1936 Spanish general election

After the 1933 election, the Radical Republican Party (RRP) led a series of governments, with Alejandro Lerroux as a moderate Prime Minister. On 26 September 1934, the CEDA announced it would no longer support the RRP's minority government, which 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, which turned into an armed rebellion. Some time later, Robles once again prompted a cabinet collapse, and five ministries 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. Zamora had become disenchanted with Robles's 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 center party in place of the Radicals, but the election system did not favour this. Manuel 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 4 January; the date for elections would be 16 February. ==Election==

There was significant violence during the election campaign, most of which initiated by the political left, though a substantial minority was by the political right. In total, some thirty-seven people were killed in various incidents throughout the campaign, ten of which occurred on the election day itself. Certain press restrictions were lifted. The political right repeatedly warned of the risk of a 'red flag' – communism – over Spain; the Radical Republican Party, led by Lerroux, concentrated on besmirching the Centre Party. Whilst few campaign promises were made, a return to autocratic government was implied. In terms of manifesto, the Popular Front proposed going back to the sort of reforms its previous administration had advocated, including important agrarian reforms, and reforms relating to strikes. the Popular Front had the support of votes from anarchists. Devoid of strong areas of working class support, already taken by syndicalism and anarchism, they concentrated on their position within the Popular Front. In Galicia, in north-west Spain, and orchestrated by the incumbent government; there also, in A Coruña, 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. By the evening, it looked like the Popular Front might win and as a result in some cases crowds broke into prisons to free revolutionaries detained there. ==Outcome==

Just under 10 million people voted, A small number of coerced voters and anarchists formed part of the abstainers. while Antony Beevor argues the Left won by just 150,000 votes. It was a comparatively narrow victory in terms of votes, but Paul Preston 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. Roberto García and Manuel Tardío also argue that the Popular Front manipulated the results, though this has been contested by Eduardo Calleja and Francisco Pérez, who question the charges of electoral irregularity and argue that the Popular Front would still have won a slight electoral majority even if all of the charges were true. 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. The allocation of seats between coalition members was a matter of agreement between them. The official results () were recorded on 20 February. 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 national Right victory in February by the Left. In the thirty-six hours following the election, sixteen people were killed and thirty-nine were seriously injured, while fifty churches and seventy conservative political centres were attacked or set ablaze. Almost immediately after the results were known, a group of monarchists asked Robles to lead a coup but he refused. He did, however, ask prime minister Manuel Portela Valladares to declare a state of war before the revolutionary masses rushed into the streets. Franco also approached Valladares to propose the declaration of martial law and calling out of the army. It has been claimed that this was not a coup attempt but more of a "police action" akin to Asturias, 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 was called upon to form a government, but would shortly replace Zamora as president. ==First-round results==

The below table summarises results of the first round, i.e. of the voting which took place on February 16. It does not take into account elections of the second round, which took place in 5 electoral districts (Álava, Castellón, Guipúzcoa, Soria, Vizcaya provincia) on March 1. It includes results in electoral districts (Cuenca, Granada), where results would be declared invalid, elections annulled and repeated in May. The numbers given are votes, not voters. Each voter was entitled to vote for a number of candidates; the maximum number of selections allowed differed across the electoral districts, from 16 in Barcelona (city) to 1 in Álava, Ceuta and Melilla. All the selections made for individual candidates (there were 993 contestants running) are summarised. Example: Partido Republicano Federal fielded 3 candidates: Luis Cordero Bel on Frente Popular list in Huelva got 79.667 votes, Bernardino Valle Gracia on Frente Popular list in Las Palmas got 32.900 votes and José Bernal Segado running as independent in Murcia (city) got 1.329 votes, which produced sub-totals of 112.567 votes on Frente Popular lists and 1.329 votes for independents, which totals in 113.896 votes. All tables purporting to present number of voters, which supported specific parties or blocs, are based on various statistical methodologies, constructed ex post by historians and intended to translate the number of votes into the number of voters; this applies also to tables presented in the section below. Their accuracy might be and is disputed. The below table is not based on any such data manipulations and summarises number of votes received by individual candidates as recorded by electoral authorities. ==Final results==

The following deputies took office: Álava (2) Álava elected 2: majority, 1; minority, 1. Four candidates were proclaimed, obtaining the following results: • José Luis de Oriol y Uriguen (traditionalist), 16 022. • Ramón Viguri y Ruiz de Olano (Republican Left), 9521. • Francisco Javier de Landáburu y Fernández de Betoño (Basque Nationalist Party), 8976. • Luis Pérez-Flórez y Estrada (CEDA), 8863. The census board agreed not to proclaim any candidate as deputy to the Cortes, as the most voted candidate obtained only 36.7% of the votes, proceeding to hold a new election on Sunday, 1 March. According to the electoral law, only candidates who obtained at least 8% of the votes in the first election could stand. On that day, 42 180 voters participated, out of 57 506 electors, and the following two deputies were elected: Albacete (7) Albacete elected 7: majority, 5; minority, 2. In a census of 134 673 electors, the following seven deputies were elected: Alicante (11) Alicante elected 11: majority, 8; minority, 3. The following eleven deputies were elected: Almería (7) Almería elected 7: majority, 5; minority, 2. In a census of 125 187 electors, the following seven deputies were elected: Ávila (5) Ávila elected 5: majority, 4; minority, 1. In a census of 126 515 electors, 96 815 voters went to the polls, and the following five deputies were elected: Badajoz (14) Badajoz elected 14: majority, 11; minority, 3. In a census of 409 878 electors, 309 703 voters went to the polls, and the following fourteen deputies were elected: Balearic Islands (7) The Balearic Islands elected 7: majority, 5; minority, 2. In a census of electors, 173 473 voters went to the polls, and the following seven deputies were elected: Barcelona capital and judicial district (20 seats) The city of Barcelona elected 20: majority, 14; minority, 6. 412 920 voters went to the polls, and the following twenty deputies were elected: Barcelona province (14 seats) The province of Barcelona elected 14: majority, 11; minority, 3. 342 145 voters went to the polls, and the following fourteen deputies were elected: Burgos (7) Out of a census of 188 825, 135 012 voters went to the polls, and the following seven deputies were elected: On 19 March 1936 the Credentials Committee proposed the annulment of the proclamation of Mr. Estévanez, who held the mandate. Cáceres (9) Cáceres elected 9: majority, 7; minority, 2. 192 498 voters went to the polls, and the following nine deputies were elected: Portela Valladares had confessed that he was aware of the maneuver by the Popular Front for Giral's candidacy in Cáceres to go from losing to winning illegally. "...the flight of the governors and their tumultuous replacement by irresponsible and even anonymous persons allowed the electoral documentation to remain in the hands of subordinates, postmen, road workers or simply bold assailants..." Niceto Alcalá Zamora Cádiz (10) Cádiz elected 10: majority, 8; minority, 2. 161 062 voters went to the polls, and the following ten deputies were elected: Castellón de la Plana (6) Castellón elects 6: majority, 4; minority, 2. With a census of 205 743 electors, 133 774 voters went to the polls, and the following six deputies were elected: Ceuta (1) 11 163 voters went to the polls to elect the single assigned deputy, who contested the seat with the radical Tomás Peire Carbaleiro: • Manuel Martínez Pedroso, professor, socialist, 7 998 votes. Ciudad Real (10) Ciudad Real elected 10: majority, 8; minority, 2. With a census of 279 752 electors, 197 627 voters went to the polls, and the following eleven deputies were elected: Córdoba (13) Córdoba elected 13: majority, 10; minority, 3. With a census of 363 093 electors, 266 805 voters went to the polls, and the following thirteen deputies were elected: A Coruña (17) A Coruña elected 17: majority, 13; minority, 4. 294 253 voters went to the polls, and the following seventeen deputies were elected: Cuenca (6) Cuenca elected 6: majority, 4; minority, 2. Report of the Credentials Committee proposing the annulment of the election held on 16 February 1936, approved on 1 April 1936. As a consequence of this annulment, new elections were held on 3 May 1936, and the following five deputies were elected: • Partial election of 3 May. Girona (7) Girona elected 7: majority, 5; minority, 2. With a census of 201 059 electors, 143 439 voters went to the polls, and the following seven deputies were elected: Granada (13) Granada elected 13: majority, 10; minority, 3. With a census of 333 263 electors, 260 448 voters went to the polls, and the following thirteen deputies were elected, whose credentials were annulled by the Credentials Committee: • Partial election of 3 May 1936. ==References==