Parliamentary elections in Spain 1977

← 1936Spanish parliamentary elections 19771979 →

 %

40

30th

20th

10

0

34.4

29.3

9.3

8.2

4.5

2.8

1.6

0.9

9.0

UCD

PSOE

PCE

AP

PSP-US

PDPC

PNV

UDC-IDCC

Otherwise.

The Spanish parliamentary elections in 1977 for the Cortes Generales took place on June 15, 1977 . It was the first free elections in Spain since 1936.

Historical context

Dictator Francisco Franco died in November 1975. On July 1, 1976, his successor, King Juan Carlos I, successfully urged Prime Minister Carlos Arias Navarro to resign and commissioned Adolfo Suárez to form a transitional government. This marked the beginning of the transition , i.e. the peaceful transition from the Franco dictatorship to a democratic state based on the western model . In the course of a criminal law reform, the formation of parties was legalized again. At the center of the reforms initiated by Suárez, however, was a new constitution that transformed the Cortes, which had previously been a state parliament , into a general, free, equal and secretly elected bicameral parliament. Spain voted for the first time since 1936 ( Spanish Civil War ) in free general elections.

Result

Adolfo Suárez won the elections at the head of a center-right formation that called itself Unión de Centro Democrático (UCD, Union of the Democratic Center) and rallied around him. In July 1977, Suárez was already forming a government made up of experts from his party and non-party members. The Cortes that resulted from this election became a constituent assembly. The constitution of the Kingdom of Spain passed there was adopted by the people in a referendum on December 6, 1978.

Chamber of Deputies

The Congreso de los Diputados forms the lower house of the Cortes Generales. According to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, the results of the elections were as follows:

Spanish parliamentary elections 1979 →
Electoral list		List leader	be right	%	Seats	Remarks
	Unión de Centro Democrático (UCD)	Adolfo Suarez	6.310.391	34.44	165	Center-right formation.
	Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE)	Felipe González	5,371,866	29.32	118	Coalition with Socialistes de Catalunya .
	Partido Comunista de España (PCE)	Santiago Carrillo	1,709,890	9.33	20th	Coalition with PSUC .
	Federación de Partidos de Alianza Popular (AP)	Manuel Fraga	1,504,771	8.21	16
	Partido Socialista Popular-Unidad Socialista (PSP-US)	Enrique Tierno Galván	816,582	4.46	6th
	Pacte Democràtic per Catalunya (PDPC)	Jordi Pujol	514,647	2.81	11
	Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV)	Juan de Ajuriaguerra	296.193	1.62	8th
	Equipo de la Democracia Cristiana (FDC-EDC)	Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez	215.841	1.18	0	Coalition of several parties
	Unió del Center i la Democràcia Cristiana de Catalunya	Antón Cañellas	172.791	0.94	2
	Esquerra de Catalunya (EC-FED)	Heribert Barrera	143,954	0.79	1	Together with Frente Democrático de Izquierdas (FDI).
	Frente Democrático de Izquierdas (FDI)	Lorenzo Benassar	122.608	0.67	0	Together with Esquerra de Catalunya .
	Alianza Socialista Democrática (ASDCI)	Manuel Murillo	101,916	0.56	0	Coalition of several parties.
	Agrupación Electoral de los Trabajadores (AET)	José Sanromá	77,575	0.42	0
	Alianza Nacional del 18 de Julio (AN18)	Raimundo Fernández-Cuesta	67,336	0.37	0	Coalition of several parties.
	Reforma Social Española (RSE)	Manuel Cantarero	64,241	0.35	0
	Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE)	Francisco Letamendia	61,417	0.34	1	Coalition of Euskal Iraultzarako Alderdia and Euskadiko Mugimendu Komunista in the Basque Country .
	Candidatura Aragonesa Independiente de Centro	Hipólito Gómez de las Roces	37.183	0.20	1
	Candidatura Independiente de Centro (INDEP)	José Miguel Ortí Bordás	29,834	0.16	1
	Other parties		723.290	2.97	0
Invalid votes			265,797	1.43%	-	-
Abstentions			46,248	0.25%	-	-
Overall result			18,324,333	100%	350	-

senate

The Senado forms the upper house of the Cortes Generales. According to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, the results of the elections were as follows:

Spanish Senate elections 1977 →
candidacy	List leader	Senators	For the following parties
Unión de Centro Democrático (UCD)	Nemesio Fernández-Cuesta, Antonio Fontán	106
Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE)	Rafael Fernández Álvarez	35
Senado Democrático	Joaquín Satrústegui	16	PSOE: 6 ID: 3 PCE : 1 AL: 1 Independent: 5
Entesa dels Catalans	Josep Benet	12	PSUC: 4 Socialistas: 4 PSC-C: 3 ERC : 1
Autonomous frontier	Ramón Rubial, Michel Unzueta	10	PNV : 4 PSE: 3 ESEI: 1 Independent: 2
Candidatura Democrática Gallega		3	PSOE: 1 Independent: 2
Candidatura Aragonesa de Unidad Democrática	Ramon Sainz de Varanda	3	PSOE: 1 Independent: 2
Alianza Popular (AP)	Carlos Arias Navarro	2
Partido Socialista Popular (PSP)	José Alonso Pérez	2
Democràcia i Catalunya (DC)	Miquel Coll i Alentorn	2	CDC : 2nd
Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE)	Juan María Bandrés	1
Candidatura Aragonesa Independiente de Centro (CAIC)	Isaías Zarazaga	1
Rioja Democrática	Félix Palomo	1	Independent: 1
Asamblea majorera (AM)	Miguel Cabrera Cabrera	1
Fuerza Democrática de Santander		1	ID: 1
Independent lists		11	PSOE: 1 PSP: 2 ID: 1 AEIS: 4 Independent: 3
Senators appointed by the king		41	Assigned to: UCD: 7 PSOE: 1 EC: 1 PNV: 1 AP: 1 Independent: 31

Web links

• Spain: Winner without party , Der Spiegel 26/1977

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Consulta de Resultados Electorales 1977 (span.)