1979 Spanish general election

The Spanish Cortes Generales were envisaged as an imperfect bicameral system. The Congress of Deputies had greater legislative power than the Senate, having the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a prime minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority of votes. Nonetheless, the Senate possessed a few exclusive (yet limited in number) functions—such as its role in constitutional amendment—which were not subject to the Congress' override.^[1][2] Voting for the Cortes Generales was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age and in full enjoyment of their political rights.^[3]

For the Congress of Deputies, 348 seats were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Spain. Each constituency was entitled to an initial minimum of two seats, with the remaining 248 fixed among the constituencies in proportion to their populations, at a rate of approximately one seat per each 144,500 inhabitants or fraction greater than 70,000. Ceuta and Melilla were allocated the two remaining seats, which were elected using plurality voting.^[1][4] The use of the D'Hondt method might result in a higher effective threshold, depending on the district magnitude.^[5]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Congress multi-member constituency was entitled to the following seats:^[4][6]

For the Senate, 208 seats were elected using an open list partial block voting system, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties. In constituencies electing four seats, electors could vote for up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, for up to two candidates; and for one candidate in single-member districts. Each of the 47 peninsular provinces was allocated four seats, whereas for insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, districts were the islands themselves, with the larger—Majorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife—being allocated three seats each, and the smaller—Menorca, Ibiza–Formentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma—one each. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each. The law also provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated up to two years into the legislature. Additionally, autonomous communities could appoint at least one senator each and were entitled to one additional senator per each million inhabitants.^[1][4]

The term of the Cortes elected in the 1977 election was not to be continued beyond 15 June 1981 in the event they were not dissolved earlier. An election was required to be held within from 30 to 60 days after the date of expiry of the Cortes Generales, setting the latest possible election date for the Cortes Generales on Friday, 14 August 1981.

The prime minister had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no state of emergency was in force and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since the previous one. Additionally, both chambers were to be dissolved, and a new election called, if an investiture process failed to elect a prime minister within a two-month period from the first ballot.^[1] Barred this exception, there was no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections for the Congress and the Senate. Still, as of 2024 there has been no precedent of separate elections taking place under the 1978 Constitution.

The Spanish Cortes were officially dissolved on 1 January 1979 after the publication of the dissolution decree in the Official State Gazette (BOE), setting the election date for 1 March and scheduling for both chambers to reconvene on 23 March (for the Congress) and 27 March (for the Senate).^[6]

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within fifteen days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one permille—and, in any case, 500 signatures—of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.^[4]

Below is a list of the main parties and coalitions which contested the election:

Candidacy		Parties and alliances	Leading candidate		Ideology	Previous result			Gov.	Ref.
						Votes (%)	Con.	Sen.
	UCD	List Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD)		Adolfo Suárez	Centrism	34.44%	165	106	Y
	PSOE	List Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC)		Felipe González	Social democracy Democratic socialism Marxism	33.78%[a]	124	53[d]	N
	PCE	List Communist Party of Spain (PCE) Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC)		Santiago Carrillo	Eurocommunism	9.33%	20	1[e]	N
	CD	List People's Alliance (AP) Liberal Citizens Action (ACL) Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) Foral Union of the Basque Country (UFPV) – People's Alliance (AP) – Basque Independent Democrats (DIV)		Manuel Fraga	Conservatism	8.41%[b]	16	2	N
	CiU	List Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC)		Jordi Pujol	Catalan nationalism Centrism	3.75%[c]	13	2	N
	EAJ/PNV	List Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV)		Xabier Arzalluz	Basque nationalism Christian democracy Conservative liberalism	1.62%	8	6	N
	ERC–FNC	List Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) National Front of Catalonia (FNC) Social Democratic Party of Catalonia (PSDC)		Heribert Barrera	Catalan nationalism Left-wing nationalism Social democracy	0.79%[f]	1	—[d]	N
	EE	List Basque Country Left–Left for Socialism (EE)		Juan María Bandrés	Basque nationalism Socialism	0.34%	1	0	N
	PAR	List Regionalist Aragonese Party (PAR)		Hipólito Gómez de las Roces	Regionalism Conservatism	0.20%[g]	1	0	N
	UN	List New Force (FN) Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE–JONS) José Antonio Circles (CJA) National Confederation of Veterans (CNE) Traditionalist Youth Group (AJT)		Blas Piñar	Ultranationalism National catholicism Francoism	0.57%[h]	0	0	N
	HB	List Basque Socialist Party (ESB/PSV) Revolutionary Patriotic Workers' Party (LAIA) People's Socialist Revolutionary Party (HASI) Basque Nationalist Action (EAE/ANV) Patriotic Socialist Committees (ASK)		Francisco Letamendia	Basque independence Abertzale left Revolutionary socialism	0.24%[i]	0	0	N
	PSC–ERC	List Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC)		Josep Andreu	Catalanism Social democracy	Senate		8[d]	N
	PSUC–PTC	List Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) Party of Labour of Catalonia (PTC)		Josep Benet	Communism Marxism-Leninism Republicanism	Senate		4[e]	N
	PSA–PA	List Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA)		Alejandro Rojas-Marcos	Andalusian nationalism Social democracy	New			N
	UPC	List United Canarian People (PCU) – Communist Party of the Canary Islands (provisional) (PCC(p)) – Communist Cells (CC) Party of Communist Unification in the Canaries (PUCC) Socialist Party of the Canary Islands (PSC)		Fernando Sagaseta	Canarian nationalism Socialism	New			N
	UPN	List Navarrese People's Union (UPN)		Jesús Aizpún	Navarrese regionalism Conservatism Christian democracy	New			N

Opinion poll sources

Other