1898 Spanish general election

1898 Spanish general election

← 1896 27 March 1898 (Congress) 10 April 1898 (Senate) 1899 →
All 447 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 180 (of 360) seats in the Senate 224 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
First party Second party Third party   Leader Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Francisco Silvela Nicolás Salmerón Party Liberal Conservative (Silvelist) Republican Leader since 1880 1892 1898 Leader's seat Logroño Piedrahíta Gracia Last election 111 (C) · 43 (S) 12 (C) · 2 (S) 4 (C) · 3 (S) Seats won 324 (C) · 122 (S) 79 (C) · 36 (S) 15 (C) · 1 (S) Seat change 213 (C) · 79 (S) 65 (C) · 34 (S) 11 (C) · 2 (S)   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Carlos O'Donnell Francisco Romero Robledo Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa Party Tetuanist Liberal Reformist Carlist Leader since 1898 1898 1891 Leader's seat Senator (for life) Antequera — Last election 307 (C) · 118 (S)[a] Did not contest 10 (C) · 2 (S) Seats won 7 (C) · 7 (S) 6 (C) · 1 (S) 6 (C) · 0 (S) Seat change 300 (C) · 111 (S) 6 (C) · 1 (S) 4 (C) · 2 (S)
Election results by Congress of Deputies electoral constituency and district
Prime Minister before election Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Liberal Prime Minister after election Práxedes Mateo Sagasta Liberal

The 1898 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 27 March (for the Congress of Deputies) and on Sunday, 10 April 1898 (for the Senate), to elect the 8th Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain in the Restoration period. All 445 seats in the Congress of Deputies (plus two special districts) were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

The election was called amid a period of political unstability following the assassination of previous prime minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo on 8 August 1897 by Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo and the brief premiership of Marcelo Azcárraga. Respecting the turno system, Queen Regent Maria Christina appointed a new government under Liberal leader Práxedes Mateo Sagasta on 4 October 1897, tasking them with the formation of a new majority. In the wake of Cánovas's death, the Conservative Party was left in disarray, split between Francisco Silvela's Conservative Union, a faction led by Duke of Tetuán Carlos O'Donnell and Francisco Romero Robledo's re-established Liberal Reformist Party. The result of the election was a Liberal majority in both chambers.

This would be the last Spanish general election to be held in Cuba and Puerto Rico, as the Spanish–American War, which would start only a few weeks after the election, would lead to the loss of all Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
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