Parliamentary elections in Spain (1896)

On February 24, 1895, an uprising against Spanish rule began in eastern Cuba . Already on March 17, 1895, the liberal office of Praxedes Mateo Sagast fell as a result of attacks on the editorial offices of the newspapers Resume ( Spanish El Resumen ) and Globus ( Spanish El Globo ), which criticized the military appointments of the authorities in Cuba. On March 23, the Conservative leader Antonio Canovas del Castillo became the new chairman of the Council of Ministers. On February 26, 1896, the dissolution of parliament and the appointment of new elections were announced.

The Republican progressive, National Republican and Republican Centralist parties decided to boycott the vote, thus the Republican forces were represented at the elections by the Federal Democratic Republican Party, which favored the granting of autonomy to Cuba, and a group of independent Republican bibilitists led by Emilio Castelar , who returned to politics. ^[2]

On April 5, 401 members of the Congress of Deputies in Spain itself were elected, 16 deputies in Puerto Rico (13 of them represented the Unquestionably Spanish Party that opposed the independence of the island, the de facto branch of the Liberal Conservative Party, 3 - the Autonomous Party of Puerto Rico) and 30 in Cuba (all from the Constitutional Union, among which were 11 conservatives, 10 liberals, 2 silvelist , as well as 7 independent). ^[one]

The election victory was won by the Liberal-Conservative Party of Antonio Canovas del Castillo . Considering the allies of the Basque dynists, the Conservatives were able to get 272 seats in the Congress of Deputies (67.83%). ^[1] . Their main opponents, the Liberal Party led by Praxedses Mateo Sagasta, had to be satisfied with 98 places (24.44%). ^[1] Republicans, most of whom boycotted the elections, reduced their representation in parliament by almost 12 times, from 47 to 4. ^[2]

Conservatives ranked first in the number of elected deputies in 43 provinces. Liberals were able to win in Valladolid and Logrono . In Navarre, the Carlists excelled, in Huesca - the Republicans-by-forces. In the province of Gipuzkoa, the first place was shared by conservatives and carlists, in Avila - liberals and the Conservative Union. ^[4] In three of the country's four largest cities, conservatives were able to win a landslide, winning 5 mandates out of 8 in Madrid , 3 out of 5 in Barcelona, and 2 out of 3 in Valencia . In Seville, conservatives and liberals divided 4 mandates equally. Liberals also received 2 mandates in Madrid and Barcelona each. One mandate each was taken up by independent (in Madrid) and carlists (in Valencia). ^[four]

On May 12, 1896, members of the Congress of Deputies of the new convocation elected a chairman. They became Alejandro Pidal-i-Mon (Liberal Conservative Party), for which 253 parliamentarians voted. The Senate was chaired by José Elduayen, Marquis del Pozo de la Merced (Liberal Conservative Party). ^[one]

The term of office of the Congress of Deputies of 1896-1888 was marked by the War of Independence of Cuba , the third and last military conflict between Cuba and Spain. Shortly before the elections, the governor of Cuba, General Arsenio Martinez de Campos , resigned, who was replaced by General Valeriano Weiler-i-Nicolau , who later received the nickname "Butcher" for his actions to suppress the Cuban revolution. Sending troops to Cuba was accompanied by protests involving Republicans. Trying to end the uprising and fearing US intervention, the Spanish authorities made a number of concessions. In April 1897, the so-called minor legal reforms for Cubans took place. In November 1897, an amnesty was declared for all Cuban political prisoners , and universal suffrage was granted for male Cubans over 25 years old. ^[5] On January 1, 1898, the Spanish authorities formed a provisional autonomous government of Cuba. ^[five]

On August 8, 1897, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Antonio Canovas del Castillo, was killed by Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo. On August 9, General Marcelo Askarraga (Liberal Conservative Party), who held this post until October 4, 1897, became the new head of government ^[1]

• Gráficos y análisis: Elecciones en el Sexenio Revolucionario y la Restauración 1869-1923 (Spanish) . Historia Electoral.com. The appeal date is March 11, 2016.