1881 Spanish general election

Spanish general election, 1881

21 August 1881
All 392 seats of the Congress of Deputies 197 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	~71.5%
First party Second party   Leader Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Antonio Cánovas del Castillo Party PL PLC Leader since 1876 1876 Last election 78 seats 304 seats Seats won 300 62 Seat change 222 242
Prime Minister before election Práxedes Mateo Sagasta PL Elected Prime Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta PL

General elections to the Cortes Generales were held in Spain on 21 August 1881. At stake were all 392 seats in the Congress of Deputies.

Though formally competitive, the 1881 general election was held under the recently developed system of Turno Pacifico; in accordance with a semi-formal power-sharing arrangement brokered by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, elections (under influence by machine bosses called caciques) served as a rubber stamp for a routine handover of power initiated by the King. The 1881 election, as expected, sanctioned the pre-arranged handover from the Conservatives to the Liberals. From 1881 until the end of the constitutional monarchy, the Turno power-sharing plan would continue almost uninterrupted, dominating the electoral politics of Spain utterly.

Results

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  Spanish Congress of Deputies, after the election

 Summary of the 21 August 1881 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results

Parties and coalitions				Votes			Congress
				#	%	Swing	Seats	+/−
		Liberal Fusionist Party	PLF				290	226
		Independent Monarchic Progresists	Mon Ind				10	10
Total Liberals							300	222
		Conservative Party	PLC				62	233
Total Conservatives							62	242
		Democratic Party	PD				12	6
		Progressive Republican Democratic Party	PPRD				10	2
Total Republicans							22	8
		Catholic Union	UC				2	1
		Traditionalists	T				2	2
Total Carlists and Catholics							4	3
	Basque Union		UV				1	0
	Independents		Indep				3	1
	Others						0	3
Total				~604,879	100.00		392	0
Votes cast / turnout				~604,879	71.46	2.46
Abstentions				~241,602	28.54	2.46
Registered voters				~846,481
Source: Historia Electoral Spain Historical Statistics