Legislative Election in Spain (1891)

The years 1889 and 1890 in the history of Spain are characterized by a fierce struggle between the two leading parties of the country over the introduction of universal suffrage. Formally, the discussion of the draft new electoral legislation began on May 23, 1889, with a passage amid a major parliamentary scandal. On June 26, 1890, the liberals succeeded in introducing universal suffrage for men in Spain. The victory was hard and caused the fall of the cabinet, led by Sagasta. On July 5, 1890, Conservative Antonio Canovas del Castillo became the new chairman of the Council of Ministers. ^[1] On December 29, he dissolves parliament and calls early elections.

As a result of the reform of the electoral law, the number of voters in Spain has grown by almost 6.8 times. However, this affected the voting results a little. The two - party system, created back in the early 1880s by Canovas del Castillo, in which two “official” parties had to take turns replacing each other in power, continued to operate, ensuring the stability of the regime.

On February 1, 401 members of the Congress of Deputies in Spain, 15 deputies in Puerto Rico were elected (14 of them represented the Spanish Party, which opposed the independence of the island, a de facto branch of the Liberal Conservative Party, and one autonomist) and 30 in Cuba ( everything from the Cuban constitutional union, among which there were 19 conservatives, 8 liberals, 2 independents and one reformist). ^[one]

The victory was won by the Liberal Conservative Party , led by Antonio Canovas del Castillo . Considering deputies close to the ideology of the Basque dynasties and allies from among the liberal reformists, the conservatives were able to get 262 seats in the Congress of Deputies (65.33%). ^[1] . The main opponents of the conservatives, the Liberal Party of Praxedes Mateo Sagasta, had to be satisfied with 105 seats (26.19%), considering the supporters of Cristino Martos. ^[1] Elections can be considered successful for the Carlists and traditionalists, who were able to increase their representation in the Congress of Deputies from one place to 8. ^[1]

Conservative liberals took first place in the number of elected deputies in 43 provinces. The liberals were able to win in Logrono (now Rioja ) and Malaga . In Valladolid , Huelva and the Canaries (at that time a single province), liberals and conservatives shared the first place. In the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, mandates were shared by liberals and integrists. ^[3] Conservatives won a landslide victory in three of the four largest cities in the country. They were able to get 6 seats out of 8 in Madrid , 3 out of 5 in Barcelona and 3 out of 4 in Seville . In Valencia, the mandates were divided among themselves by conservatives, liberals and Republican progressives. Liberals took 2 mandates in Madrid. The two remaining Barcelona mandates were divided between the Republican progressives and the Republican federalists. One mandate in Seville went to the Republicans. ^[3]

During the legislative body, Spain survived the War in the Philippines (campaign of General Valeriano Weiler , 1891) and a number of anarchist conflicts (1892). ^[one]

On April 3, 1891, members of the Congress of Deputies of the new convocation elected a chairman. They became Alejandro Pidal y Mon (Liberal Conservative Party), for which 223 parliamentarians voted. The Senate was chaired by General Arsenio Martinez de Campos (Liberal Party). ^[one]

Soon after the election, Francisco Romero Robledo and his supporters from the Liberal Reform Party returned to the ranks of the Liberal Conservative Party. In many respects, this was the reason that in November 1891, Minister of the Interior Francisco Silvela y Le Velleuze resigned and formed a new party, the Conservative Union. ^[one]

• Gráficos y análisis: Elecciones en el Sexenio Revolucionario y la Restauración 1869-1923 (Spanish) . Historia Electoral.com. Date of treatment March 11, 2016.