1977_Spanish_general_election

1977 Spanish general election

1977 Spanish general election

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The 1977 Spanish general election was held on Wednesday, 15 June 1977, to elect the Spanish Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as all 207 seats in the Senate.

Quick Facts All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 207 (of 248) seats in the Senate 176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies, Registered ...

It was the first free election held in Spain since 1936, prior to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. It was called by Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez as part of the political reform of the Francoist regime, ongoing since shortly after Francisco Franco's death in 1975 and promoted by his successor, King Juan Carlos I. Its aim was to elect a Constituent Cortes that was to draft a new constitution, which would ultimately lead to the repealing of the Fundamental Laws of the Realm and the culmination of the country's transition to democracy.

The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), the electoral coalition created to serve as Suárez's political platform in government, emerged as the largest party overall, albeit 11 seats short of an absolute majority. The election surprise was the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) of Felipe González, which—supported by the German SPD and running a campaign intended to highlight González's youth and charisma—won 118 seats and became the main left-of-centre party by a wide margin. The Communist Party of Spain (PCE), which had been the main opposition force to the dictatorship, and the right-wing People's Alliance (AP) of former Francoist minister Manuel Fraga, performed below expectations. Turnout was high at 78.8%, the second highest for any nationwide election held ever since.[1][2]

Overview

Electoral system

Under the 1977 Political Reform Act, the Spanish Cortes were envisaged as a provisional legislature that was to approve a new constitution in a short timespan. Initiative for constitutional amendment belonged to the Congress of Deputies, as well as to the national government. Constitutional bills required to be passed by an absolute majority in both the Congress and Senate. If the Senate rejected the bill as passed by Congress, discrepancies were to be submitted to a Mixed Commission and, if the deadlock persisted, a joint sitting of both Houses would convene as a single legislative body in order to resolve on the issue by an absolute majority.[3] Voting for the Cortes was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 21 years of age and in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights.[4]

For the Congress of Deputies, 348 seats were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Spain. Each constituency was entitled to an initial minimum of two seats, with the remaining 248 fixed among the constituencies in proportion to their populations, at a rate of approximately one seat per each 144,500 inhabitants or fraction greater than 70,000. Ceuta and Melilla were allocated the two remaining seats, which were elected using plurality voting.[3][5] The use of the D'Hondt method might result in a higher effective threshold, depending on the district magnitude.[6]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:[5][7]

More information Seats, Constituencies ...

For the Senate, 207 seats were elected using an open list partial block voting system, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties. In constituencies electing four seats, electors could vote for up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, for up to two candidates; and for one candidate in single-member districts. Each of the 47 peninsular provinces was allocated four seats, whereas for insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, districts were the islands themselves, with the larger—Majorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife—being allocated three seats each, and the smaller—Menorca, Ibiza–Formentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera–El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma—one each. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each. The law also provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated up to two years into the legislature. Additionally, the King could appoint senators in a number not higher than one-fifth of the elected seats.[3][5]

Background

Main article: Spanish transition to democracy

The death of Francisco Franco in 1975 paved the way for Spain's transition from an autocratic, one-party dictatorship into a democratic, constitutional monarchy. As per the Succession Law of 1947, the Spanish monarchy was restored under the figure of Juan Carlos I, who quickly became the promoter of a peaceful democratic reform of state institutions. This move was supported by western countries, an important sector of Spanish and international capitalism, a majority of the opposition to Francoism—organized into the Democratic Convergence Platform and the Democratic Junta, which in 1976 would both merge into the Democratic Coordination—and a growing part of the Franco regime itself, weary of popular mobilization after the outcome of the Carnation Revolution in neighbouring Portugal in 1974.[8] However, as incumbent Prime Minister Carlos Arias Navarro rejected any major transformation of the Spanish political system, rather supporting the preservation of Francoist laws, he was dismissed by the King in July 1976, who appointed Adolfo Suárez for the post.

Suárez's plans for political reform involved the transformation of Spanish institutions in accordance to the Francoist legal system through the approval of a "political reform bill" as a Fundamental Law of the Realm. This was meant as a step beyond Arias Navarro's plans to update—but preserve—the Francoist regime, with Suárez intending to implement democracy "from law to law through law"—in the words of Torcuato Fernández-Miranda—without the outright liquidation of the Francoist system as called for by opposition parties.[9][10] Thus, on 18 November 1976, the 1977 Political Reform Act was passed by the Francoist Cortes, later ratified in a referendum on 15 December 1976 with overwhelming popular support. As set out in Suárez's scheme, the Act called for an electoral process to elect new Cortes that were to be responsible for drafting a democratic constitution.

Parties and candidates

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within fifteen days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one permille—and, in any case, 500 signatures—of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.[5]

Below is a list of the main parties and coalitions which contested the election:

More information Candidacy, Parties and alliances ...

Opinion polls

The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll.

Voting intention estimates

The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 176 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies.

More information Polling firm/Commissioner, Fieldwork date ...

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

More information Polling firm/Commissioner, Fieldwork date ...

Results

Congress of Deputies

For results by autonomous community/constituency, see Results breakdown of the 1977 Spanish general election (Congress).
More information Parties and alliances, Popular vote ...
More information Popular vote ...
More information Seats ...

Senate

More information Parties and alliances, Popular vote ...
More information Popular vote ...
More information Seats ...

Bibliography

  • Carreras de Odriozola, Albert; Tafunell Sambola, Xavier (2005) [1989]. Estadísticas históricas de España, siglos XIX-XX (PDF) (in Spanish). Vol. 1 (II ed.). Bilbao: Fundación BBVA. pp. 1072–1097. ISBN 84-96515-00-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015.
  • Juliá Díaz, Santos (1999). Un siglo de España. Política y sociedad (in Spanish). Madrid: Marcial Pons. ISBN 84-9537903-1.
  • Martínez Martín, Jesús (1998). Historia de España. Siglo XX (1939-1996) (in Spanish). Madrid: Cátedra. ISBN 9788437617039.
  • Preston, Paul (2003). Juan Carlos, el rey de un pueblo (in Spanish). Vol. 2. Hospitalet: ABC, S.L. pp. 362–415. ISBN 84-413-2063-2.
  • Ruiz González, David (2002). La España democrática (1975-2000). Política y sociedad (in Spanish). Madrid: Síntesis. pp. 1072–1097. ISBN 84-9756-015-9.
  • Tusell Gómez, Javier (1997). La transición española. La recuperación de las libertades (in Spanish). Madrid: Historia 16-Temas de Hoy. ISBN 84-7679-327-8.

Notes

  1. Undecided and/or abstentionists excluded.
  2. The percentage of blank ballots is calculated over the official number of valid votes cast, irrespective of the total number of votes shown as a result of adding up the individual results for each party.

References

Opinion poll sources

  1. [p 1]
    "La Unión de Centro Democrático y el PSOE, a gran distancia de los demás grupos políticos" (PDF). Informaciones (in Spanish). 15 June 1977.
  2. [p 2]
    "El PSOE, en cabeza" (PDF). Pueblo (in Spanish). 14 June 1977.
  3. [p 3]
    "La tercera parte de los españoles, indecisos" (PDF). Informaciones (in Spanish). 14 June 1977.
  4. [p 4]
    "Aprendiendo a votar". Diario 16 (in Spanish). 15 June 1977. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  5. [p 5]
    "Fuerte avance de la izquierda". El País (in Spanish). 12 June 1977.
  6. [p 6]
    "Centristas y socialistas, al copo en el Congreso" (PDF). El País (in Spanish). 12 June 1977.
  7. [p 7]
    "La participación electoral será masiva" (PDF). El País (in Spanish). 12 June 1977.
  8. [p 8]
    "Según una nueva encuesta, 147 escaños serían para el centro" (PDF). Ya (in Spanish). 12 June 1977.
  9. [p 9]
    "Gana el Centro, seguido del PSOE" (PDF). El País (in Spanish). 13 June 1977.
  10. [P 10]
    "El Centro es favorito". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 10 June 1977.
  11. [P 11]
    "El Centro es favorito". Diario 16 (in Spanish). 9 June 1977. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  12. [P 12]
    "Confirmada la ventaja de UCD y PSOE". El País (in Spanish). 24 May 1977.
  13. [P 13]
    "Ventaja del centro y los socialistas en la carrera electoral". El País (in Spanish). 10 May 1977.
  14. [P 14]
    "Preelectoral elecciones generales 1977 (III) (Estudio nº 1135. Junio 1977)" (PDF). CIS (in Spanish). 1 June 1977.

Other

  1. [1]
    "15-J. Elecciones en libertad y sin ira". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 15 June 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  2. [2]
    Julve, Rafa (15 June 2017). "Curiosidades de las primeras elecciones tras la dictadura franquista en el 40º aniversario". El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  3. [3]
    Ley 1/1977, de 4 de enero, para la Reforma Política (Fundamental Law 1) (in Spanish). 4 January 1977. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  4. [4]
    Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, pp. 1077.
  5. [5]
    Real Decreto-ley 20/1977, de 18 de marzo, sobre Normas Electorales (Royal Decree-Law 20) (in Spanish). 18 March 1977. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  6. [6]
    Gallagher, Michael (30 July 2012). "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Trinity College, Dublin. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  7. [7]
    "Real Decreto 679/1977, de 15 de abril, por el que se convocan elecciones generales a las Cortes Españolas" (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish) (92): 8345. 18 April 1977. ISSN 0212-033X.
  8. [8]
    Landaluce, Emilia; Manso, Joaquín (20 November 2016). "Así se gestó la ley que puso fin al franquismo hace 40 años". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  9. [9]
    López Burniol, Juan-José (11 February 2017). "De la ley a la ley". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  10. [10]
    Fernández-Miranda, Juan (9 June 2017). "Fernández-Miranda: de la ley a la ley". ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  11. [11]
    "Elecciones celebradas. Resultados electorales". Ministry of the Interior (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  12. [12]
    "Elecciones Generales 15 de junio de 1977". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  13. [13]
    "Elecciones al Senado 1977". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  14. [14]
    "Composición del Senado 1977-2024". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  15. [15]
    "Elecciones al Senado 15 de junio de 1977". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 September 2017.
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