1979 Spanish general election

1979 Spanish general election

← 1977 1 March 1979 1982 →
All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and all 208 seats in the Senate 176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Opinion polls
Registered	26,836,490 13.8%
Turnout	18,259,192 (68.0%) 10.8 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Adolfo Suárez Felipe González Santiago Carrillo Party UCD PSOE PCE Leader since 3 May 1977 13 October 1974 3 July 1960 Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid Last election 165 seats, 34.4% 124 seats, 33.8%[a] 20 seats, 9.3% Seats won 168 121 23 Seat change 3 3 3 Popular vote 6,268,593 5,469,813 1,938,487 Percentage 34.8% 30.4% 10.8% Swing 0.4 pp 3.4 pp 1.5 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Manuel Fraga Jordi Pujol Xabier Arzalluz Party CD CiU EAJ/PNV Leader since 9 October 1976 17 November 1974 1977 Leader's seat Madrid Barcelona Guipúzcoa Last election 16 seats, 8.4%[b] 13 seats, 3.8%[c] 8 seats, 1.6% Seats won 9 8 7 Seat change 7 5 1 Popular vote 1,094,438 483,353 296,597 Percentage 6.1% 2.7% 1.6% Swing 2.3 pp 1.1 pp 0.0 pp
Election results by Congress of Deputies constituency Winner strength by constituency Winner strength by autonomous community
Prime Minister before election Adolfo Suárez UCD Prime Minister after election Adolfo Suárez UCD

The 1979 Spanish general election was held on Thursday, 1 March 1979, to elect the 1st Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as all 208 seats in the Senate.

This was the first election held under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) remained the largest party, winning 168 of the 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 119 of the 208 seats in the Senate. As a result, Adolfo Suárez went on to form a minority government, depending on support from Manuel Fraga's Democratic Coalition, which experienced an electoral decline.
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