1920 Spanish general election

1920 Spanish general election

19 December 1920 (Congress)[a] 2 January 1921 (Senate)
All 409 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate 205 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
First party Second party Third party   Leader Eduardo Dato Manuel García Prieto Count of Romanones Party Conservative Liberal Democratic Romanonist Leader since 1913 1913 1912 Leader's seat Vitoria Senator for life Guadalajara Last election 95 (C) · 54 (S) 51 (C) · 26 (S) 41 (C) · 22 (S) Seats won 182 (C) · 72 (S) 40 (C) · 23 (S) 32 (C) · 20 (S) Seat change 87 (C) · 18 (S) 11 (C) · 3 (S) 9 (C) · 2 (S)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Santiago Alba Antonio Maura Juan de la Cierva Party Liberal Left Maurist Ciervists Leader since 1917 1913 1914 Leader's seat Albuñol Palma Mula Last election 31 (C) · 10 (S) 68 (C) · 27 (S) 33 (C) · 10 (S) Seats won 30 (C) · 17 (S) 24 (C) · 10 (S) 21 (C) · 6 (S) Seat change 1 (C) · 7 (S) 44 (C) · 17 (S) 12 (C) · 4 (S)
Prime Minister before election Eduardo Dato Conservative Prime Minister after election Eduardo Dato Conservative

The 1920 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 19 December 1920 (for the Congress of Deputies)^[a] and on Sunday, 2 January 1921 (for the Senate), to elect the 19th Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain in the Restoration period. All 409 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.^[2][3] Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of compulsory, 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. Those older than 70, the clergy, first instance judges and public notaries were exempt from this obligation.^[4][5]

For the Congress of Deputies, 98 seats were elected using a partial block voting system in 28 multi-member constituencies, with the remaining 311 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 ten seats or more, electors could vote for no more than four candidates less than the number of seats to be allocated; in those with more than eight seats and up to ten, for no more than three less; 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. Additionally, in those districts where the number of candidates was equal or less than the number of seats up for election, candidates were to be automatically elected. The Congress was entitled to one member per each 50,000 inhabitants, with each multi-member constituency being allocated a fixed number of seats. The law also provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated throughout the legislature.^[2][6][7][8]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:^{[7][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]}

Seats	Constituencies
8	Madrid
7	Barcelona
5	Palma, Seville
4	Cartagena
3	Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Burgos, Cádiz, Córdoba, Gran Canaria, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Jerez de la Frontera, La Coruña, Lugo, Málaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Pamplona, Santander, Tarragona, Tenerife, 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).^[2][18][19]

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 1 June and 15 June 1919, which meant that the legislature's terms would have expired on 1 June and 15 June 1924, respectively. The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.^[2][7][18] 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 2 October 1920, with the election decree—issued on 27 November—setting the election dates for 19 December 1920 (for the Congress) and 2 January 1921 (for the Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 4 January.^[20][21]

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.^[22][23]

Results

Congress of Deputies

← Summary of the 19 December 1920 Congress of Deputies election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote		Seats
		Votes	%	A.29	Cont.	Total
	Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)			35	147	182
	Liberal Democratic Party (Prietist) (PLD)			16	24	40
	Liberal Party (Romanonist) (PL)			12	20	32
	Liberal Left (Albist) (IL)			9	21	30
	Maurist Party (PM)			9	15	24
	Ciervist Conservatives (CC)			1	20	21
	Regionalist League (LR)			0	17	17
	Reformist Party (PRef)			1	8	9
	Republican Democracy (DR)			0	7	7
	Traditionalist Communion (Jaimist) (CT)			2	4	6
	Unaligned Republicans (R)			1	4	5
	Agrarian Liberal Party (Gassetist) (PLA)			0	5	5
	Zamorist Liberals (LZ)			0	5	5
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)			0	4	4
	Catalan Republican Party (PRC)			1	1	2
	Traditionalist Catholic Party (PCT)			0	1	1
	Basque Nationalist Communion (CNV)			1	0	1
	Autonomist Monarchist Federation (FMA)			1	0	1
	Integrist Party (PI)			1	0	1
	Nationalist Democratic Federation (FDN)			0	1	1
	Aragonese Union (UA)			0	1	1
	Independents (INDEP)			2	12	14
Total				92	317	409
Votes cast / turnout
Abstentions
Registered voters
Sources[a][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]

Seats PLC   44.50% PLD   9.78% PL   7.82% IL   7.33% PM   5.87% CC   5.13% LR   4.16% PRef   2.20% DR   1.71% CT   1.47% R   1.22% PLA   1.22% LZ   1.22% PSOE   0.98% PRC   0.49% PCT   0.24% CNV   0.24% FMA   0.24% PI   0.24% FDN   0.24% UA   0.24% INDEP   3.42%

Senate

← Summary of the 2 January 1921 Senate of Spain election results →

Parties and alliances		Seats
	Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)	72
	Liberal Democratic Party (Prietist) (PLD)	23
	Liberal Party (Romanonist) (PL)	20
	Liberal Left (Albist) (IL)	17
	Maurist Party (PM)	10
	Ciervist Conservatives (CC)	6
	Regionalist League (LR)	6
	Traditionalist Communion (Jaimist) (CT)	4
	Reformist Party (PRef)	2
	Republican Democracy (DR)	1
	Agrarian Liberal Party (Gassetist) (PLA)	1
	Zamorist Liberals (LZ)	1
	Integrist Party (PI)	1
	Independents (INDEP)	7
	Archbishops (ARCH)	9
Total elective seats		180
Sources[33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]

Seats PLC   40.00% PLD   12.78% PL   11.11% IL   9.44% PM   5.56% CC   3.33% LR   3.33% CT   2.22% PRef   1.11% DR   0.56% PLA   0.56% LZ   0.56% PI   0.56% INDEP   3.89% ARCH   5.00%

Distribution by group

Summary of political group distribution in the 19th Restoration Cortes (1920–1923)

Group		Parties and alliances		C	S	Total
	PLC		Liberal Conservative Party (PLC)	174	70	254
			National Monarchist Union (UMN)	4	2
			Monarchist Action League (LAM)	4	0
	PLD		Liberal Democratic Party (Prietist) (PLD)	39	23	63
			National Monarchist Union (UMN)	1	0
	PL		Liberal Party (Romanonist) (PL)	31	20	52
			Monarchist Coalition (MON)	1	0
	IL		Liberal Left (Albist) (IL)	24	15	47
			National Monarchist Union (UMN)	4	2
			Monarchist Action League (LAM)	1	0
			Monarchist Coalition (MON)	1	0
	PM		Maurist Party (PM)	20	10	34
			National Monarchist Union (UMN)	2	0
			Monarchist Coalition (MON)	2	0
	CC		Ciervist Conservatives (CC)	20	6	27
			Monarchist Coalition (MON)	1	0
	LR		Regionalist League (LR)	17	6	23
	PRef		Reformist Party (PRef)	9	2	11
	CT		Traditionalist Communion (Jaimist) (CT)	6	4	10
	DR		Radical Republican Party (PRR)	5	1	8
			Independent Republicans (R.IND)	2	0
	PLA		Agrarian Liberal Party (Gassetist) (PLA)	5	1	6
	LZ		Zamorist Liberals (LZ)	5	1	6
	R		Autonomist Republican Union Party (PURA)	3	0	5
			Republican Federation (FRep)	1	0
			Democratic Republican Party (PRD)	1	0
	PSOE		Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)	4	0	4
	PRC		Catalan Republican Party (PRC)	2	0	2
	PI		Integrist Party (PI)	1	1	2
	PCT		Traditionalist Catholic Party (PCT)	1	0	1
	CNV		Basque Nationalist Communion (CNV)	1	0	1
	FMA		Autonomist Monarchist Federation (FMA)	1	0	1
	FDN		Nationalist Democratic Federation (FDN)	1	0	1
	UA		Aragonese Union (UA)	1	0	1
	INDEP		Independents (INDEP)	2	4	21
			National Monarchist Union (UMN)	4	0
			Independent Conservatives (C.IND)	3	0
			Independent Liberals (L.IND)	1	2
			Basque Dynastics (Urquijist) (DV)	1	1
			Monarchist Coalition (MON)	1	0
			Independent Republicans (R.IND)	1	0
			Nationalist Republicans (R.NAC)	1	0
	ARCH		Archbishops (ARCH)	0	9	9
Total				409	180	589

Notes

1. Candidates elected automatically under Article 29 of the Electoral Law were proclaimed on 13 December 1920.^[1]

References

1. "Diciembre de 1920. Día 13. Las elecciones. Diputados proclamados por el artículo 29". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Año Político. 1 January 1921. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
2. Constitución de la Monarquía Española (PDF) (Constitution) (in Spanish). 30 June 1876. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
3. "El Senado en la historia constitucional española". Senate of Spain (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 December 2016.
4. García Muñoz 2002, pp. 106–107.
5. Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, p. 1077.
6. Ley electoral de los Diputados a Cortes (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 28 December 1878. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
7. Ley reformando la Electoral vigente (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 8 August 1907. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Leyes aprobando la división electoral de las provincias de León y Vizcaya (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 2 August 1895. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
13. Leyes aprobando la división electoral en las provincias de Sevilla y de Barcelona (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 5 July 1898. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. Ley disponiendo que el territorio de la Nación española que constituye el Archipiélago canario, cuya capitalidad reside en Santa Cruz de Tenerife, conserve su unidad, ateniéndose los servicios públicos en el modo y forma que se determina en esta ley (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 11 July 1912. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
17. Real decreto disponiendo que la isla de La Palma (Canarias) se divida, a los efectos de las elecciones para Diputados a Cortes, en dos distritos, que se denominarán de Santa Cruz de la Palma y de Los Llanos (PDF) (Royal Decree) (in Spanish). 20 March 1916. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
18. Ley electoral de Senadores (PDF) (Law) (in Spanish). 8 February 1877. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
19. "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.
20. "Real decreto declarando, disueltos el Congreso de los Diputados y la parte electiva del Senado, y declarando que las elecciones de Diputados y Senadores se Celebraran dentro del plazo legal" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (278). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 65. 4 October 1920.
21. "Real decreto disponiendo que el día 19 de Diciembre próximo se celebren en todas las provincias del Reino las elecciones de Diputados a Cortes; el 2 de Enero siguiente, las de Senadores, y fijando la fecha del 4 de referido mes de Enero para la reunión de las Cortes en Madrid" (PDF). Gaceta de Madrid (in Spanish) (334). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 888. 29 November 1920.
22. Martorell Linares 1997, pp. 139–143.
23. Martínez Relanzón 2017, pp. 147–148.
24. "La contienda política de ayer. Diputados a Cortes electos". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Correspondencia de España. 20 December 1920. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
25. "Las elecciones de diputados a Cortes". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Época. 20 December 1920. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
26. "Datos oficiales de los escrutinios en provincias". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Tribuna. 20 December 1920. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
27. "Triunfo completo de la candidatura monárquica en Madrid". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Imparcial. 21 December 1920. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
28. "Las elecciones de diputados". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Libertad. 21 December 1920. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
29. "Las elecciones de diputados a Cortes". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Globo. 21 December 1920. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
30. "Las elecciones de diputados a Cortes". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Publicidad. 21 December 1920. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
31. "Resultado de las elecciones". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Liberal. 22 December 1920. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
32. "Diciembre de 1920. Día 19. Resultado general". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Año Político. 1 January 1921. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
33. "Las elecciones de senadores. Preliminares de la elección". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Siglo Futuro. 3 January 1921. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
34. "Datos oficiales". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Tribuna. 3 January 1921. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
35. "Datos electorales facilitados en el Ministerio de la Gobernación". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Voz. 3 January 1921. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
36. "Las elecciones de senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Liberal. 4 January 1921. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
37. "La elección de senadores del domingo". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Sol. 4 January 1921. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
38. "Senadores elegidos". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). La Publicidad. 4 January 1921. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
39. "Las elecciones de senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Universo. 4 January 1921. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
40. "Enero de 1921. Día 2. Elecciones de Senadores". National Library of Spain (in Spanish). El Año Político. 1 January 1922. Retrieved 7 September 2023.

Bibliography

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• 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.
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