Spanish general election, 1881

Spanish general election, 1881

21 August 1881

All 392 seats of the Congress of Deputies 197 seats needed for a majority Turnout ~71.5%   First party Second party   Leader Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Antonio Cánovas del Castillo Party PL PLC Leader since 1876 1876 Last election 78 seats 304 seats Seats won 300 62 Seat change 222 242

Prime Minister before election Práxedes Mateo Sagasta PL Elected Prime Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta PL

General elections to the Cortes Generales were held in Spain on 21 August 1881. At stake were all 392 seats in the Congress of Deputies.^[1][2]

Though formally competitive, the 1881 general election was held under the recently developed system of Turno Pacifico; in accordance with a semi-formal power-sharing arrangement brokered by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, elections (under influence by machine bosses called caciques) served as a rubber stamp for a routine handover of power initiated by the King. The 1881 election, as expected, sanctioned the pre-arranged handover from the Conservatives to the Liberals. From 1881 until the end of the constitutional monarchy, the Turno power-sharing plan would continue almost uninterrupted, dominating the electoral politics of Spain utterly.

Results

• 
  Spanish Congress of Deputies, after the election

Summary of the 21 August 1881 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results

Parties and coalitions				Votes			Congress
				#	%	Swing	Seats	+/−
		Liberal Fusionist Party	PLF				290	226
		Independent Monarchic Progresists	Mon Ind				10	10
Total Liberals							300	222
		Conservative Party	PLC				62	233
Total Conservatives							62	242
		Democratic Party	PD				12	6
		Progressive Republican Democratic Party	PPRD				10	2
Total Republicans							22	8
		Catholic Union	UC				2	1
		Traditionalists	T				2	2
Total Carlists and Catholics							4	3
	Basque Union		UV				1	0
	Independents		Indep				3	1
	Others						0	3
Total				~604,879	100.00		392	0
Votes cast / turnout				~604,879	71.46	2.46
Abstentions				~241,602	28.54	2.46
Registered voters				~846,481
Source: Historia Electoral Spain Historical Statistics

References

Elections and referendums in Spain
General elections	1810 1813 1820 1822 1834 1836 (Feb) 1836 (Jul) 1836 (Oct) 1837 1839 1840 1841 1843 (Feb) 1843 (Sep) 1844 1846 1850 1853 1854 1857 1858 1863 1864 1865 1867 1869 1871 1872 (Apr) 1872 (Aug) 1873 1876 1879 1881 1884 1886 1891 1893 1896 1898 1899 1901 1903 1905 1907 1910 1914 1916 1918 1919 1920 1923 1931 1933 1936 1967 1971 1977 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1996 2000 2004 2008 2011 2015 2016 next
European elections	1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Local elections	1922 1933 1948 1951 1954 1957 1960 1963 1966 1970 1973 1976 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Regional elections	1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
Referendums	1947 1966 1976 1978 1986 2005
See also: Elections and referendums in Andalusia Aragon Asturias Balearic Islands Basque Country Canary Islands Cantabria Castile and León Castile-La Mancha Catalonia Extremadura Galicia Madrid Murcia Navarre La Rioja Valencian Community