Spanish general election, 1884

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27 April–8 May 1884

1886 →

All 393 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate
197 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies

Registered

789,754–808,243

Turnout

576,481–587,458 (71.3–74.4%)

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo	José López Domínguez	Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
Party	Conservative	ID	Liberal
Leader since	1874	1884	1872
Leader's seat	Madrid (Madrid)	Málaga (Coin)	Logroño (Logroño)
Last election	64 seats	Did not contest	290 seats
Seats won	311	38	38
Seat change	247	38	252

Prime Minister before election

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Conservative

Elected Prime Minister

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Conservative

The 1884 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 27 April and on Thursday, 8 May 1884, to elect the 3rd Restoration Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 393 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

The Spanish legislature, the Cortes, was composed of two chambers at the time of the 1884 election:

This was a nearly perfect bicameral system, with the two chambers established as "co-legislative bodies". Both chambers had legislative, control and budgetary functions, sharing equal powers except for laws on contributions or public credit, where the Congress had preeminence.

The Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a constitutional monarchy, awarding the King power to name senators and to revoke laws, as well as the title of commander-in-chief of the army. The King would also play a key role in the system of the turno pacífico (Spanish for "Peaceful Turn") by appointing and toppling governments and allowing the opposition to take power. Under this system, the Conservative and Liberal parties alternated in power by means of election rigging, which they achieved through the encasillado, using the links between the Ministry of the Interior, the provincial civil governors, and the local bosses (caciques) to ensure victory and exclude minor parties from the power sharing.

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Wikipedia