1933 Spanish general election
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All 473 seats of the Congress of Deputies 237 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 67.31% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Areas of most support: the right (dark blue), the centre-right (light blue), the centre (green) and the left (red). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections to Spain's legislature, the
The right formed an electoral coalition, as was favoured by the new
Background
Elections in June 1931 had returned a large majority of Republicans and Socialists to the Cortes, with the PSOE gaining 116 seats and the Radical Republican Party 94.[1] The state's financial position was poor. Wealth redistribution supported by the new government attracted criticism from the wealthy.[2] The government also attempted to tackle poverty in rural areas by instituting an eight-hour day and giving security of tenure to farm workers, drawing criticism from landlords.[3][4]
An effective parliamentary opposition was led by three groups. The first included Catholic movements such as the Catholic Association of Propagandists (
In October 1931 Prime Minister
On 1 October 1933, Socialist left leader
Election
Nobody should vote, because politics means immorality, shameful business practices, growing fat, excessive ambition, uncontrolled hunger to become rich, to dominate, to impose oneself, to possess the privileges of State, both in the name of democracy and in the name of God, the Fatherland and the King.
— From an anarchist newspaper in October 1933.[16]
In common with the 1936 election, Spain was divided into multi-member constituencies; for example, Madrid had 17 representatives. However, each member of the electorate could vote for somewhat less than that – in Madrid's case, 13. This favoured coalitions, as in Madrid when the Socialists won 13 members and the right, with only 5,000 votes less, secured only the remaining 4.[17] This system had been passed in 1933. There would be two rounds of voting; 40% of the vote was necessary in the first round to win. In the event that no list of candidates reached 40%, then a second round would be composed of those achieving at least 8% in the first round.[18] It was the first election in Spain where women had the vote, following the new constitution.[19] This incorporated a new 6,800,000 electors.[18] The elections were held under Republican electoral law, which would guarantee a certain percentage of seats in a district to a plurality of votes no matter how weak the plurality. This law was amended in July 1933 to make it even more disproportionate (winning a plurality guaranteed 67% of seats and winning a majority guaranteed 80% of seats). This meant it strongly favoured coalitions and it had been passed by the Azaña government in the hopes it would secure electoral victory for the Spanish left.[20][21]
The governing leftist parties went to the polls divided. The political right, on the other hand, formed the Union of the Right (Spanish: Unión de Derechas) which incorporated CEDA, agrarian parties and traditionalists. It stood on a three-point programme: religious and social reforms would be examined and rolled back where needed; agrarian reform would be reversed; political prisoners would be released.[18] These parties threw vast resources into their campaign, with ten million leaflets, 300,000 posters, radio and cinema addresses and aerial propaganda drops.[16] They called upon Catholics to defend order and religion against the bourgeois Republic.[16] The Radical Party campaigned primarily against the Socialists, since they would need the help of the political right if in government. They used mass-appeal slogans such as 'Republic, order, freedom, social justice, amnesty' and were confident following successes at municipal level in 1933.[18] Anarchists such as the CNT-FAI called for abstention: politicians were 'vultures', who must be overthrown by revolution.[16] If the right were to win the election, there would be an uprising, they promised. Thus, anarchists should avoid voting for the left, since overthrowing the government would be preferable. Abstention was supported by Benito Pabón and Miguel Abós .[22]
Elections were held on 19 November 1933.[19] A second round of voting was held in sixteen constituencies[22] on 3 December.[23] The campaign and elections were not without violence; thirty-four people were killed and far more injured, primarily by the political left but also by the political right.[24][25]
Outcome
It resulted in an overwhelming victory for the right, with the CEDA and the Radicals together winning 219 seats.[nb 3] Although the political situation was complicated, parties of the right won around 3,365,700 votes, parties of the centre 2,051,500 votes, and parties of the left 3,118,000 according to one estimate. Turnout was around 8,535,200 votes, 67.5% of the electorate.[26] The right had spent far more on their election campaign than the Socialists, who campaigned alone.[27] Women, in their first election, mainly voted for the centre-right.[19] Julián Casanova observes that while some republicans and socialists had argued in 1931 against women's suffrage on the grounds it would deliver votes to the right, the right's 1933 victory was the result of a general political rightward shift, rather than because of the female vote.[28] The Communist Party, with perhaps 3,000 members, were at this point not significant.[29] Nationalist Basques won twelve of seventeen Basque seats, a considerable victory.[30] Keeping their promise, the CNT proclaimed a revolution.[22] There were many reasons the Socialists and Republicans lost out; the female vote alone cannot explain the shift. Among them was the disunity of the political left compared to the right, in a system that favoured broad coalitions. The Radicals and their supporters had also shifted to the right. Abstentionalism hindered Socialist and Republican candidates. Overall, the political system in Spain had changed dramatically since the last election.[22] The failure of the Spanish left was also partially attributable to the 1933 electoral law. The second Azaña government had amended the law to give disproportionate seats to pluralities and majorities, which ended up favouring broad coalitions. However, the refusal for the Socialists to collaborate with the left Republicans made such an left-wing alliance impossible, while the Spanish right had managed to form its own coalition.[31]
The
The left Republicans and Socialists attempted to pressure
The president of the Republic,
Results
Summary of the 19 November 1933 Congress of Deputies election results[23][36] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Electoral alliance | Votes | % | Seats | ||
Union of the Right (CEDA, Agrarians, CT, PRC, RE, Falange, PRLD, PRCe, PRM) | 2,327,200 | 27.16 | 138 | ||
Spanish Agrarian Party | 152,400 | 1.78 | 6 | ||
Liberal Democrat Republican Party–CEDA | 124,500 | 1.45 | 13 | ||
Traditionalist Communion | 53,700 | 0.63 | 3 | ||
Total Union of the Right: | 2,657,800 | 31.02 | 160 | ||
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party | 1,858,300 | 21.68 | 63 | ||
Radical Republican Party | 1,208,700 | 14.10 | 70 | ||
Conservative Republican Party | 92,700 | 1.08 | 5 | ||
Progressive Republican Party
|
7,400 | 0.08 | 0 | ||
Total PRR and Centre: | 1,308,800 | 15.26 | 75 | ||
Union of the Right–Radical Republican Party | 817,300 | 9.54 | 98 | ||
Catalan Left (USC, ERC, UdR) | 433,600 | 5.06 | 26 | ||
Catalan League
|
413,700 | 4.83 | 28 | ||
Basque Nationalist Party | 183,000 | 2.14 | 11 | ||
Coalition of the Republican Left (AR, PRRSI) | 214,100 | 2.49 | 1 | ||
Communist Party of Spain | 154,100 | 1.80 | 1 | ||
Galician Republican Party (OGRA, PG) | 114,600 | 1.39 | 8 | ||
Galicianist Party | 25,000 | 0.29 | 0 | ||
Total Galician Republican Party: | 139,600 | 1.69 | 8 | ||
Radical Socialist Republican Party | 105,500 | 1.23 | 1 | ||
Catalan Action–Left Republican Nationalist Party | 74,200 | 0.87 | 0 | ||
Federal Democratic Republican Party | 34,200 | 0.40 | 0 | ||
Workers and Peasants' Bloc | 18,600 | 0.22 | 0 | ||
Rural Action | 10,600 | 0.12 | 0 | ||
Iberian Revolutionaries | 6,500 | 0.07 | 0 | ||
Radical Socialist Left | 1,400 | 0.02 | 0 | ||
Independent Republicans | 144,600 | 1.69 | 1 | ||
Totals: | 8,575,900 | 100.00% | 473 |
Seats
Party divisions at the start of the Cortes, after seats had been awarded between coalitions:[23]
Affiliation | Party | Name in Catalan
|
Abbreviation | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marxist Left
| |||||
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party | Partido Socialista Obrero Español | PSOE | 59 | ||
Socialist Union of Catalonia | Unió Socialista de Catalunya | USC | 3 | ||
Communist Party of Spain | Partido Comunista de España | PCE | 1 | ||
Republican Left | |||||
Republican Action | Acción Republicana | AR | 5 | ||
Democratic Federal Republican Party | Partido Republicano Democrático Federal | PRD Fed. | 4 | ||
Independent Radical Socialist Republican Party | Partido Republicano Radical Socialista Independiente | PRSSI | 3 | ||
Radical Socialist Republican Party | Partido Republicano Radical Socialista | PRRS | 1 | ||
Nationalist Left | |||||
Republican Left of Catalonia | Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya | ERC | 17 | ||
Galician Republican Party | Partido Republicano Gallego | PRG | 6 | ||
Union of Rabassaires | Unió de Rabassaires | UdR | 1 | ||
Republicans of the centre and of the Right | |||||
Radical Republican Party | Partido Republicano Radical | PRR | 102 | ||
Conservative Republican Party | Partido Republicano Conservador | PRC | 17 | ||
Liberal Democrat Republican Party | Partido Republicano Liberal Demócrata | PRLD | 9 | ||
Progressive Republican Party
|
Partido Republicano Progresista | PRP | 3 | ||
Centre Republican Party | Partido Republicano de Centro | PRCe | 2 | ||
Independents of the Centre | 5 | ||||
Regionalists and Nationalists of the centre and of the Right | |||||
Catalan League
|
Lliga Catalana | LC | 24 | ||
Basque Nationalist Party | Partido Nacionalista Vasco | PNV | 11 | ||
Mallorcan Regionalist Party | Partit Regionalista de Mallorca | PRM | 1 | ||
Independents (pro-Statute of Estella) | 1 | ||||
Parties of the Right | |||||
Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right
|
Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas | CEDA | 115 | ||
Spanish Agrarian Party | Agrarios (Minoría Agraria) | A | 30 | ||
Independents of the Right | 13 | ||||
Monarchist parties of the Right | |||||
Traditionalist Communion | Comunión Tradicionalista (Carlista) | CTC | 20 | ||
" Spanish Renewal "
|
Renovación Española
|
RE | 14 | ||
Independent Monarchists | 4 | ||||
Spanish Nationalist Party | Partido Nacionalista Español
|
PNE | 1 | ||
Fascist parties | |||||
Spanish Falange | Falange Española | FE | 1 | ||
Total: | 473 |
After reorganisation
This left the following divisions in the Cortes:[23]
Party | Name in Spanish or Catalan
|
Abbreviation | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party | Partido Socialista Obrero Español | PSOE | 59 | |
Communist Party of Spain | Partido Comunista de España | PCE | 1 | |
Republican Left | Izquierda Republicana | IR | 14 | |
Democratic Federal Republican Party | Partido Republicano Democrático Federal | PRD Fed. | 4 | |
Radical Socialist Republican Party | Partido Republicano Radical Socialista | PRRS | 1 | |
Catalan Left | Esquerra Catalana | EC | 21 | |
Radical Republican Party | Partido Republicano Radical | PRR | 102 | |
Conservative Republican Party | Partido Republicano Conservador | PRC | 15 | |
Liberal Democrat Republican Party | Partido Republicano Liberal Demócrata | PRLD | 9 | |
Independent Republicans | Republicano Independiente | RI | 10 | |
Catalan League
|
Lliga Catalana | LC | 21 | |
Basque Nationalist Party | Partido Nacionalista Vasco | PNV | 12 | |
Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right
|
Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas | CEDA | 120 | |
Spanish Agrarian Party | Agrarios (Minoría Agraria) | A | 31 | |
Independents of the Right | 13 | |||
Traditionalist Communion | Comunión Tradicionalista (Carlista) | CTC | 20 | |
National Block | Bloque Nacional | RE | 15 | |
Independent Monarchists | 4 | |||
Spanish Falange | Falange Española | FE | 1 | |
Total: | 473 |
References
Notes
- ^ Compared to Popular Action results in 1931, which became part of the CEDA in 1932
- ^ See also: es:Asociación Católica de Propagandistas (in Spanish)
- ^ Thomas (1961). p. 66. allocates 207 seats to the political right.
Citations
- ^ Preston (2006). p. 50.
- ^ Preston (2006). pp. 41–42.
- ^ Preston (2006). p. 42.
- ^ a b Preston (2006). p. 43.
- ^ a b Preston (2006). p. 45.
- ^ Thomas (1961). p. 61.
- ^ Preston (2006). pp. 46–47.
- ^ a b Preston (2006). p. 53.
- ^ Thomas (1961). p. 46.
- ^ a b Thomas (1961). p. 47.
- ^ a b Preston (2006). p. 61.
- ^ Preston (2006). pp. 54–55.
- ^ Thomas (1961). p. 67.
- ^ Preston (1994). p. 177.
- ^ Preston (1994). p. 178.
- ^ a b c d Casanova (2010). p. 90.
- ^ Brenan (1950). p. 266.
- ^ a b c d Casanova (2010). p. 89.
- ^ a b c d Beevor (2006). p. 27.
- ^ Payne, Stanley G. The collapse of the Spanish republic, 1933-1936: Origins of the civil war. Yale University Press, 2008, p.39
- ^ Payne, Stanley G., and Jesús Palacios. Franco: A personal and political biography. University of Wisconsin Pres, 2014, p.84
- ^ a b c d Casanova (2010). p. 91.
- ^ a b c d e f "Elecciones a I Cortes de la República 19 de noviembre de 1933" (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 August 2011.
- ^ Payne, S.G. and Palacios, J., 2014. Franco: A personal and political biography. University of Wisconsin Pres. p. 84
- ^ García, Roberto Villa. "Political violence in the Spanish elections of November 1933." Journal of Contemporary History 48, no. 3 (2013): 446-462.
- ^ Enrique González. "A 75 años de la Revolución española (II)" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
- ^ Preston (2006). pp. 63–65.
- ^ Casanova, Julián. The Spanish republic and civil war. Cambridge University Press, 2010, p.92
- ^ Thomas (1961). p. 71.
- ^ Payne (1984). p. 195.
- ^ Payne, Stanley G. The collapse of the Spanish republic, 1933-1936: Origins of the civil war. Yale University Press, 2008, pp.39-40
- ^ Payne, S.G. and Palacios, J., 2014. Franco: A personal and political biography. University of Wisconsin Pres. p. 84-85
- ^ Payne, S.G. and Palacios, J., 2014. Franco: A personal and political biography. University of Wisconsin Pres. p. 85
- ^ Casanova, Julián. "Terror and Violence: The Dark Face of Spanish Anarchism." International Labor and Working-Class History, no. 67 (2005): 79-99. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27672986.
- ^ Payne, Stanley G. The collapse of the Spanish republic, 1933-1936: Origins of the civil war. Yale University Press, 2008, pp.43-44
- ^ "Votos por candidatura".
Sources
- ISBN 0-297-84832-1.
- Casanova, Juliàn (2010). The Spanish Republic and Civil War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-73780-7. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
- Brenan, Gerald (1950). The Spanish Labyrinth: an account of the social and political background of the Spanish Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-04314-X.
- ISBN 0-300-11065-0.
- ISBN 0-00-723207-1.
- Preston, Paul (1984). Revolution and war in Spain, 1931-1939. Methuen. ISBN 978-0-416-34960-3. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
- Preston, Paul (1994). The coming of the Spanish Civil War: reform, reaction, and revolution in the Second Republic. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-06354-8. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
- OCLC 395987.