1982 Spanish general election in the context of Francisco Fernández Ordóñez

⭐ Core Definition: 1982 Spanish general election

A general election was held in Spain on Thursday, 28 October 1982, to elect the members of the 2nd Cortes Generales under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 254 seats in the Senate.

The election was called several months ahead of schedule by then Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, amid poor polling ratings and severe infighting within the ruling Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) party, which had seen the splits of former prime minister Adolfo Suárez's Democratic and Social Centre (CDS), Óscar Alzaga's People's Democratic Party (PDP), and the Democratic Action Party (PAD) of former justice minister Francisco Fernández Ordóñez. Government instability, the effects of an economic downturn resulting from the 1979 oil crisis and spiralling violence from terrorist attacks had characterized the legislative term. Suárez himself had resigned as prime minister in January 1981, two coup attempts were thwarted—one during Calvo-Sotelo's investiture on 23 February 1981, and another one on election eve—and the administrative set up of the so-called "state of autonomies" saw the UCD becoming increasingly isolated, particularly following its failure in opposing Andalusia's bid to attain autonomy through the "fast-track" route envisaged in the Constitution. A toxic oil syndrome outbreak in 1981, whose origin was traced to the illegal marketing of contaminated rapeseed oil, further undermined the UCD's position. Calvo-Sotelo himself had chosen not to seek re-election, being replaced as party nominee by the president of the Congress of Deputies, Landelino Lavilla.

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1982 Spanish general election in the context of Spanish transition to democracy

The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as la Transición (IPA: [la tɾansiˈθjon]; 'the Transition') or la Transición española ('the Spanish Transition'), was a period of modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system, in the form of constitutional monarchy under Juan Carlos I.

The democratic transition began two days after the death of Francisco Franco, in November 1975. Initially, "the political elites left over from Francoism" attempted "reform of the institutions of dictatorship" through existing legal means, but social and political pressure saw the formation of a democratic parliament in the 1977 general election, which had the imprimatur to write a new constitution that was then approved by referendum in December 1978. The following years saw the beginning of the development of the rule of law and establishment of regional government, amidst ongoing terrorism, an attempted coup d'état and global economic problems. The Transition is said to have concluded after the landslide victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the 1982 general election and the first peaceful transfer of executive power.

View the full Wikipedia page for Spanish transition to democracy

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