The Provisional Government of the Second Spanish Republic was the government that held political power in Spain from the fall of Alfonso XIII of Spain on 14 April 1931 and the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic until the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1931 on 9 December and the formation of the first regular government on 15 December. The King's departure created the need for a provisional government, whose first president was Niceto Alcalá Zamora, who presided until 1936, when Manuel Azaña took over. The new constitution established freedom of speech, freedom of association, extended voting privileges to women, allowed divorce, and stripped the Spanish nobility of their special legal status.