Spanish general election, 1916

← 1914

9–23 April 1916

1918 →

All 409 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

3,006,597–4,791,616

Turnout

2,089,150–2,089,151 (43.6–69.5%)

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Álvaro Figueroa Torres	Eduardo Dato	Antonio Maura
Party	PL–LD	Conservative	Maurists
Leader since	1912	1913	1913
Leader's seat	Guadalajara (Guadalajara)	Álava (Vitoria)	Balearic Islands (Palma)
Last election	123 seats	193 seats	22 seats
Seats won	233	88	17
Seat change	110	105	5

Prime Minister before election

Álvaro Figueroa Torres
Liberal

Elected Prime Minister

Álvaro Figueroa Torres
Liberal

The 1916 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 9 April and on Sunday, 23 April 1916, to elect the 16th Restoration Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 409 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 1916 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