Spain, 1936-1939

7. The General Elections of 1940.
7. The General Elections of 1940.

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"... While Manuel Azaña was President of the Spanish Republic, the fate of the Right parties and of the Spanish Church remained insecure. The reforms of the economy and the undisguished support of the state to the social-democratic parties were the trademark of the Azaña period. It was the institutionalized way for Azaña and his supporters to control presidential succession. Azaña's allies secured revenue and organizational strength by requiring members of constituent organizations be dues-paying members of the party. Eventually, this block became an institution and only was a coalition during elections. Furthermore, the General Elections of 1940 were marred by violence and fraud.

According to the official results, the 1940 presidential elections were won by Santiago Casares Quiroga, who received 91.3% of the vote. The opposition candidate, Dimas de Madariaga, who had just been released from prison to be the figure head of the disaster of the Right coalition, refused to recognize the official results, claiming that a massive electoral fraud had taken place and then tried to leave the country, but was arrested and jailed again. Released a few weeks later, he moved to France.

Many modern analysts claim that the 1940 elections were indeed rigged and a few of them argue that Dimas de Madariaga had won them. Now without Azaña, the new Frente Popular was to perpetuate itself in power by continued resorting to electoral fraud".

taken from "Memory, Myth, and History of the Spanish Revolution", by Paul Preston
 
Well seem that 'meet the new boss almost the same of the old' it's too apply to the Spanish Republic.
From 1936 to 1940 it's a great jump but how the rest of the world developed without a such big event like the Spanish civil war, one of the most famous 'cause celebre' of the 20th century?
 
Many modern analysts claim that the 1940 elections were indeed rigged and a few of them argue that Dimas de Madariaga had won them. Now without Azaña, the new Frente Popular was to perpetuate itself in power by continued resorting to electoral fraud".
This is going to cause problems further ahead. That was a lesson they should have learned from the failure of the Portuguese 1st Republic.
I'm sorry, readers, but this thread is, for a while, on hold. I have not the slightest desire to write about Spain for a long while.
Hope you can return to the story when you feel ready, Kurt.
 
Wasn't the president elected by the deputies instead of direct popular vote then?
Yes, it was elected by a mixed commision of diputies and commisioners that were selected by popular votation to fulfill that purpose (art 68 of the 1931 Carta Magna). If I return to this, I'll explain how and why that was changed.
 
Many modern analysts claim that the 1940 elections were indeed rigged and a few of them argue that Dimas de Madariaga had won them. Now without Azaña, the new Frente Popular was to perpetuate itself in power by continued resorting to electoral fraud".
This makes md wonder how this world's modern politics look like.
 
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