After the constituent
elections of 1931, the Cortes, in charge of drawing up a new Constitution, were inaugurated on 14 July 1931. The composition of the chamber in the constituent period was dominated by the centre and left parties, the majority being Republican – socialist. The socialist
Julián Besteiro was the first president of the Cortes, first interim and then definitively elected on 28 July 1931. On 1 October 1931, the Chamber approved the constitutional article that would enshrine women's suffrage with 161 votes in favour and 121 against. The 1931 Constitution was finally approved on 9 December 1931 with 368 votes in favour and none against (89 right-wing deputies absent). The text regulated the figure of the Permanent Deputation, with the function of assuming the functions of the parliamentary chamber during its parentheses. In July 1933, the Chamber would approve an electoral law that would accentuate the premium for majorities that had already been introduced by the legislation promulgated by the provisional government before the first elections of 1931 were held. The 1933 elections, already held under the new legislation, gave rise to a parliamentary change and a chamber with the right-wing
CEDA as the largest parliamentary group. Opened on 8 December 1933, the new Cortes provisionally elected the radical
Santiago Alba as president of the chamber. In November 1934, the change in the regulations of the Cortes was approved. The
1936 elections, also developed with the electoral law of 1933, gave a parliamentary majority to the left-wing
Popular Front. The Republican
Diego Martínez Barrio would be elected president of the Cortes. During the course of the civil war, the Cortes did not meet again in
Madrid and became itinerant: they held sessions in 1937 in
Valencia (in the Valencia City Hall building and in the
Lonja de la Seda) and in 1938 in the
monastery of Montserrat and in
San Cugat. Close to the end of the conflict, the Cortes, on their way to exile, held their last session in Spanish territory on 1 February 1939 in the castle of San Fernando de Figueras, closing this session at 12:45 p.m. Once the civil war ended and the dictatorship of
Francisco Franco was established throughout the Spanish territory in 1939, the Cortes republicanas continued to meet in exile. == Elections ==