Modern Spain

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Modern Spain begins after the death of Franco on 20 November 1975, and the taking over of Juan Carlos as King. This was the beggining of the constitutional monarchy that is now established in Spain. During this period, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 was written, several elections have taken place, and Spain's map of autonomous communities was configured.

Table of contents

1 Road to Elections (1975-1977) 2 The Spanish Constitution (1978) 3 The dissolution of UCD and the 23-F (1979-1982) 4 Spain under Felipe González (1982-1996) 5 Spain under Jose María Aznar (1996-2004) 6 Spain under Jose Luís Rodríguez Zapatero (2004- )

Road to Elections (1975-1977)

After Franco's death, three alternatives for the future of Spain were possible:

• Continuing the system: this was supported by the bunker, that was, the main political leaders of the regime, high-ranking military officers, and numerous oligarchs and falangists.
• Breaking and dissapearance of the system: this was supported by some sectors of the oposition which created the Junta Democrática. However, another sector supported a pact with the regime leaders for the breaking, because they feared the military, these integrated the Plataforma de Convergencia Demócratica.
• Reformation of the system: a minority of people, leaded by the King wanted the reformation of the system to a constitutional monarchy.

The King had opened posibilities for this reforms in his coronation speech. For the reformation to be possible, high-ranking personalities which supported continuity were to be displaced from power. The first action the King took was to name Fernández Torcuato Miranda, his old teacher, the president of the Cortes and of the Consejo del Reino, this helped him control the Cortes, and provided him with a crucial assistance to make the transition in a legal way. Torcuato Miranda was hated by the falangists, and was a staunch supporter of the reform. The new government included "reformists" like Manuel Fraga, who was the visible head of the government. However, he argued with the opposition (even imprisoning the leaders of the Platijunta, the now coalition of the Junta Demócratica and the Plataforma de Convergencia Democrática), which he wanted to keep out of the way, and wanted slow evolution into democracy, unlike the King. The King kept trying to convince Arias of the need to accelerate reforms, but he did quite the opposite to what the King requested. So the next step became getting rid of Carlos Arias Navarro, as he had become excessively pressurised by the bunker. The King could not dismiss him according to franquist laws. On an interview to Newsweek on the 26 April 1976, the King expressed his discontent with Arias, and soon after, in June 1976 Arias signed his resignation. In his place, Adolfo Suárez was named President of the Government on the 3 July 1976. Coming from franquist backgrounds, he was not well received by the opposition, by the bunker or by the reformist, so his government was formed with minor personalities, after Fraga declined to take part in it. Suárez supported the King's reform plans. During this time, a small amnesty was proclaimed to political prisioners. The next step was reforming the Cortes, and establishing the legal system for elections. Suárez's new government wrote the Political Reform Act, which called for the Cortes to become bicameral, consisting of a 350-member Congress, and a 201-member Senate. This was approved by the Cortes, signing their own demise, and later put on referendum, and approved by a huge majority (94% in favour). This Law forced the government to call general elections, but it had to legalize political parties first. They were legalized soon after, the sole limitation was that it had their political program had to be completely legal. On the 23 March 1977, the laws which regulated elections were published in the BOE. A wide amnesty was also proclaimed on the 17 March. This was a time of violence in the streets, the most significant event was the Atocha Massacre, where seven lawyers, belonging to Comisones Obreras (the syndicate of the Communist Party) were killed by extreme right-wingers. There was also left-wing violence by groups like ETA or new groups like GRAPO, a maoist group, or MPAIAC, [Canary Islands|canarian] independence group. The Communist Party of Spain was legalized on Holy Saturday (9 April), to prevent any military movement which could oppose it. This caused the resignation of the Minister of Navy, and the general moaning of the army. This was after Santiago Carrillo renounced republicanism and the three-colour flag. During this time, the King's father, Don Juan de Borbón renounced his rights to the throne in favour of Juan Carlos in la Zarzuela on the 14 May. After this, Rodriguéz Torcuato Miranda resigned, due to political differences with Adolfo Suárez. Torcuato Miranda wanted to create a similar system to the one in the USA, with a centre-left and a centre-right party alternating in the power. Elections took place on 15 July 1977, which gave the following results for the Congress of Deputies:

• UCD (Unión de Centro Democrático), Centre-right formation led by Suárez obtained 166 seats.
• PSOE (Worker's Socialist Party of Spain), Centre-left formation, a descendant of the Second Republic's PSOE, obtained 118 seats.
• PCE (Partido Comunista de España), Left wing formation, obtained 20 seats.
• AP (Alianza Popular) Right wing formation, formed by ex-franquists and lead by Fraga, which obtained 16 seats.
• PDC (Pacte Démocratic per Catalunya), centre-right Catalonian formation which obtained 11 seats.
• PNV (Partido Nacionalista Vasco) centre-right Basque formation which obtained 8 seats.
• Other parties, including left-wing Basque and Catalonian independentists, democristians, and extreme left-wing parties obtained 11 seats.

Main article: Spanish general election, 1977

The Spanish Constitution (1978)

Main article: Spanish Constitution of 1978

After the elections, it was necessary to write up a Constitution for the new Spain. The pre-constitutional project was written up a commission consisting of deputies of all main political groups except PNV. After several months of discussion, a consensus was reached between several parties, and the Constitution was sent to the Cortes for approval. After this, it was put on a referendum on 8 December 1978, and approved by 58% of the total census, a 8% negative vote and 33% abstention. It was signed by the King on the 12, and took effect from the 1 January 1979. The constitution granted the right for historical communities to form autonomous regions in Spain. The first regions to do this were the Basque Country and Catalonia, and soon after other regions joined, making up the modern map of Spain. This was widely criticised by the army and by right wing groups which thought the unity of Spain was compromised, and is still a source of arguments today.

The dissolution of UCD and the 23-F (1979-1982)

On November 1978, information services had alerted on a possible coup d'etat, whose objective was to form a "National Salvation" government and arrest Suárez, this was called Operación Galaxia. On March 1979 new elections were called, with the following results for the Congress of Deputies:

• UCD: 168 seats
• PSOE: 121 seats
• PCE: 23 seats
• CD: 9 seats
• CiU: 8 seats
• PNV: 7 seats
• Others: 14 seats

Main article: Spanish general election, 1979

CD was the new name for Fraga's Alianza Popular, and CiU was a coalition of conservative Catalonian parties. UCD was a conglomerate party with many factions, as it was built from the power by Adolfo Suárez. This conglomerate started showing divisions with the arguments about laws on divorce and especially in the autonomous statutes. The pressure from opposing factions and from the opposition wore down Adolfo Suárez until he resigned from the party and the Government. Suárez publicly announced his resignation in TVE, on the 25 June 1981 this was a surprise for most people, as it was a completely unexpected move from Suárez. The next UCD congress in February took place amongst great tension, and Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was voted candidate for the Presidency of the Government for UCD, and was to be invested President on the 23 February.

Main article: 23-F

The day of his investment, Antonio Tejero broke into the Congress, and held all deputies at gun point. The army's discontent was caused because of the autonomous statutes which they thought compromised Spain's unity. However, this coup d'etat failed because the King called for the military powers to obey legal civilian authority. The next morning, Tejero surrendered, and the democracy was saved. On June 1981 entry to NATO was approved in Congress, with the open opposition of left-wing groups. The Socialist Party PSOE, main opposition party promised a referendum on the NATO if it got into government. New elections were called, in which the UCD suffered a heavy loss, giving PSOE a huge majority in both the Senate and the Congress of Deputies. PSOE during this time also abandoned Marxist ideology, in favour of more moderate tendencies. The massive gain of CP, led by Manuel Fraga, was caused by the disappearance of UCD from the political spectrum.

Main article: Spanish general election, 1982

Results for Congress of Deputies:

• PSOE: 202 seats
• CP: 106 seats
• CiU: 12 seats
• UCD: 12 seats
• PNV: 8 seats
• PCE: 4 seats
• Others: 6 seats

The PSOE was the first party to rule over Spain with a mayority in the history of Spain's democracy, and the transition to democracy was said to complete here because a centre-left party took over the government from a centre-right party with no consequences.

Spain under Felipe González (1982-1996)

Spain under Jose María Aznar (1996-2004)

Spain under Jose Luís Rodríguez Zapatero (2004- )

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