1979 election (Spain)

Spanish general election, 1979

← 1977 1 March 1979 1982 →
All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and all 208 seats in the Senate 176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Opinion polls
Registered	26,836,490 13.8%
Turnout	18,259,192 (68.0%) 10.8 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Adolfo Suárez Felipe González Santiago Carrillo Party UCD PSOE PCE Leader since 3 May 1977 13 October 1974 3 July 1960 Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid Last election 165 seats, 34.4% 124 seats, 33.8% 20 seats, 9.3% Seats won 168 121 23 Seat change 3 3 3 Popular vote 6,268,593 5,469,813 1,938,487 Percentage 34.8% 30.4% 10.8% Swing 0.4 pp 3.4 pp 1.5 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Manuel Fraga Jordi Pujol Blas Piñar Party CD CiU UN Leader since 9 October 1976 17 November 1974 1979 Leader's seat Madrid Barcelona Madrid Last election 16 seats, 8.4% 13 seats, 3.8% 0 seats, 0.4% Seats won 9 8 1 Seat change 7 5 1 Popular vote 1,094,438 483,353 378,964 Percentage 6.1% 2.7% 2.1% Swing 2.3 pp 1.1 pp 1.7 pp
Constituency results map for the Congress of Deputies
Prime Minister before election Adolfo Suárez UCD Elected Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez UCD

Adolfo Suárez
UCD

Adolfo Suárez
UCD

The 1979 Spanish general election was held on Thursday, 1 March 1979, to elect the 1st Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as all 208 seats in the Senate.

This was the first election held under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) remained the largest party, winning 168 of the 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 119 of the 208 seats in the Senate. As a result, Adolfo Suárez went on to form a minority government, depending on support from Manuel Fraga's Democratic Coalition, which experienced an electoral decline.

The Spanish Cortes Generales were regarded as an imperfect bicameral system. The Congress of Deputies had greater legislative power than the Senate, having the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a Prime Minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority of votes. Nonetheless, the Senate possessed a few exclusive, yet limited in number functions—such as its role in constitutional amendment—which were not subject to the Congress' override. Voting for the Cortes Generales was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all nationals over eighteen and in full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote.