Spanish general election, 1914

← 1910

8–22 March 1914

1916 →

All 408 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate
205 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies

Registered

4,714,402

0.1%
(3,712,106 in constituencies where elections were held)

Turnout

2,551,403 (68.7%)

5.0 pp

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Eduardo Dato	Álvaro de Figueroa	Manuel García Prieto
Party	Conservative	Liberal	PLD
Leader since	1913	1912	1913
Leader's seat	Vitoria	Guadalajara	Ponferrada
Last election	115 seats	215 seats	Did not contest
Seats won	193	84	38
Seat change	78	131	38

Prime Minister before election

Eduardo Dato
Conservative

Elected Prime Minister

Eduardo Dato
Conservative

The 1914 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 8 March and on Sunday, 22 March 1914, to elect the 15th Restoration Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 408 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

For the first time since the approval of the 1876 Constitution, neither of the major parties (Conservatives or Liberals) were able to command a majority on their own. As a result, Conservative Eduardo Dato had to govern in minority, relying on support from Antonio Maura's faction.

The Spanish legislature, the Cortes, was composed of two chambers at the time of the 1914 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.

...
Wikipedia