Spanish general election, 1919

Spanish general election, 1919

← 1918 1–15 June 1919 1920 →
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	3,734,182–4,719,662
Turnout	2,342,872–2,439,463 (49.4–65.3%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Antonio Maura Manuel García Prieto Francesc Cambó Party Conservative Liberal LRC Leader since 1919 1918 1901 Last election 154 seats 174 seats 21 seats Seats won 198 140 14 Seat change 44 34 7   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Melquíades Álvarez Pablo Iglesias Alejandro Lerroux Party PR PSOE PRR Leader since 1912 2 May 1879 1908 Last election 9 seats 6 seats 2 seats Seats won 6 6 4 Seat change 3 0 2
Prime Minister before election Antonio Maura PM Elected Prime Minister Conservative

Antonio Maura
PM

Conservative

The 1919 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 1 June and on Sunday, 15 June 1919, to elect the 18th 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 1919 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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