5. Ley electoral de los Diputados a Cortes (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 28 December 1878. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
6. Ley electoral para Diputados a Cortes (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 26 June 1890. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Ley dividiendo el distrito electoral de Tarrasa en dos, que se denominarán de Tarrasa y de Sabadell (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 18 January 1887. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
10. Ley fijando la división de la provincia de Alava en distritos electorales para Diputados á Cortes (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 10 July 1888. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
11. Leyes aprobando la división electoral de las provincias de León y Vizcaya (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 2 August 1895. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
12. Leyes aprobando la división electoral en las provincias de Sevilla y de Barcelona (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 5 July 1898. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
13. Ley mandando que en lo sucesivo sean cuatro los Diputados á Cortes que elegirá la circunscripción electoral de Cartagena (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 7 August 1899. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
14. Ley estableciendo una circunscripción para elegir tres Diputados á cortes, que la constituirán los cuatro partidos judiciales de Ayamonte, Hueva, Moguer y la Palma, con todas las poblaciones que de ellos forman parte (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 24 March 1902. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
15. Ley sancionada por S. M. formando un solo distrito electoral para Diputados á Cortes con los de Las Palmas y Guía (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 5 April 1904. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
16. Ley electoral de Senadores (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 8 February 1877. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
17. "Real decreto disponiendo el número de Senadores que han de elegir las provincias que se citan" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (76). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 1021. 16 March 1899.
18. "Real decreto declarando disuelto el Congreso de los Diputados y la parte electiva del Senado, y disponiendo que las Cortes se reúnan en Madrid el día 11 de Octubre próximo" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (231). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 649. 19 August 1905.
19. Martorell Linares 1997, pp. 139–143.
20. Martínez Relanzón 2017, pp. 147–148.
21. Armengol i Segú & Varela Ortega 2001, pp. 655–776.
22. "La jornada electoral de ayer". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Correo Español. 11 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
23. "Noticias oficiales". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Siglo Futuro. 11 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
24. "Las elecciones generales". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 11 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
25. "El futuro Congreso". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Correspondencia de España. 12 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
26. "Las elecciones". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Globo. 12 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
27. "Las elecciones". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 12 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
28. "Las elecciones". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Liberal. 13 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
29. "El nuevo Congreso". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El País. 13 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
30. "La elección de senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Imparcial. 25 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
31. "Los nuevos senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Correo Español. 25 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
32. "Elección de senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Siglo Futuro. 25 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
33. "La elección de senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 25 September 1905. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
34. "Septiembre de 1905. Día 24. Elección de Senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Año Político. 1 January 1906. Retrieved 31 October 2022.

Bibliography

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Carreras de Odriozola, Albert; Tafunell Sambola, Xavier (2005) [1989]. Estadísticas históricas de España, siglos XIX-XX (PDF) (in Spanish). Vol. 1 (II ed.). Bilbao: Fundación BBVA. pp. 1072–1097. ISBN 84-96515-00-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015.
• Martínez Relanzón, Alejandro (2017). "Political Modernization in Spain Between 1876 and 1923". Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Sklodowska, sectio K. 24 (1). Madrid: Maria Curie-Skłodowska University: 145–154. doi:10.17951/k.2017.24.1.145. S2CID 159328027.