1903 Spanish general election
A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 26 April and on Sunday, 10 May 1903, to elect the members of the 11th Cortes Generales#Restoration under the Spanish Constitution of 1876, during the Restoration period. All 403 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.
Since the Pact of El Pardo, an informal system known as turno or turnismo was operated by the monarchy and the country's two main parties—the Conservatives and the Liberals—to determine in advance the outcome of elections by means of electoral fraud, often achieved through the territorial clientelistic networks of local bosses, ensuring that both parties would have rotating periods in power. As a result, elections were often neither truly free nor fair, though they could be more competitive in the country's urban centres where caciquism was weaker.
Prime Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta's last period in power was dominated by the rise of Catalan regionalism and a string of worker strikes, as well as a number of issues—such as the religious and the educational questions—in which the government's results were mixed. A deteriorating health condition forced Sagasta's resignation on 6 December 1902, with power being handed over to Francisco Silvela and his Conservative Party; Sagasta would end up dying one month later, on 5 January. As a result, 1903 was the first election in the Restoration period not to be contested either by Sagasta or by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, both of whom had been the regime's pillars by ensuring its duration and stability for decades. It was also the first election with Alfonso XIII as King regnant, following his coming of age and the end of his mother's regency.
Background
The last period in power of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta saw the coming of age of King Alfonso XIII in May 1902, but also the continuation of the social and regionalist conflicts that had afflicted previous governments. A general strike in Barcelona in February 1902 was violently suppressed, while the government proved unable to address the improvement of labour conditions demanded by the working classes. Sagasta's cabinet also proved unable to resolve the religious question—regarding a disproportionate growth in the establishment of religious congregations, considered contrary to law—nor to tackle Catalan regionalism through decentralizing formulas, but was able to approve a major reform of the education system underwent by the Count of Romanones, public instruction minister.Sagasta tendered his resignation as prime minister two times throughout 1902—first to Queen Regent Maria Christina in March, then to the newly-crowned King Alfonso XIII in November—but they were both rejected. However, growing criticism from the opposition, waning support within his party and a deteriorating health condition forced his final resignation on 6 December and the entrustment of power to Francisco Silvela of the Conservative Party. Sagasta would die of bronchopneumonia one month after leaving office, on 5 January 1903, at age 77.
Overview
Under the 1876 Constitution, the Spanish Cortes Generales were envisaged as "co-legislative bodies", based on a nearly perfect bicameral system. Both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate had legislative, control and budgetary functions, sharing equal powers except for laws on contributions or public credit, the first reading of which corresponded to Congress, and impeachment processes against government ministers, in which each chamber had separate powers of indictment and trial.Electoral system
Voting for the Congress of Deputies was on the basis of universal manhood suffrage, which comprised all national males over 25 years of age, having at least a two-year residency in a municipality and in full enjoyment of their civil rights. Additionally, voters were required to not being sentenced—by a final court ruling—to perpetual disqualification from political rights or public offices, to afflictive penalties not legally rehabilitated at least two years in advance, nor to other criminal penalties that remained unserved at the time of the election; neither being legally incapacitated, bankrupt, insolvent, debtors of public funds, nor homeless.The Congress of Deputies was entitled to one seat per each 50,000 inhabitants. 95 members were elected in 27 multi-member constituencies using a partial block voting system: in constituencies electing eight seats or more, electors could vote for no more than three candidates less than the number of seats to be allocated; in those with more than four seats and up to eight, for no more than two less; and in those with more than one seat and up to four, for no more than one less. The remaining 308 seats were elected in single-member districts using plurality voting and distributed among the provinces of Spain in proportion to their populations. Additionally, literary [List of List of universities in Spain|universities in Spain|universities], economic societies of Friends of the Country and officially organized chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture were entitled to one seat per each 5,000 registered voters that they comprised.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:
| Seats | Constituencies |
| 8 | Madrid |
| 7 | Barcelona |
| 5 | Palma, Seville |
| 4 | Cartagena |
| 3 | Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Burgos, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Jerez de la Frontera, La Coruña, Lugo, Málaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Pamplona, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santander, Tarragona, Valencia, Valladolid, Zaragoza |
Voting for the elective part of the Senate was on the basis of censitary suffrage, which comprised archbishops and bishops ; full academics ; rectors, full professors, enrolled doctors, directors of secondary education institutes and heads of special schools in their respective territories ; members with at least a three-year-old membership ; major taxpayers and Spanish citizens of age, being householders residing in Spain and in full enjoyment of their political and civil rights ; and provincial deputies.
180 seats in the Senate were elected using an indirect, write-in, two-round majority voting system. Voters in the economic societies, the local councils and major taxpayers elected delegates—equivalent in number to one per each 50 members or to one-sixth of the councillors, with an initial minimum of one—who, together with other voting-able electors, would in turn vote for senators. The provinces of Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia were allocated four seats each, whereas each of the remaining provinces was allocated three seats, for a total of 150. The remaining 30 were allocated to special districts comprising a number of institutions, electing one seat each: the archdioceses of Burgos, Granada, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Tarragona, Toledo, [Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Province of Valencia|Valencia in Spain|Valencia], Valladolid and Zaragoza; the six oldest royal academies ; the universities of Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Oviedo, Salamanca, Santiago, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza; and the economic societies of Madrid, Barcelona, León, Seville and Valencia.
An additional 180 seats comprised senators in their own right—the monarch's offspring and the heir apparent once coming of age; grandees of Spain with an annual income of at least Pts 60,000 ; captain generals of the Army and admirals of the Navy; the Patriarch of the Indies and archbishops; and the presidents of the Council of State, the Supreme Court, the Court of Auditors and the Supreme Council of War and Navy, after two years of service—as well as senators for life appointed directly by the monarch.
The law provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated in both the Congress and Senate throughout the legislative term.
Eligibility
For the Congress, Spanish citizens of age, of secular status, in full enjoyment of their civil rights and with the legal capacity to vote could run for election, provided that they were not contractors of public works or services, within the territorial scope of their contracts; nor holders of government-appointed offices and presidents or members of provincial deputations—during their tenure of office and up to one year after their dismissal—in constituencies within the whole or part of their respective area of jurisdiction, except for government ministers and civil servants in the Central Administration. A number of other positions were exempt from ineligibility, provided that no more than 40 deputies benefitted from these:- Civil, military and judicial positions with a permanent residence in Madrid and a yearly public salary of at least Pts 12,500;
- The holders of a number of positions: the president, prosecutors and chamber presidents of the territorial court of Madrid; the rector and full professors of the Central University of Madrid; inspectors of engineers; and general officers of the Army and Navy based in Madrid.
- Those who had ever served as senators before the promulgation of the 1876 Constitution; and deputies having served in at least three different congresses or eight terms;
- The holders of a number of positions: presidents of the Senate and the Congress; government ministers; bishops; grandees of Spain not eligible as senators in their own right; and presidents and directors of the royal academies;
- Provided an annual income of at least Pts 7,500 from either their own property, salaries from jobs that cannot be lost except for legally proven cause, or from retirement, withdrawal or termination: full academics of the aforementioned corporations on the first half of the seniority scale in their corps; first-class inspectors-general of the corps of civil, mining and forest engineers; and full professors with at least four years of seniority in their category and practice;
- Provided two prior years of service: Army's lieutenant generals and Navy's vice admirals; and other members and prosecutors of the Council of State, the Supreme Court, the Court of Auditors, the Supreme Council of War and Navy, and the dean of the Court of Military Orders;
- Ambassadors after two years of service and plenipotentiaries after four;
- Those with an annual income of Pts 20,000 or were taxpayers with a minimum quota of Pts 4,000 in direct contributions at least two years in advance, provided that they either belonged to the Spanish nobility, had been previously deputies, provincial deputies or mayors in provincial capitals or towns over 20,000 inhabitants.
Election date
The term of each chamber of the Cortes—the Congress and one-half of the elective part of the Senate—expired five years from the date of their previous election, unless they were dissolved earlier. The previous elections were held on 19 May 1901 for the Congress and on 2 June 1901 for the Senate, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 19 May and 2 June 1906, respectively.The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election. There was no constitutional requirement for concurrent elections to the Congress and the Senate, nor for the elective part of the Senate to be renewed in its entirety except in the case that a full dissolution was agreed by the monarch. Still, there was only one case of a separate election and no half-Senate elections taking place under the 1876 Constitution.
The Cortes were officially dissolved on 26 March 1903, with the dissolution decree setting election day for 26 April and 10 May 1903 and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 18 May.