Spanish general election, 1936
Encyclopedia
Legislative elections were held in Spain on February 16, 1936. At stake were all 473 seats in the unicameral Cortes Generales
. The winners of the 1936 elections were the Popular Front
, a left-wing coalition of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
(PSOE), Republican Left (Spain)
(IR), Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
(ERC), Republican Union
(UR), Communist Party (PCE), Acció Catalana
(AC) and other parties. They commanded a narrow lead in terms of the popular vote, but a significant lead over the main opposition party, Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right
(CEDA), of the political right in terms of seats. The election had been prompted by a collapse of a government led by Alejandro Lerroux
, and his Radical Republican Party
. Manuel Azaña
would replace Manuel Portela Valladares
, caretaker, as prime minister
, after what were widely considered fair elections – although limited cases of electoral fraud did occur. They were the last of three elections held during the Spanish Second Republic, coming three years after the 1933 general election
which had brought the first of Lerroux's governments to power. The poor result for the political right would help bring about the July coup
, and the ensuing civil war
. The war brought about the end of parliamentary democracy in Spain until the 1977 general election
.
(RRP) lead a series of governments, with Alejandro Lerroux
as a moderate Prime Minister
. On 26 September 1935, the CEDA announced it would no longer support the RRP's minority government; it was replaced by a RRP cabinet, led by Lerroux once more, that included three members of the CEDA. The concession of posts to CEDA prompted the Asturian miners' strike of 1934
. Some time later, Robles once again prompted a cabinet collapse, and five members of Lerroux's new government were conceded to CEDA, including Robles himself. Since the 1933 elections, farm workers' wages had been halved, and the military purged of republican members and reformed; those loyal to Robles had been promoted. However, since CEDA's entry into the government, no constitutional amendments were ever made; no budget was ever passed.
In 1935, Manuel Azaña Díaz and Indalecio Prieto
started to unify the left, and combat its extreme elements, including the staging of large, popular rallies, in what would become the Popular Front
. Lerroux's Radical government collapsed after two significant scandals, including the Straperlo
affair. However, president Niceto Alcalá Zamora did not allow the CEDA to form a government, and called elections. Zamora had become disenchanted with Robles' obvious desire to do away with the republic and establish a corporate state, and his air of pride. He was looking to strengthen a new centre party in place of the Radicals, but the election system did not favour this. Portela Valladares was thus chosen to form a caretaker government in the meantime. The Republic had, as its opponents pointed out, faced twenty-six separate government crises. Portela failed to get the required support in the parliament to rule as a majority. The government was dissolved on the 4 January; the date for elections would be 16 February.
In common with the 1933 election, Spain was divided into multi-member constituences; 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 in 1933 when the Socialists won 13 members and the right, with only 5,000 votes less, secured only the remaining 4.
– over Spain; the Radical Republican Party
, lead by Lerroux, concentrated on besmirching the Centre Party. CEDA, which continued to be the main party of the political right, struggled to gain the support of the monarchists, but managed to. Posters, however, had a distinctly fascist appeal, showing leader Gil-Robles
alongside various autocratic slogans. Whilst few campaign promises were made, a return to autocratic government was implied. Funded by considerable donations from large landowners, industrialists and the Catholic Church – which had suffered under the previous Socialist administration – the Right printed millions of leaflets, promising a 'great Spain'. In terms of manifesto, the Popular Front proposed going back to the sort of reforms its previous administration, including important agrarian reforms, and those to do with the treatment of strikes. It would also release political prisoners, helping to secure the votes of the CNT
and FAI
, although as organisations they remained outside the growing Popular Front; the Popular Front had the support of votes from anarchists. The Communist Party
campaigned under a series of revolutionary
slogans; however, they were strongly supportive of the Popular Front government. "Vote Communist to save Spain from Marxism" was a Socialist joke at the time. Devoid of strong areas of working class support, already taken by syndicalism and anarchism, they concentrated on their position within the Popular Front.
34,000 members of the Civil Guards
and 17,000 Assault Guards enforced security on election day, many freed from their regular posts by the carabineros. Six people were killed during the elections, and perhaps another 30 injured. Ballots were generally fair and in accordance with the 1931 constitution
, although three cases of electoral fraud occurred. The first was in Galicia, in north-west Spain, and orchestrated by the incumbent government; there also, in La Coruna, by the political left. The voting in Granada was forcibly (and unfairly) dominated by the government. In some villages, the police stopped anyone not wearing a collar from voting. Wherever the Socialists were poorly organised, farm workers continued to vote how they were told by their bosses or caciques. Similarly, some right-wing voters were put off from voting in strongly socialist areas. However, such instances were comparatively rare. The first results to be released, in the evening of the 14th, from urban areas, were encouraging for the Popular Front.
describes it as a 'triumph of power in the Cortes' – the Popular Front won 267 deputies and the Right only 132, and the imbalance caused by the nature of Spain's electoral system since the 1932 election law came into force. The same system had benefited the political right in 1933. The political centre did badly. Lerroux's Radicals, incumbent until his government's collapse, were electorally devastated; many of their supporters had been pushed to the right by the increasing instability in Spain. Portela Valladares had formed the Centre Party, but had not had time to build it up. Worried about the problems of a minority party losing out due to the electoral system, he made a pact with the right, but this was not enough to ensure success. Leaders of the centre, Lerroux, Cambó and Melquíades Álvarez
, failed to win seats. The Falangist party, under José Antonio Primo de Rivera
received only 46,000 votes, a very small fraction of the total cast. This seemed to show little appetite for a takeover of that sort. The allocation of seats between coalition members was a matter of agreement between them. The official results were recorded on 20 February. The Basque Party, who had not at the time of the election been part of the Popular Front, would go on to join it. In 20 seats, no alliance or party had secured 40% of the vote; 17 were decided by a second vote on March 3. In these runoffs, the Popular Front won 8, the Basques 5, the Right 5 and the Centre 2. In May, elections were reheld in two areas of Granada where the new government alleged there had been fraud; both seats were taken from the notional Right victory in February by the Left.
Despite a relatively small mandate in terms of votes, some socialists took to the streets to free political prisoners, without waiting for the government to do so officially. There were claims of an imminent socialist or anarchist takeover. The right had firmly believed, at all levels, that they would win. Portela would, a year later, claim that Gil-Robles and General Francisco Franco
had approached him within days to the election to propose a military takeover. Portela resigned, even before a new government could be formed. However, the Popular Front, which had proved an effective election tool, did not translate into a Popular Front government. Largo Caballero and other elements of the political left were not prepared to work with the republicans, although they did agree to support much of the proposed reforms. Manuel Azaña Díaz was called upon to form a government, but would shortly replace Zamora as president. The right began to conspire as to how to best overthrow the republic, rather than taking control of it.
Cortes Generales
The Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...
. The winners of the 1936 elections were the Popular Front
Popular Front (Spain)
The Popular Front in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organisations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election....
, a left-wing coalition of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...
(PSOE), Republican Left (Spain)
Republican Left (Spain)
The Republican Left was a Spanish left-wing republican party founded in 1934.The party was founded in 1934 following the left's defeat in the 1933 election, by the merger of Manuel Azaña's Republican Action, part of Marcelino Domingo's Radical Socialist Republican Party and Santiago Casares...
(IR), Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
(ERC), Republican Union
Republican Union
The Republican Union was a pro-statehood political party in Puerto Rico.The Republican Union was founded in 1932 from the merging of the Pure Republican Party and the conservative wing of the Alianza...
(UR), Communist Party (PCE), Acció Catalana
Acció Catalana
Accio Catalana was a political movement Catalanist the first third of the 20th century, created in 1922 around the Catalan National Conference, which brought elements of the Joventut Nacionalista the Regionalist League, former members of the Federal Unió Republicana Nacionalista and youth...
(AC) and other parties. They commanded a narrow lead in terms of the popular vote, but a significant lead over the main opposition party, Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right
Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right
The Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right was a Spanish political party in the Second Spanish Republic. A Catholic conservative force, it was the political heir to Angel Herrera Oria's Acción Popular and defined itself in terms of the 'affirmation and defence of the principles of Christian...
(CEDA), of the political right in terms of seats. The election had been prompted by a collapse of a government led by Alejandro Lerroux
Alejandro Lerroux
Alejandro Lerroux y García was a Spanish politician who was the leader of the Radical Republican Party during the Second Spanish Republic...
, and his Radical Republican Party
Radical Republican Party
The Radical Republican Party , sometimes shortened to the Radical Party was a Spanish political party founded in 1908 by Alejandro Lerroux in Santander, Cantabria by a split from the historical Republican Union party led by Nicolás Salmerón....
. Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña Díaz was a Spanish politician. He was the first Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic , and later served again as Prime Minister , and then as the second and last President of the Republic . The Spanish Civil War broke out while he was President...
would replace Manuel Portela Valladares
Manuel Portela Valladares
Manuel Portela y Valladares was a Spanish political figure during the Second Spanish Republic.A member of the Liberal Party, he served as civil governor of Barcelona in 1910 and 1923, and as Minister of Promotion in September 1923...
, caretaker, as 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...
, after what were widely considered fair elections – although limited cases of electoral fraud did occur. They were the last of three elections held during the Spanish Second Republic, coming three years after the 1933 general election
Spanish general election, 1933
Elections to Spain’s legislature, the Cortes Generales, were held on 19 November 1933 for all 473 seats in the unicameral Cortes of the Second Spanish Republic. Since the previous elections of 1931, a new constitution had been ratified, and the franchise extended to more than six million women...
which had brought the first of Lerroux's governments to power. The poor result for the political right would help bring about the July coup
Spanish coup of July 1936
The Spanish coup of July 1936 marked the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Following a period of troubles in the Second Spanish Republic, a group of officers attempted to overthrow the democratic government in a military coup. Planning started in early 1936, and the coup was launched on 17 and 18...
, and the ensuing civil war
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. The war brought about the end of parliamentary democracy in Spain until the 1977 general election
Spanish general election, 1977
The Spanish general election of 1977 took place on 15 June 1977. It was the first election since the death of Francisco Franco.Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The elections were held using closed list proportional representation in 52 electoral districts...
.
Background
After the 1933 election, the Radical Republican PartyRadical Republican Party
The Radical Republican Party , sometimes shortened to the Radical Party was a Spanish political party founded in 1908 by Alejandro Lerroux in Santander, Cantabria by a split from the historical Republican Union party led by Nicolás Salmerón....
(RRP) lead a series of governments, with Alejandro Lerroux
Alejandro Lerroux
Alejandro Lerroux y García was a Spanish politician who was the leader of the Radical Republican Party during the Second Spanish Republic...
as a moderate 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...
. On 26 September 1935, the CEDA announced it would no longer support the RRP's minority government; it was replaced by a RRP cabinet, led by Lerroux once more, that included three members of the CEDA. The concession of posts to CEDA prompted the Asturian miners' strike of 1934
Asturian miners' strike of 1934
The Asturian miners' strike of 1934 was a major strike action which took place in Asturias in northern Spain soon developing into armed insurrection against the Spanish government.-Background:...
. Some time later, Robles once again prompted a cabinet collapse, and five members of Lerroux's new government were conceded to CEDA, including Robles himself. Since the 1933 elections, farm workers' wages had been halved, and the military purged of republican members and reformed; those loyal to Robles had been promoted. However, since CEDA's entry into the government, no constitutional amendments were ever made; no budget was ever passed.
In 1935, Manuel Azaña Díaz and Indalecio Prieto
Indalecio Prieto
Indalecio Prieto Tuero was a Spanish politician, one of the leading figures of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in the years before and during the Second Spanish Republic.-Early years:...
started to unify the left, and combat its extreme elements, including the staging of large, popular rallies, in what would become the Popular Front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
. Lerroux's Radical government collapsed after two significant scandals, including the Straperlo
Straperlo
Straperlo was a business which tried to introduce in Spain in the 1930s a fraudulent roulette which could be controlled electrically with the push of a button...
affair. However, president Niceto Alcalá Zamora did not allow the CEDA to form a government, and called elections. Zamora had become disenchanted with Robles' obvious desire to do away with the republic and establish a corporate state, and his air of pride. He was looking to strengthen a new centre party in place of the Radicals, but the election system did not favour this. Portela Valladares was thus chosen to form a caretaker government in the meantime. The Republic had, as its opponents pointed out, faced twenty-six separate government crises. Portela failed to get the required support in the parliament to rule as a majority. The government was dissolved on the 4 January; the date for elections would be 16 February.
In common with the 1933 election, Spain was divided into multi-member constituences; for example, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
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 in 1933 when the Socialists won 13 members and the right, with only 5,000 votes less, secured only the remaining 4.
Election
The campaigning for the election was generally in accordance with the law and peaceful, with few problems. Certain press restrictions were lifted. The political right repeatedly warned of the risk of a 'red flag' – communismCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
– over Spain; the Radical Republican Party
Radical Republican Party
The Radical Republican Party , sometimes shortened to the Radical Party was a Spanish political party founded in 1908 by Alejandro Lerroux in Santander, Cantabria by a split from the historical Republican Union party led by Nicolás Salmerón....
, lead by Lerroux, concentrated on besmirching the Centre Party. CEDA, which continued to be the main party of the political right, struggled to gain the support of the monarchists, but managed to. Posters, however, had a distinctly fascist appeal, showing leader Gil-Robles
José María Gil-Robles y Quiñones
José María Gil-Robles y Quiñones was a prominent Spanish politician in the period leading up to the Spanish Civil War....
alongside various autocratic slogans. Whilst few campaign promises were made, a return to autocratic government was implied. Funded by considerable donations from large landowners, industrialists and the Catholic Church – which had suffered under the previous Socialist administration – the Right printed millions of leaflets, promising a 'great Spain'. In terms of manifesto, the Popular Front proposed going back to the sort of reforms its previous administration, including important agrarian reforms, and those to do with the treatment of strikes. It would also release political prisoners, helping to secure the votes of the CNT
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
and FAI
Federación Anarquista Ibérica
The Federación Anarquista Ibérica is a Spanish organization of anarchist militants active within affinity groups inside the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo trade union. It is often abbreviated as CNT-FAI because of the close relationship between the two organizations...
, although as organisations they remained outside the growing Popular Front; the Popular Front had the support of votes from anarchists. The Communist Party
Communist Party of Spain
The Communist Party of Spain is the third largest national political party in Spain. It is the largest member organization of the United Left electoral coalition and has influence in the largest trade union in Spain, Workers' Commissions ....
campaigned under a series of revolutionary
World revolution
World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class...
slogans; however, they were strongly supportive of the Popular Front government. "Vote Communist to save Spain from Marxism" was a Socialist joke at the time. Devoid of strong areas of working class support, already taken by syndicalism and anarchism, they concentrated on their position within the Popular Front.
34,000 members of the Civil Guards
Civil Guard (Spain)
The Civil Guard is the Spanish gendarmerie. It has foreign peace-keeping missions and maintains military status and is the equivalent of a federal military-status police force. As a police force, the Guardia Civil is comparable today to the French Gendarmerie, the Italian Carabinieri and the...
and 17,000 Assault Guards enforced security on election day, many freed from their regular posts by the carabineros. Six people were killed during the elections, and perhaps another 30 injured. Ballots were generally fair and in accordance with the 1931 constitution
Spanish Constitution of 1931
The Spanish Constitution of 1931 meant the beginning of the Second Spanish Republic, the second period of Spanish history to date in which the election of both the positions of Head of State and Head of government were democratic. It was effective from 1931 until 1939...
, although three cases of electoral fraud occurred. The first was in Galicia, in north-west Spain, and orchestrated by the incumbent government; there also, in La Coruna, by the political left. The voting in Granada was forcibly (and unfairly) dominated by the government. In some villages, the police stopped anyone not wearing a collar from voting. Wherever the Socialists were poorly organised, farm workers continued to vote how they were told by their bosses or caciques. Similarly, some right-wing voters were put off from voting in strongly socialist areas. However, such instances were comparatively rare. The first results to be released, in the evening of the 14th, from urban areas, were encouraging for the Popular Front.
Outcome
Just under 10 million people voted, with an abstention rate of 28 percent, a level of apathy higher than might be suggested by the ongoing political violence. A small number of coerced voters and anarchists formed part of the abstainers. The elections of 1936 were narrowly won by the Popular Front, with vastly smaller resources than the political right, who followed Nazi propaganda techniques. The exact numbers of votes differ among historians; Brenan assigns the Popular Front 4,700,000 votes, the Right around 4,000,000 and the centre 450,000. It was a comparatively narrow victory in terms of votes, but Paul PrestonPaul Preston
Paul Preston CBE is a British historian and Hispanist, specialized in Spanish history, in particular the Spanish Civil War, which he has studied for more than 30 years....
describes it as a 'triumph of power in the Cortes' – the Popular Front won 267 deputies and the Right only 132, and the imbalance caused by the nature of Spain's electoral system since the 1932 election law came into force. The same system had benefited the political right in 1933. The political centre did badly. Lerroux's Radicals, incumbent until his government's collapse, were electorally devastated; many of their supporters had been pushed to the right by the increasing instability in Spain. Portela Valladares had formed the Centre Party, but had not had time to build it up. Worried about the problems of a minority party losing out due to the electoral system, he made a pact with the right, but this was not enough to ensure success. Leaders of the centre, Lerroux, Cambó and Melquíades Álvarez
Melquíades Álvarez
Melquíades Álvarez Gónzalez-Posada was a Spanish Republican politician, founder and leader of the Reformist Republican Party , commonly known just as Reformist Party....
, failed to win seats. The Falangist party, under José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquis of Estella , was a Spanish lawyer, nobleman, politician, and founder of the Falange Española...
received only 46,000 votes, a very small fraction of the total cast. This seemed to show little appetite for a takeover of that sort. The allocation of seats between coalition members was a matter of agreement between them. The official results were recorded on 20 February. The Basque Party, who had not at the time of the election been part of the Popular Front, would go on to join it. In 20 seats, no alliance or party had secured 40% of the vote; 17 were decided by a second vote on March 3. In these runoffs, the Popular Front won 8, the Basques 5, the Right 5 and the Centre 2. In May, elections were reheld in two areas of Granada where the new government alleged there had been fraud; both seats were taken from the notional Right victory in February by the Left.
Despite a relatively small mandate in terms of votes, some socialists took to the streets to free political prisoners, without waiting for the government to do so officially. There were claims of an imminent socialist or anarchist takeover. The right had firmly believed, at all levels, that they would win. Portela would, a year later, claim that Gil-Robles and General Francisco 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...
had approached him within days to the election to propose a military takeover. Portela resigned, even before a new government could be formed. However, the Popular Front, which had proved an effective election tool, did not translate into a Popular Front government. Largo Caballero and other elements of the political left were not prepared to work with the republicans, although they did agree to support much of the proposed reforms. Manuel Azaña Díaz was called upon to form a government, but would shortly replace Zamora as president. The right began to conspire as to how to best overthrow the republic, rather than taking control of it.
Seats
| Affiliation | Party | Name in Spanish (* indicates Catalan) | Abbr. | Seats (May) | Seats (Feb) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Payne | ||||||
| Popular Front | |||||||
| Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in... |
Partido Socialista Obrero Español | PSOE | 99 | 89 | 88 | ||
| Republican Left Republican Left (Spain) The Republican Left was a Spanish left-wing republican party founded in 1934.The party was founded in 1934 following the left's defeat in the 1933 election, by the merger of Manuel Azaña's Republican Action, part of Marcelino Domingo's Radical Socialist Republican Party and Santiago Casares... |
Izquierda Republicana | IR | 87 | 80 | 79 | ||
| Republican Union Republican Union Party The Republican Union was a Spanish republican party founded in 1934 by Diego Martinez Barrio.It was formed as a result of a merger of several small republican parties, including notably Diego Martinez Barrio's Radical Democratic Party founded in May 1934 by a split from Alejandro Lerroux's Radical... |
Unión Republicana | UR | 37 | 36 | 34 | ||
| Republican Left of Catalonia | Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya* | ERC | 21 | 21 | 22 | ||
| Communist Party of Spain Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain is the third largest national political party in Spain. It is the largest member organization of the United Left electoral coalition and has influence in the largest trade union in Spain, Workers' Commissions .... |
Partido Comunista de España | PCE | 17 | 15 | 14 | ||
| Catalan Action Acció Catalana Accio Catalana was a political movement Catalanist the first third of the 20th century, created in 1922 around the Catalan National Conference, which brought elements of the Joventut Nacionalista the Regionalist League, former members of the Federal Unió Republicana Nacionalista and youth... |
Acció Catalana | 5 | 5 | 5 | |||
| Socialist Union of Catalonia Socialist Union of Catalonia Socialist Union of Catalonia , a socialist political party in Catalonia, Spain. USC was formed through a split in Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in 1923. The main leader of USC was J... |
Unió Socialista de Catalunya | USC | 4 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Galicianist Party Partido Galeguista (1931) The Partido Galeguista was a Galician nationalist party founded in December 1931. It achieved notoriety during the time of the Spanish Second Republic... |
Partido Galeguista | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Syndicalist Party Syndicalist Party Syndicalist Party was a left-wing political party in Spain, formed by Ángel Pestaña in 1932. Pestaña, a leading member of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo trade union, formed the party in response to the growing influence of the Iberian Anarchist Federation over the CNT... and Independent Syndicalist Party |
Partido Sindicalista | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Democratic Federal Republican Party | PRD Fed. | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Union of Rabassaires | Unió de Rabassaires | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||
| National Left Republican Party | PNRE | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Workers' Party of Marxist Unification Workers' Party of Marxist Unification The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification was a Spanish communist political party formed during the Second Republic and mainly active around the Spanish Civil War... |
Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista | POUM | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Proletarian Catalan Party Proletarian Catalan Party Proletarian Catalan Party was a political party in Catalonia, Spain. PCP was founded in January 1934. Its main leader was Jaume Compte... |
Partit Català Proletari* | PCP | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Valencian Left Valencian Left Valencian Left is a nationalist Valencian leftist party founded in the Valencian Community, founded in April, 1998 a group of ex-members of Unitat del Poble Valencià formed left this party and went to form a new political group using the vacant name of the historical Esquerra Valenciana.EV's... |
Esquerra Valenciana* | EV | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Independents (Payne: "Leftist independents") | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Total Popular Front: | 285/286 | 265/267 | 262Payne (2006) gives a total of 263, but a list by party totalling 262. | ||||
| Centre Centrism In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between... Republicans Second Spanish Republic The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco.... |
|||||||
| National Republican Centre Party | 17 | 20 | 21 | ||||
| Catalan League | Lliga Catalana | 12 | 12 | 12 | |||
| Basque Nationalists | Partido Nacionalista Vasco | PNV | 9 | 9 | 5 | ||
| Progressive Republicans Progressive Republican Right The Progressive Republican Right was a Spanish political party led by Niceto Alcalá Zamora.... |
Derecha Liberal Republicana | EAJ/DLR | 6 | 6 | 6 | ||
| Radical Republican Party Radical Republican Party The Radical Republican Party , sometimes shortened to the Radical Party was a Spanish political party founded in 1908 by Alejandro Lerroux in Santander, Cantabria by a split from the historical Republican Union party led by Nicolás Salmerón.... |
Partido Republicano Radical | 5 | 8 | 9 | |||
| Liberal Democrat Republican Party | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Mallorcan Regionalist Party | 1 | 1 | – | ||||
| Independents | 4 | 3 | – | ||||
| Total Centre: | 57 | 60 | 54 | ||||
| Right Right-wing politics In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is... |
|||||||
| Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right The Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right was a Spanish political party in the Second Spanish Republic. A Catholic conservative force, it was the political heir to Angel Herrera Oria's Acción Popular and defined itself in terms of the 'affirmation and defence of the principles of Christian... |
Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas | CEDA | 88 | 97 | 101 | ||
| National Bloc Renovación Española Renovación Española was a Spanish monarchist political party active during the Second Spanish Republic, advocating the restoration of Alfonso XIII of Spain as opposed to Carlism... |
Renovación Española | 12 | 13 | 13 | |||
| Spanish Agrarian Party Spanish Agrarian Party Spanish Agrarian Party was a political party in Spain during the Second Republic. Initially the party was known as Agrarian Party but took the name PAE in 1934.... |
Partido Agrario Español | PAE | 10 | 11 | 11 | ||
| Traditionalist Communion Carlism Carlism is a traditionalist and legitimist political movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Infante Carlos, Count of Molina , and was founded due to dispute over the succession laws and widespread... |
9 | 12 | 15 | ||||
| Conservative Republican Party | 3 | 3 | 2 | ||||
| Independent monarchists | – | – | 2 | ||||
| Spanish Nationalist Party | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Partido Mesócrata (Payne: "Catholic") | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Independents | 7 | 8 | 10 | ||||
| Total Right: | 131 | 146 | 156 | ||||
| Total: | 473 | ||||||