A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 4 April (for the Congress of Deputies) and on Sunday, 25 April 1886 (for the Senate), to elect the members of the 4th Cortes under the Spanish Constitution of 1876, during the Restoration period. All 434[a] seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate. The electorate comprised about 4.6% of the country's population.[1]
During this period, an informal system known as turno or turnismo was operated by the country's two main parties—the Conservatives and the Liberals—to determine in advance the outcome of elections by means of electoral fraud, often achieved through the territorial clientelistic networks of local bosses (the caciques), ensuring that both parties would have rotating periods in power. As a result, elections were often neither truly free nor fair, though they could be more competitive in the country's urban centres where caciquism was weaker.
The election resulted in a large majority for the government-supported candidates of the Liberal Party, which was possible through Antonio Cánovas del Castillo's peaceful handover of power to Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, in what came to be known as the Pact of El Pardo. Running against the pact were the Francisco Romero Robledo and José López Domínguez-led factions within the Conservative and Liberal parties, respectively, but which failed to achieve decisive breakthroughs. The resulting legislature would come to be known as the "Long Parliament" (Spanish: Parlamento Largo): lasting from 1886 to 1891, it would be the only one during the Restoration period to last its full five year-term.[2]
The death of King Alfonso XII in November 1885 at the age of 27, with no heir apparent and with her spouse—Maria Christina of Austria—poised to become queen regent under the provisions of the Constitution, had seen a prospective political crisis being averted by the informal Pact of El Pardo between Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, incumbent prime minister and Conservative leader, and Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, leader of the opposition Liberal Party. Through the agreement, both political parties—which had dominated Spanish politics during the early Restoration period—aimed to temporarily thwart the political fighting within the monarchist camp and provide stability to the regime by definitely establishing the turno system of alternance. As a result, Cánovas peacefully handed over power to Sagasta, who earlier that year had unified the various factions within his party under the "guarantee law": an agreement under which the Liberals would develop the freedoms and rights recognized during the Democratic Sexennium in exchange for the acceptance of shared sovereignty between the King and the Cortes, a basic principle of the 1876 Constitution.[7][8]Francisco Romero Robledo, who vied for power with Francisco Silvela within the Conservative party, split off in protest to Cánovas's "voluntary relinquishment" of government.[9][10][11] In May 1886, Maria Cristina would give birth to Alfonso XII's posthumous son, who would automatically become King Alfonso XIII.[12]
Being taxpayers with a minimum quota of Pts25 in territorial contributions (paid one year in advance) or Pts50 in industrial contributions (paid two years in advance);
The Congress of Deputies had one seat per 50,000 inhabitants. Of these, 111 were elected in 31 multi-member constituencies using partial block voting: in constituencies electing eight seats, voters could choose up to six candidates; in those with seven seats, up to five; in those with six seats, up to four; and in those with four or five seats, up to three. The remaining 322 seats were elected in single-member districts by plurality voting and distributed among the provinces of Spain and the Spanish West Indies according to population.[23][24][25][26] Up to ten additional members could also be elected through cumulative voting in several single-member districts if they obtained more than 10,000 votes overall.[27]
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:[24][28]
For the Congress, secular Spanish citizens of legal age, with full civil rights and the right to vote could run for election. Causes of ineligibility applied to contractors of public works or services within the relevant territory in the year prior to the election; and to holders of certain government-appointed posts, provincial deputation members, mayors or similar officials, presidents of polling stations, or certain technical officials (civil, mining and forest engineers), during their term of office and for one year afterwards.[37][38] In the Spanish West Indies, those not fully freed from servitude for at least ten years were also barred from running.[39] Special exemptions from ineligibility were granted to certain individuals, capping at 40 the number of deputies able to benefit from these:[40]
Holders of civil, military and judicial positions with permanent residence in Madrid and an annual public salary of at least Pts12,500;
Holders of certain positions based in Madrid, such as senior court officials, university authorities and professors, senior engineers, and military officers.
For the Senate, eligibility was limited to Spanish citizens over 35 years of age who were not under criminal prosecution, disfranchisement nor asset seizure, and who either qualified to be senators in their own right or belonged (or had belonged) to certain categories:[41][42]
Having served as senators before the promulgation of the 1876 Constitution; or as deputies in at least three different congresses or eight terms;
Holders of a wide range of senior public or institutional posts, including the presidents of the Senate and the Congress; government ministers; bishops; grandees of Spain not eligible as senators in their own right; and presidents and directors of the royal academies;
Senior officials after two years of service, including certain military officers (lieutenant generals and vice admirals); and members or prosecutors in major state courts and institutions;
Certain individuals meeting specific income or tax requirements. With an annual income of at least Pts7,500: Full academics in the relevant corporations; senior civil, mining and forest engineers; and full professors with a four-year seniority. With an annual income of at least Pts20,000 or being taxpayers with a minimum quota of Pts4,000 in direct contributions: Spanish nobility; and former deputies, provincial deputies or mayors in provincial capitals or towns over 20,000.
Other ineligibility provisions for the Senate also applied to a number of territorial officials within their areas of jurisdiction, during their term of office and for up to three months afterwards; contractors of public works or services; tax collectors and their guarantors; debtors of public funds; deputies; local councillors (except those in Madrid); and provincial deputies within their respective provinces.[43]
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.[44] The previous elections were held on 27 April 1884 for the Congress and on 8 May 1884 for the Senate, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 27 April and 8 May 1889, respectively.
The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.[45][46] There was no constitutional requirement for concurrent elections to 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 8 March 1886, with the dissolution decree setting election day for 4 April (Congress) and 25 April 1886 (Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 10 May.[47]
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