A referendum was held in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 on 6 December 1978 to decide on the adoption of a new constitution

Spanish Constitution of 1978

-Structure of the State:The Constitution recognizes the existence of nationalities and regions . Preliminary Title As a result, Spain is now composed entirely of 17 Autonomous Communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy, to the extent that, even though the Constitution...

. The result was overwhelming support for the new constitution, with more than 88% voting in favour. Voter turnout was 67.1%.

Purpose

The new constitution was intended to replace the many constitutional laws of the Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

 era, the Fundamental Laws of the Realm

Fundamental Laws of the Realm

The Fundamental Laws of the Realm were a set of laws organizing the powers of the Spanish state during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. In 1977, during the transition, an eighth law with the same status as the others was brought into effect, altering the legislative framework, in order...

, and turn Spain into a constitutional monarchy

Constitutional monarchy

Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...

 by removing many of the King's powers. The feat of creating a democratic system without breaking the structures of power of the state was made possible by the approval of the Political Reform Act of 1977, passed by the Francoist Cortes as the last Fundamental Law. It had been drafted by Torcuato Fernández Miranda, then President of the Cortes, and supported by Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Spain

The President of the Government of Spain , sometimes known in English as the Prime Minister of Spain, is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978...

 Adolfo Suárez

Adolfo Suárez

Adolfo Suárez y González, 1st Duke of Suárez, Grandee of Spain, KOGF is a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister after the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and the key figure in the country's transition to democracy.-Parents:He is a son of...

 and King Juan Carlos

Juan Carlos I of Spain

Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...

. The law provided for the legalization of political parties and a democratic election to Constituent Cortes

Constituent Cortes

Constituent Cortes is the description of Spain's parliament, the Cortes, when convened as a constituent assembly.In the 20th century, only one Constituent Cortes was officially opened , and that was the Republican Cortes in 1931.The Cortes in 1977 enacted the new Spanish constitution...

, a committee of which then drafted the Constitution.

Results

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	15,706,078	88.54%
No	1,400,505	7.89%
Blank ballot	632,902	3.57%
Total	17,739,485	100%
Source: Ministerio del Interior

In addition to the 17.4 million valid votes, there were 133,786 invalid votes.