A general election was held in Spain on 8 May 1910 (for the Congress of Deputies), and on 22 May 1910 (for the Senate), to elect the members of the 14th under the Spanish Constitution of 1876, during 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.
The informal system had allowed the country's two main parties—the Conservatives and the Liberals—to alternate in power by determining in advance the outcome of elections through electoral fraud, often facilitated by the territorial clientelistic networks of local bosses (the ). The absence of politically authoritative figureheads since the deaths of Cánovas and Sagasta, together with the national trauma from the Spanish–American War, weakened the internal unity of both parties and allowed faction leaders and local to strengthen their positions as power brokers.
Antonio Maura's return to power in 1907 was characterized by his attempt to implement regenerationism from inside the system (a "revolution from above") and a Spanish nationalist agenda. Legislatively prolific but politically controversial, Maura's tenure oversaw the Pact of Cartagena, the passage of a new electoral law, a naval shipbuilding programme, a promotion of national industry and an approach to the social question that included the approval of legal channels for labour dispute resolution, a legal framework for labour strikes and the creation of bodies responsible for social welfare. He also attempted—but failed—to reform local government through decentralization and corporatism, as well as passing a heavily repressive Law on Terrorism. The outbreak of war in Morocco, followed by Maura's decision to call up reservists and conscripts from Barcelona, unleashed a wave of anti-military unrest that reached its height during the Tragic Week. The government's repressive response (with Francisco Ferrer's execution sparking international outrage) ultimately led to Maura's downfall in October 1909 before completing his agenda.
In the government crisis that ensued, King Alfonso XIII appointed Liberal leader Segismundo Moret as new prime minister. However, concerns from various party sectors towards the latter's alliances with republicans (dubbed the "Left Bloc") ultimately led to his resignation after only four months—before an election could be organized—and in a new government under José Canalejas. While Canalejas managed to secure a parliamentary majority in ensuing election and re-assert his leadership over the Liberal Party, the crisis further eroded the Restoration regime. The end of the Left Bloc led the left-wing anti-monarchist parties joining into the Republican–Socialist Conjunction, which saw the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)—whose leader, Pablo Iglesias Posse, had abandoned the party's isolationist stance—secure parliamentary representation for the first time.
Background
The Restoration system had entered a phase of decline following the national trauma from the Spanish–American War (the "1898 disaster") and the absence of politically authoritative figureheads since the deaths of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (1897) and Práxedes Mateo Sagasta (1903), weakening the internal unity of both dynastic parties and strengthening the position of faction leaders and local as power brokers. Concurrently, the anti-monarchist opposition became increasingly competitive in urban and some rural districts, partly due to the introduction of universal suffrage since 1890, partly due to the progressive weakening of the pro-government electoral apparatus.
Antonio Maura, who had briefly served as prime minister between 1903 and 1904, was reappointed to the post in January 1907, forming what would become known as the "Long Government" (). Aiming to secure a solid parliamentary majority that enabled him to implement his agenda—a regenerationist approach from power (a "revolution from above") that would end political corruption and curb the power of local to secure popular support for the monarchy—Maura used the system's own mechanisms to organize a rigged election and secure a disproportionate amount of seats at the expense of the Liberals, breaching a tacit pact between the elites of the two parties.: "... Maura not only left the electoral cleanup to a better occasion, but also the balanced : he maintained electoral fraud while breaking the pact between the liberal and conservative elites. []" He immediately passed a new electoral law introducing compulsory voting, independent scrutineers, additional election crimes, judicial arbitration by the Supreme Court in disputed cases and a transfer of the power to review electoral rolls from local councils to the Geographic and Statistic Institute, while allowing the automatic election of unopposed candidates.
Through the Pact of Cartagena, Maura's government strengthened ties with the United Kingdom and France following the Tangier Crisis, while also approving the 1908 Navy Law that would authorize the construction of the España-class battleships. The government promoted the protection and strengthening of national industry to increase employment and raise living standards, whereas Maura's approach to the social question aimed at defusing labour disputes through conciliation, arbitration or containing them within legal channels (such as a legal framework for labour strikes and the creation of the National Welfare Institute).
The government also suffered several major defeats, such as opposition to its proposed Law on Terrorism in 1908, whose heavily repressive nature prompted the birth of a Liberal–republican "Left Bloc", seeing monarchists and republicans allying for the first time against one of the dynastic parties with support from the "Trust" press (the media group comprising the three main liberal newspapers: El Liberal, El Imparcial and El Heraldo de Madrid). In the flagship proposal of his Spanish nationalist agenda, Maura attempted to reform the local administration by introducing municipal self-governance, decentralization and corporate suffrage, but the Liberal–republican opposition was able to obstruct the passage of this law. Seeking to strengthen cohesion among the various party factions that questioned his position, Liberal leader Segismundo Moret maintained this strategy during this period.
In July 1909, the attack on Spanish railway workers by Riffian tribes led to the outbreak of the second Melillan campaign; the disaster of Wolf Ravine later that month, in which over 150 Spanish soldiers were killed, prompted the government to order the immediate mobilization of reservists from Barcelona. The recruitment proved unpopular, unleashing a wave of anti-war unrest among the working class—motivated by anger at wealthier families being able to "exempt" their offspring from military service by paying a fee (the or "cash redemption") or by hiring a replacement ("substitution"), in a system known as the —that reached its peak during the events of the Tragic Week. The state's heavy-handed response (with over 100 killed and 1,700 arrested in the riots and a two-month suspension of constitutional rights across the country) and the execution of anarchist activist Francisco Ferrer on 13 October sparked widespread outrage: protests took place in major cities across Europe and Latin America under the chant "Maura, no!", with the scale of the international outcry being compared to that of the Dreyfus affair. The parliamentary counterattack from the Left Bloc proved effective: Maura resigned on 21 October and King Alfonso XIII appointed Moret as prime minister. This episode became the first occasion in the Restoration system that political pressure from the dynastic party in opposition was successful in bringing down the party in power, which would lead to Maura declaring the liquidation of the Pact of El Pardo and "implacable hostility" to the Liberals in power.
Once in power, the Liberal Party saw itself embroiled in an internal crisis, as Moret marginalized the Count of Romanones due to his involvement with the Spanish Rif Mining Company (CEMR), whereas his Left Bloc's dominance over more experienced Liberals was a cause of concern for others. With election preparations underway, mounting political pressure from Romanones and various party sectors—fearing that Moret would relegate them in the in favour of newcomers and republican allies—led the King to deny Moret a parliamentary dissolution, prompting the latter's resignation and the appointment of José Canalejas in his place on 9 February 1910. Moret's downfall marked both the first time that the monarchy prevented the first government in a new "turn" from calling an election, and that it bypassed the official leader of one of the dynastic leaders.
In the aftermath of the Tragic Week and with the Liberal takeover of power leading to the breakdown of the "Left Bloc", a number of anti-monarchist parties joined into the Republican–Socialist Conjunction ahead of incoming elections, including Pablo Iglesias Posse's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), Alejandro Lerroux's Radical Republican Party (PRR) and a faction within the Republican Union opposed to Nicolás Salmerón's decision to join Catalan Solidarity in 1906. The Catalan Solidarity alliance, having been internally weakened following the favourable stance of the Regionalist League towards Maura's proposed Local Administration Law and the PRR's successes in the 1908 Barcelona by-elections, disbanded entirely following the Tragic Week.
Overview Under the 1876 Constitution, the Spanish were conceived as "co-legislative bodies", forming a nearly perfect bicameral system.. Both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate exercised legislative, oversight and budgetary functions, sharing almost equal powers, except in budget laws (taxation and public credit)—whose first reading corresponded to Congress—and in impeachment processes against government ministers, where Congress handled indictment and the Senate the trial..
Date The term of each chamber of the —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 elections were held on 21 April 1907 for the Congress and on 5 May 1907 for the Senate, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 21 April and 5 May 1912, respectively.
The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.; . 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 were officially dissolved on 14 April 1910, with the corresponding decree setting election day for 8 May (Congress) and 22 May 1910 (Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 15 June..
Electoral system Voting for the Congress of Deputies was based on universal manhood suffrage, comprising all Spanish national males over 25 years of age with full civil rights, provided they had two years of residence in a Spanish municipality and were not enlisted ranks in active duty. Amendments in 1907 introduced compulsory voting, excepting those over 70, the clergy and—within their territories—trial judges and public notaries.. Additional restrictions excluded those deprived of political rights or barred from public office by a final sentence, criminally imprisoned or convicted, legally incapacitated, bankrupt, public debtors, and homeless..