Spanish Politics and Society
Hispanic & European Studies Program
Fall 2009
Raimundo Viejo Viñas
Office 20.182
www.raimundoviejo.info
raimundo.viejo@upf.edu
Institutions of Spanish
Democracy, 1
Parliamentarism in Spain
Parliamentarism in Spain
 Political systems can be presidential or
parliamentarian
 A presidential system is a form of government
where an executive branch exists separately
from the legislature.

It has fewer ideological parties than parliamentarian
systems
 A parlamentarian system is distinguished by
the executive branch of government being
dependent on the direct or indirect support of
the Parliament
Parliamentarism in Spain
 Spanish contemporary democracy is a parliamentarian
political system. The executive power (i.e. the King
and the Government) is not independent from the
Parliament.
 The King’s constitutional functions are subordinated to
the will of the Spanish nation represented in the
Parliament
 The Government and the Prime Minister depend on
the support of the Parliament

Every week there is a special session at the Parliament to
control the executive’s activity
Parliamentarism in Spain
 Democratic regimes can be classified in two
different ideal types: majoritarian and
“consociative” (Lijphardt)
 Majoritarian or “Westminster” democracy is
based on a “winner take all” principle
 “Consociative” or consensus democracy is
animated by a solid spirit of consensus
 Spain can be situated in the middle of a
majoritarian-consociative continuum. Spain’s
democracy is defined as “the less majoritarian of
the majoritarian regimes”
Parliamentarism in Spain
 The distribution of power in the legislature
depends on the type of democracy:
 Majoritarian democracies tend to a one
single chamber Parliament
 There are some exceptions, like the British
Parliament (the House of Lords is not a powerful
chamber)
 Consociational democracies tend to a
bicameral legislature
Parliamentarism in Spain
 With a few exceptions, the second chamber
of bicameral parliaments is subordinated to
the first.
 The second chamber usually represents the
territorial and/or cultural diversity of a
country.
 In fact, bicameral parliaments are the most
common institutional form of the legislative
power in multinational societies.
Parliamentarism in Spain
 The Spanish parliament (Las Cortes
Generales or Las Cortes) is a bicameral one
 The first chamber is called Congreso, but it is
popularly known as the Parlamento (which is
incorrect from a scientific point of view). It
has 350 seats.
 The second chamber is called Senado. It has
264 seats and it is a very controversial
chamber.
Parliamentarism in Spain
 The major political parties are represented in the
Congreso de los Diputados. Elections take place
(under ordinary conditions) once every four years
 Political parties that obtain more than five seats in
elections can form their own parliamentarian group.
All other parties form a single parliamentarian group
called grupo mixto.
 Parliamentary groups: PSOE, PP, CiU, PNV, and
ERC/IU/ICV (plus the grupo mixto).
 The comisiones parlamentarias organize the
specialized work of the members of the Congreso
Parliamentarism in Spain
 During the dictatorship, Franco awarded some
old politicians with a seat in the Senado.
 During the transition to democracy, members
of the Senado (senadores) become elected
representatives. The senadores are voted
through open lists (one voter can chose
candidates of different political parties)
 At the present, the Senado is being reformed
in order to better represent the territories (the
so-called Comunidades Autónomas)