1907 Spanish general election

← 1905 21 April 1907 (Congress) 5 May 1907 (Senate)[a] 1910 →
All 404 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate 203 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
First party Second party Third party   Leader Antonio Maura Segismundo Moret Enric Prat de la Riba Party Conservative Liberal Solidarity Leader since 11 November 1903 1906 1906 Leader's seat Palma Albuñol Did not run Last election 128 D · 53 S[c] 226 D · 108 S 18 D · 3 S[b] Seats won 256 D · 113 S 72 D · 25 S 38 D · 14 S Seat change 128 D · 60 S 154 D · 83 S 20 D · 11 S   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Nicolás Salmerón Matías Barrio y Mier José Canalejas Party Republican Carlist Democratic Leader since 1903 1899 1902 Leader's seat Barcelona Cervera de Pisuerga Alcoy Last election 19 D · 1 S[d] 4 D · 2 S Did not contest Seats won 15 D · 1 S 8 D · 3 S 7 D · 6 S Seat change 4 D · 0 S 4 D · 1 S 7 D · 6 S
Prime Minister before election Antonio Maura Conservative Prime Minister after election Antonio Maura Conservative

A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 21 April (for the Congress of Deputies) and on Sunday, 5 May 1907 (for the Senate),^[a] to elect the members of the 13th Cortes under the Spanish Constitution of 1876, during the Restoration period. All 404 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

The informal turno system had allowed the country's two main parties—the Conservatives and the Liberals—to alternate in power by determining in advance the outcome of elections through electoral fraud, often facilitated by the territorial clientelistic networks of local bosses (the caciques). The absence of politically authoritative figureheads since the deaths of Cánovas and Sagasta, together with the national trauma from the Spanish–American War, weakened the internal unity of both parties and allowed faction leaders and local caciques to strengthen their positions as power brokers.

Eugenio Montero Ríos had resigned as prime minister in the wake of the ¡Cu-Cut! incident in November 1905.^[2] The Liberal Party then entered a period of internal turmoil during which various leaders—Segismundo Moret and José López Domínguez—succeeded themselves in office. The strong rivalry between Moret and José Canalejas saw the "crisis of the letter" (crisis del papelito)—which saw Moret returning to the premiership for a few days—and a transitional government being formed by the Marquis of Vega de Armijo, until the Conservartive Party under Antonio Maura was tasked with the formation of a new government and the calling of a general election by King Alfonso XIII.

The election resulted in a large majority for Maura—who used the system's own mechanisms to secure a disproportionate amount of seats at the expense of the Liberals, breaching a tacit pact between the elites of the two parties—and a huge success for the Catalan Solidarity coalition, formed as a consequence of the political fallout in Catalonia resulting from the ¡Cu-Cut! incident and the approval of the 1906 Law of Jurisdictions.

Following the Bourbon Restoration in 1874, the Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a semi-constitutional monarchy, awarding the monarch—under the royal prerogative—the right of legislative initiative together with the bicameral Cortes; the capacity to veto laws passed by the legislative body; the power to appoint government members (including the prime minister); the ability to grant or deny parliamentary dissolution, the adjournment of legislative sessions and the signature of royal decrees; as well as the title of commander-in-chief of the armed forces.^[3][4] The monarch would play a key role in the turno system by appointing and dismissing governments, which would then organize elections to provide themselves with a parliamentary majority. This informal system allowed the two major "dynastic" political parties at the time, the Conservatives and the Liberals—characterized as oligarchic, elite parties with loose structures dominated by internal factions, each led by powerful individuals—to alternate in power by means of electoral fraud (pucherazo). This was achieved by assigning candidates to districts before the elections were held (encasillado), then arrange their victory through the links between the Ministry of Governance and the territorial clientelistic networks of provincial governors and local bosses (the caciques), excluding minor parties from the power sharing.^[5][6]

The Restoration system had entered a phase of decline following the national trauma from the Spanish–American War (the "1898 disaster") and the absence of politically authoritative figureheads since the deaths of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (1897) and Práxedes Mateo Sagasta (1903),^[7] weakening the internal unity of both dynastic parties and strengthening the position of faction leaders and local caciques as power brokers.^[8][9] Concurrently, the anti-monarchist opposition became increasingly competitive in urban and some rural districts, partly due to the introduction of universal suffrage since 1890, partly due to the progressive weakening of the pro-government electoral apparatus.^[10][11][12]

Under the 1876 Constitution, the Spanish Cortes were envisaged as "co-legislative bodies", based on a nearly perfect bicameral system.^[13] 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 (Congress) and trial (Senate).^[14][15]

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.^{[16][17][18][19]} 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 (including their substitutes or jointly liable parties), nor homeless.^[16]

The Congress of Deputies was entitled to one seat per each 50,000 inhabitants. 98 members were elected in 28 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 306 seats were elected in single-member districts using plurality voting and distributed among the provinces of Spain in proportion to their populations.^[20][21][22] Additionally, literary 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.^[23]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats:^[21]

Voting for the elective part of the Senate was on the basis of censitary suffrage, which comprised archbishops and bishops (in the ecclesiastical councils); full academics (in the royal academies); rectors, full professors, enrolled doctors, directors of secondary education institutes and heads of special schools in their respective territories (in the universities); members with at least a three-year-old membership (in the economic societies); major taxpayers and Spanish citizens of age, being householders residing in Spain and in full enjoyment of their political and civil rights (for delegates in the local councils); and provincial deputies.^[24]

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 (in each economic society) or to one-sixth of the councillors (in each local council), 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.^[25] 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, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza; the six oldest royal academies (the Royal Spanish; History; Fine Arts of San Fernando; Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences; Moral and Political Sciences and Medicine); 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.^[26][27][28]

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 (from their own real estate or from rights that enjoy the same legal consideration); 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.^[26]

The law provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated in both the Congress and Senate throughout the legislative term.^[29][30]

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.^[31][32] A number of other positions were exempt from ineligibility, provided that no more than 40 deputies benefitted from these:^[33][34]

• 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.

For the Senate, eligibility was limited to Spanish citizens over 35 years of age and not subject to criminal prosecution, disfranchisement nor asset seizure, provided that they were entitled to be appointed as senators in their own right or belonged or had belonged to one of the following categories:^[35][36]

• 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.

Other causes of ineligibility for the Senate were imposed on territorial-level officers in government bodies and institutions—during their tenure of office and up to three months after their dismissal—in constituencies within the whole or part of their respective area of jurisdiction; contractors of public works or services; tax collectors and their guarantors; debtors of public funds (including their substitutes or jointly liable parties); deputies; local councillors (except those in Madrid); and provincial deputies by their respective provinces.^[37]

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.^[38] The previous elections were held on 10 September 1905 for the Congress and on 24 September 1905 for the Senate, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 10 and 24 September 1910, respectively.

The monarch had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election.^[39][40] 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 (for the Senate in 1877) and no half-Senate elections taking place under the 1876 Constitution.

The Cortes were officially dissolved on 30 March 1907, with the dissolution decree setting election day for 21 April (Congress) and 5 May 1907 (Senate) and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 13 May.^[41]

← Summary of the 21 April 1907 Congress of Deputies election results →

Parties and alliances		Popular vote		Seats
		Votes	%
	Conservative Party (PC)			256
	Liberal Party (PL)			72
	Catalan Solidarity (SC)			38
	Republican Union (UR)			15
	Traditionalist Communion (Carlist) (CT)			8
	Monarchist Democratic Party (PDM)			7
	Integrist Party (PI)			3
	Anti-Solidarity Republicans (RAS)			2
	Independents (INDEP)			3
Total				404
Votes cast / turnout
Abstentions
Registered voters
Sources[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]

← Summary of the 5 May 1907 Senate of Spain election results →

Parties and alliances		Seats
	Conservative Party (PC)	113
	Liberal Party (PL)	25
	Catalan Solidarity (SC)	14
	Monarchist Democratic Party (PDM)	6
	Traditionalist Communion (Carlist) (CT)	3
	Integrist Party (PI)	3
	Republican Union (UR)	1
	Anti-Solidarity Republicans (RAS)	1
	Independents (INDEP)	5
	Archbishops (ARCH)	9
Total elective seats		180
Sources[a][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]