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All 276 seats of theCortes of Cádiz 138 seats needed for a majority | |
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General elections to the specialCortes of Cádiz were held inSpain in 1810. At stake were all 276 seats in the Cortes of Cádiz – which served as a parliamentary Regency afterFerdinand VII was deposed byNapoleon.
During the first years of theSpanish War of Independence (1808-1814) the popular revolts of the Spanish people were accompanied by the creation of provincial and local defense"Juntas". Those juntas assumednational sovereignty, forming their own local and regional governing bodies. These juntas aimed to defend against theFrench invasion and fill the power vacuum, refusing to recognizeJosé I Bonaparte as their legitimateking. The juntas were mainly composed of military personnel, representatives of the high clergy, officials and professors. In September 1808 the local and provincial juntas ceded their power to theSupreme Central Government Junta of the Kingdom, which led the war against the French and was recognized as the legitimate government ofSpain by theUnited Kingdom and other anti-Napoleonic countries. The Supreme Junta summoned an extraordinary meeting of the Cortes of Cádiz, a revolutionary act, since the right to call for a meeting of the Cortes was exclusive to the crown.
After an intense debate in theSupreme Junta it was decided that the Cortes of Cádiz would be unicameral, elected bycensus suffrage (only those with a certain level of income could vote) and indirect. The Cortes met for the first time in the last major Spanish foothold during thePeninsular War,Cádiz, on theIsla de León, on September 24, 1810.[2]
Amajority voting system was used for the election, with 32 multi-member constituencies and 2 single-member constituencies.Spanish America had 29 representatives.[3]
All male citizens above 25 years old could vote or be voted.[4]
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