Wikipedia

1873 Spanish general election

A general election was held in Spain from 10 to 13 May 1873 to elect the members of the Constituent Cortes in the First Spanish Republic. 406 of 424 seats in the Cortes were up for election. The election in Cuba was indefinitely postponed.[a]

1873 Spanish general election
← 1872 (Aug)
10–13 May 1873
1876 →
All 424 seats in the Constituent Cortes[a]
213 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Francesc Pi i Margall Cristino Martos Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
Party Republican Radical Conservative–Constitutional
Leader's seat Barcelona — —
Seats won 343 20 7
Seat change Increase 265 Decrease 254 Decrease 7
Prime Minister before election

Estanislao Figueras
Republican

 Prime Minister after election

Estanislao Figueras
Republican

The election was held with universal male suffrage. It was held in very unorthodox conditions and drew a very low voter turnout, as neither the Carlist or Alfonsist monarchists participated. The same happened with centralist and unitarian Republicans, or even the incipient labor organizations affiliated with the First International, who held a campaign of election boycott. This left the republic with a serious lack of legitimacy. The Federal Democratic Republican Party won the election.

Background

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The political situation in Spain, worsened due to the outbreak of the Third Carlist War, the intensification of the Ten Years' War in Cuba, the breakup of the governing coalition—over frictions among its component factions, led by Prime Minister Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla and State minister Cristino Martos—and a conflict between the prime minister and the Artillery Corps, led King Amadeo I to finally abdicate the Spanish throne on 11 February 1873. As a consequence, the Spanish Cortes, reconstituted into a National Assembly in joint and permanent session, proclaimed the First Spanish Republic.[3]

Overview

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Under the 1873 Republic proclamation, the Spanish Cortes conceived in the 1869 Constitution were reassembled as a National Assembly in a joint session of both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate.[4] The electoral and procedural rules of the Democratic Sexennium remained in force with amendments, including the Senate's abolition and the Congress's conversion into a constituent assembly.[5]

Date

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Election day was held over several voting days: the first was used to elect polling station officials, and the remaining ones were devoted to the parliamentary election itself.[6]

The election to the Constituent Cortes was officially called on 11 March 1873, with the corresponding decree setting election day for between 10 and 13 May.[7] In Cuba, elections were indefinitely postponed due to the Ten Years' War.[1][2]

Electoral system

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Voting for the Cortes was based on universal manhood suffrage, comprising all Spanish national males over 21 years of age with full civil rights.[8][9][10] In Puerto Rico, voting was based on censitary suffrage, comprising Spanish males of voting age who were either literate or taxpayers for any direct tax, barring freedmen without political rights.[11][12][b] Additional restrictions excluded those deprived of political rights or barred from public office by a final sentence, criminally imprisoned (without bail) or convicted, and homeless.[14]

The Constituent Cortes had one seat per 40,000 inhabitants or fraction above 20,000. All were elected in single-member districts using plurality voting and distributed among the provinces of Spain according to population.[15] Cuba and Puerto Rico were allocated 18 and 15 seats, respectively.[16][a] As a result of the aforementioned allocation, 424 single-member districts were established.[17][18]

The law provided for by-elections to fill vacant seats during the legislative term.[19]

Candidates

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Nomination rules

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Spanish males with the right to vote could run for election. Causes of ineligibility applied to a number of territorial officials within their areas of jurisdiction or relevant territories, during their term of office and up to three months afterwards; public contractors; tax collectors; and public debtors.[20] Additionally in Puerto Rico, ineligibility extended to those convicted of slave trade crimes.[21]

Incompatibility rules barred representing multiple constituencies simultaneously, as well as combining legislative roles (deputy, provincial deputy and local councillor) with each other or with any government-appointed post, with exceptions—and as many as 40 deputies allowed to simultaneously benefit from these—including government ministers; and a number of specific posts based in Madrid, such as general officers, chiefs in the Central Administration (provided a public salary of Pts 12,500); senior court officials; university authorities and professors; and chief engineers with two years of service.[22]

Results

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Overall

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← Summary of the 10–13 May 1873 Constituent Cortes election results →
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes % Total +/−
Federal Democratic Republican Party (PRDF) 343+265
Radical Democratic Party (PDR) 20−254
Liberal Reformist Party (PLR) 15+1
Conservative–Constitutional Coalition (C–C) 7−7
Alfonsist Conservatives (A) 3−6
Independent Republicans (R.IND) 1−1
Independent Carlists (CARL.IND) n/an/a 0−3
Liberal Conservative Party (PLC) n/an/a 0−1
Independents (INDEP) 17+6
Vacant[a] 18±0
Total 1,883,778 424±0
Votes cast / turnout 1,883,77840.97
Abstentions 2,713,70059.03
Registered voters 4,597,478
Sources[23][24][25][26]
Seats
PRDF
 
 80.90%
PDR
 
 4.72%
PLR
 
 3.54%
C–C
 
 1.65%
A
 
 0.71%
R.IND
 
 0.24%
INDEP
 
 4.01%
Vacant
 
 4.25%

Notes

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  1. 1 2 3 4 Elections in Cuba were indefinitely postponed due to the outbreak of the Ten Years' War, resulting in the vacancy of the 18 seats allocated to the island.[1][2]
  2. ↑ Slavery had been abolished in Puerto Rico on 22 March 1873.[13]

References

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  1. 1 2 Roldán de Montaud 1999, p. 246.
  2. 1 2 Law of 11 March (1873), art. 2: "The election of Deputies for said Cortes will take place in the Peninsula, adjacent islands and the island of Puerto Rico (...); granting the Government, with respect to Cuba, the power to designate the deadlines in which the electoral operations are to be carried out and the circumstances that must be met by the electors. [Spanish: Se procederá a la elección de Diputados para dichas Cortes en la Península, islas adyacentes e isla de Puerto Rico (...); dejando al Gobierno, respecto de Cuba, la facultad de designar los plazos en que se han de ejecutar las operaciones electorales y las circunstancias que han de concurrir en los electores.]"
  3. ↑ Agreement of 11 February (1873), art. 1
  4. ↑ Agreement of 11 February (1873), art. 1
  5. ↑ Law of 11 March (1873), arts. 1 & 3
  6. ↑ Law of 20 August (1870), arts. 52–58, 71 & 115.
  7. ↑ Law of 11 March (1873), art. 2
  8. ↑ Law of 11 March (1873), art. 3 (suppl. by Law of 20 August (1870), art. 1).
  9. ↑ Ortega Álvarez & Santaolaya Machetti 1996, pp. 84–85.
  10. ↑ Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, p. 1076.
  11. ↑ Law of 11 March (1873), art. 3; Regulation of 16 April (1873), arts. 3–4.
  12. ↑ López Domínguez 1976, p. 291.
  13. ↑ López Domínguez 1976, p. 293.
  14. ↑ Law of 20 August (1870), art. 2; Regulation of 16 April (1873), art. 4.
  15. ↑ Constitution (1869), art. 65; Law of 20 August (1870), arts. 108–112.
  16. ↑ Decree of 14 December (1868), arts. 1–2; Regulation of 16 April (1873), arts. 46–47.
  17. ↑ Seat allocation:
  18. ↑ López Domínguez 1976, pp. 228–230.
  19. ↑ Law of 20 August (1870), arts. 130–132.
  20. ↑ Constitution (1869), art. 66; Law of 20 August (1870), arts. 4 & 7–8.
  21. ↑ Regulation of 16 April (1873), art. 32.
  22. ↑ Law of 20 August (1870), arts. 12–14; Law of 1 January (I) (1871), arts. 1–2; Regulation of 16 April (1873), art. 37.
  23. ↑ BUCM 1997, pp. 370–371 & 400.
  24. ↑ Carreras de Odriozola & Tafunell Sambola 2005, pp. 1092–1093.
  25. ↑ López Domínguez 1976, pp. 295–296, 306–309 & 736–743.
  26. ↑ Lozano, Carles. "Elecciones a Cortes de la República 10 de mayo de 1873". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 September 2025.

Bibliography

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Legislation

Other

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