1977 Spanish general election

The death of Francisco Franco in 1975 paved the way for Spain's transition from an autocratic, one-party dictatorship into a democratic, constitutional monarchy. As per the 1947 Succession Law, the Spanish monarchy was restored under the figure of Juan Carlos I, who quickly became the promoter of a peaceful democratic reform of state institutions. This move was supported by western countries, an important sector of Spanish and international capitalism, a majority of the opposition to Francoism—organized into the Democratic Convergence Platform and the Democratic Junta, which in 1976 would both merge into the Democratic Coordination—and a growing part of the Franco regime itself, weary of popular mobilization after the outcome of the Carnation Revolution in neighbouring Portugal in 1974. However, the incumbent prime minister, Carlos Arias Navarro, rejected any major transformation of the Spanish political system and rather supported the preservation of Francoist laws, resulting in his dismissal by the King in July 1976, who appointed Adolfo Suárez for the post. Suárez's plans for political reform involved the transformation of Spanish institutions in accordance to the Francoist legal system through the approval of a "political reform bill" as a Fundamental Law of the Realm. This was meant as a step beyond Arias Navarro's plans to update—but preserve—the Francoist regime, with Suárez intending to implement democracy "from law to law through law"—in the words of Torcuato Fernández-Miranda—without the outright liquidation of the Francoist system as called for by opposition parties. Thus, on 18 November 1976, the Political Reform Law was passed by the Francoist , later ratified in a referendum on 15 December with overwhelming popular support. As set out in Suárez's scheme, the Law called for an electoral process to elect new that were to be responsible for drafting a democratic constitution. ==Overview==

Under the 1977 Political Reform Law, the Spanish Cortes were conceived as a provisional assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution to replace the Fundamental Laws of the Realm. The initiative for constitutional amendment belonged to the Congress of Deputies and the national government, and constitutional bills had to be passed by an absolute majority in both the Congress and the Senate. If the Senate rejected a bill approved by Congress, the disagreement was to be examined by a mixed commission and, if the deadlock continued, both chambers would meet in a joint sitting as a single legislative body to decide the issue by absolute majority. Date The term of the previous Spanish expired on 30 June 1977, after their term had been extended twice since their scheduled expiration date in November 1975. The election to the Spanish was officially called on 15 April 1977 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the Official State Gazette (BOE), setting election day for 15 June. Both chambers were scheduled to reconvene on 13 July. Electoral system Voting for each chamber of the Spanish was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 21 years of age with full civil and political rights. The Congress of Deputies had 350 seats in its first election. Of these, 348 were elected in 50 multi-member constituencies corresponding to the provinces of Spain—each of which was assigned an initial minimum of two seats and the remaining 248 distributed in proportion to population, roughly one seat per 144,500 inhabitants or fraction above 70,000—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency. The remaining two seats were allocated to Ceuta and Melilla as single-member districts elected by plurality voting. The use of this electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution. As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled the following seats: 207 Senate seats were elected using open-list partial block voting: voters in constituencies electing four seats could choose up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, up to two; and in single-member districts, one. Each of the 47 peninsular provinces was allocated four seats, while in insular provinces—such as the Balearic and Canary Islands—the districts were the islands themselves, with the larger ones (Mallorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife) being allocated three seats each, and the smaller ones (Menorca, Ibiza–Formentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera–El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma) one each. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each. Additionally, the monarch could directly appoint a number of senators not higher than one-fifth of the elected seats. The law provided for by-elections to fill vacant seats in the Congress only when results in a constituency were annulled by a final sentence following an electoral petition; otherwise, vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes. Additionally for the Senate, by-elections were required to fill any seat vacated within the first two years of the legislative term. ==Candidates==

Nomination rules Spanish citizens with the right to vote could run for election. Causes of ineligibility applied to the following officials: • Holders of a number of senior public or institutional post, including government ministers (but not the prime minister); the heads of higher courts and state institutions; high-ranking officials of government departments and other state agencies; civil governors-general and governors, as well as government delegates in the islands and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla; members of electoral commissions; and the chairs of national trade unions; • Judges and public prosecutors in active service; • Members of the Armed Forces and law enforcement bodies in active service, as well as senior police officials. Other ineligibility provisions also applied to a number of territorial officials in these categories within their areas of jurisdiction. Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election: ==Campaign==

Congress of Deputies Senate Maps File:1977 Spanish general election map.svg|Election results by constituency (Congress). File:1977 Spanish election - Results.svg|Vote winner strength by constituency (Congress). File:1977 Spanish election - AC results.svg|Vote winner strength by autonomous community (Congress). ==Notes==