Spanish general election, 1931

Spanish general election, 1931

1923 ← 28 June 1931 → 1933

All 470 seats of the Congress of Deputies 236 seats needed for a majority Turnout 70.13%   First party Second party Third party   Leader Julián Besteiro Alejandro Lerroux Marcelino Domingo Party PSOE PRR PRRS Leader since 9 December 1925 1908 1929 Seats won 115 90 61 Seat change 115 90 61   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Francesc Macià Manuel Azaña Díaz Niceto Alcalá-Zamora Party ERC AR DLR Leader since 19 March 1931 1930 1930 Seats won 29 26 25 Seat change 29 26 25

Prime Minister before election Niceto Alcalá-Zamora DLR Elected Prime Minister Manuel Azaña AR

Niceto Alcalá-Zamora
DLR

Manuel Azaña
AR

Elections to Spain’s legislature, the Cortes Generales were held in 1931.

General Primo de Rivera, who had run a military dictatorship in Spain since 1923, resigned as head of government in January 1930. There was little support for a return to the pre-1923 system, and the monarchy had lost credibility by backing the military government.Dámaso Berenguer was ordered by the king to form a replacement government, but his dictablanda dictatorship failed to provide a viable alternative. In the municipal elections of 12 April 1931, little support was shown for pro-monarchy parties in the major cities. King Alfonso XIII abdicated and the Second Spanish Republic was formed.

The Second Republic was a source of hope to the poorest in Spanish society and a threat to the richest, but had broad support from all segments of society. Niceto Alcalá-Zamora was the first prime minister of the Republic. The wealthier landowners and the middle class accepted the Republic because of the lack of any suitable alternative.

An electoral law of May 1931 replaced the previous single-member constituencies with much larger multi-member ones. The Senate was abolished and thus the government became unicameral. There would be one seat for every 50,000 people, with a separate seat for any city with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Any electoral list gaining an outright majority of votes in a district would be guaranteed and simultaneously restricted to 80% of the seats. A list winning a plurality of votes but that failed to win a majority would receive two thirds of the seats. The remainder would be passed to the second list if they received 20% of the vote. Voters would be entitled to vote for as many or as few districts as they liked. The system favoured multi-party coalitions that could thus win a majority of votes.

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Wikipedia