Spain’s Laboratory of Democracy
From Franco’s Ashes to a Full Democracy in Mere Decades, But What’s Next?
Welcome to another essay from Civic Way’s series on global democracies. This essay was written by Bob Melville. Bob is the founder of Civic Way, a nonprofit dedicated to good government, and a management consultant with over 45 years of experience.
Civic Way’s Comparative Democracy Series
Democracies come in many forms. Some have strong central governments, some have federated structures. Some an independently elected executive and some a parliament. Some forms have cultural or historical origins, but nearly all nations consecrate their democracies in a constitution.
Regardless of their form, democracies face similar challenges. To meet these challenges, many nations refine their constitutions, laws and cultural norms, or reinvent them for modern times. Learning about these changes, and the risks they were meant to abate, can yield promising ideas for preserving and improving our own democracy. This essay focuses on Spain and the lessons its democracy may offer.
An Introduction to Spain
In 2023, Spain’s estimated population is 48 million of which 88 percent are native Spaniards. About 61 percent of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics. Spain’s official language is Spanish, but other languages may be officially recognized in certain areas. Spain, which borders France, Portugal, the Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, also is Europe's fourth largest country.
Spain has long been in the family of developed nations. It has the European Union’s fourth largest economy[i]. It has impressive tourism and automotive sectors, great highways, an extensive high-speed rail network and a highly regarded national health system[ii]. It is a solar and wind power leader. Its challenges involve its informal economy, youth unemployment and public education system.
For decades, Spain languished under the autocratic, Catholic nationalist regime of General Francisco Franco. After Franco's 1975 death—and under the leadership of King Juan Carlos—Spain became a democracy. In a 1978 national referendum, 88 percent of voters approved a new constitution. The road to democracy was briefly blocked in 1981 by a coup attempt, but democracy prevailed. Since then, Spain has broken free of Franco’s diplomatic isolation, reentered the European Community, joined NATO and become an important member of the Western alliance.
Spain’s Government
The 1978 constitution established Spain as a parliamentary monarchy, with a hereditary monarch and a national government with three distinct branches:
Executive branch – the monarch is the head of state, but the Prime Minister is the head (President) of government presiding over the Council of Ministers. The Monarch formally appoints the Prime Minister subject to a vote of the Parliament’s lower house.
Legislative branch (Cortes Generales) – The Parliament is bicameral with a lower house (Congress of Deputies) and upper house (Senate)[iii]. The Congress of Deputies has 350 members elected from multimember constituencies[iv]. The Senate has 266 seats of which 208 are directly elected by popular vote and 58 are chosen by regional legislatures. All Parliament members serve four-year terms.
Judicial branch – The Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) is the highest judicial body. The National Court (Audiencia Nacional) is a centralized appellate court with national jurisdiction. The judicial district, the first judicial tier, has municipal jurisdiction. The Constitutional Court is an independent entity empowered to interpret the constitutionality of government laws and actions.
Spain, along with Germany and Switzerland, is one of Europe’s most decentralized countries. Under its 1978 constitution, Spain delegated significant self-governance powers to its autonomous communities. These are typically clusters of adjacent provinces with shared historical, cultural and economic traits (e.g., Andalusia, Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia).
There are 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities. Their autonomy varies, but all have their own governments (including elected unicameral parliaments) and resources[v]. Autonomous communities are divided into provinces, and provinces are divided into municipalities. In addition to 51 provinces, there are 8,131 municipalities ranging from 3.3 million residents (Madrid) to less than ten.
Spain’s Democracy
For 2022, the Economist’s Intelligence Unit labeled Spain a full democracy with a Democracy Index score of 8.07 and a global ranking of 22nd (tied with France but higher than the US). Spain’s score has slipped somewhat since 2016 (8.30), but slight improvements in 2021 and 2022 enabled the EIU to upgrade Spain from a flawed to a fulldemocracy. The Freedom House, in its 2023 Freedom in the World Report, classified Spain as Free with a score of 90 (of 100).
Other noteworthy aspects of Spain’s democracy include the following:
Voting – Voters mark paper ballots received from the government or a political party (using a government-approved form) and place them inside sealed envelopes and ballot boxes in polling stations. After the polls close, ballots are counted and destroyed making full recounts impossible.
Elections – Spain conducts general (legislative), regional and local elections. Unless early elections are called, the general and regional elections usually occur every four years. Local council (and European Parliament) elections have fixed schedules.
Campaign financing – The government funds most party costs and, in recent years, has fortified campaign financing rules (e.g., increase transparency, restrict party access to commercial bank loans and prohibit banks from forgiving political party debt).
Executive branch – The monarch nominates a prime minister candidate (usually the leader of the party or coalition controlling the lower house majority) subject to parliamentary approval.
Legislative branch – All 350 Congress of Deputies members are elected by popular vote from multimember constituencies. In the Senate[vi], 208 members are directly elected by popular vote using an open list partial block voting method (electors vote for individual candidates not parties[vii]).
Legislative representation – Congress of Deputies members[viii] are elected using closed proportional representation block lists (a party-list proportional representation or d'Hondt method[ix]) and the Senate is elected with a plurality system.
Judicial branch – There are three classes of jurists—judge, magistrate and Supreme Court magistrate. All must meet rigid criteria (e.g., hold law degree, pass state exam, attend judiciary school and refrain from political and trade union activities).
Judicial administration – The General Council of the Judiciary, an independent constitutional body with 20 members, oversees the courts and appoints, assigns and promotes judges. Of the 20 members, 12 must be magistrates (six chosen from 36 nominees by 3/5 vote of each house). The other eight members are chosen by Parliament (four members by 3/5 vote of each house)[x].
Term limits – There are no term or age limits.
Removal process – The Prime Minister may be removed from office by the Congress of Deputies through a no-confidence vote.
For many years, Spain had a two-party system dominated by the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and center-right People's Party (PP). Recently, with the ascent of the right-wing Vox (VOX) and left-wing Sumar (SMR) parties, the system has become more pluralistic. Regional parties, which do well in autonomous communities like Catalonia (e.g., Republican Left of Catalonia) and the Basque Country (Basque Country Unite), have become pivotal to national coalitions.
The Junta Electoral Central (JEC) monitors and supervises all elections, including general, autonomous, provincial and local elections. The JEC is a permanent national body comprising eight Supreme Court judges and five academicians appointed by the Congress of Deputies. The Interior Ministry provides staff support. On election day, polling stations are run by electoral boards comprising ordinary citizens often selected by lottery.
There are other guardrails for fostering public accountability. There are conflict-of-interest laws and asset-disclosure rules for public officials. There are tough corruption penalties. While it can be slow, the judicial system investigates and prosecutes corruption cases. The 2014 Transparency Act facilitates government records access, but the Council of Transparency and Good Governance (CTBG) is hampered by cumbersome processes and poor training. The CTBG’s president is appointed by the Prime Minister.
Spain’s Recent Political Landscape
Since 2018, no one party has dominated Spain’s parliamentary system. That year, the Congress of Deputies passed a no-confidence motion and dismissed the incumbent Prime Minister (and PP leader). The Congress chose PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez as Prime Minister and Sánchez’s center-left PSOE took power. in 2019, Sánchez’s center-left minority government, after failing to pass a budget bill, scheduled snap elections. After repeated elections, PSOE won a plurality of seats, but no majority[xi].
In late 2019, PSOE formed a coalition government with the left-wing Unidas Podemos alliance [xii] and secured the abstentions of 20 Basque and Catalan nationalist legislators. In 2021, separatist parties won the regional elections in Catalonia and the PP won the regional elections in Madrid. In early 2023, the left-wing bloc lost several regional and local elections. Shortly after the regional and local electoral setbacks, Prime Minister Sánchez called a snap general election.
In the closest general election since 1996, the PP won the most votes and seats. However, it fell short of expectations and a majority. The PSOE placed second but overperformed, not only beating the polls but achieving its best results in several cycles. In contrast, both Vox and Sumar lost ground. Last week, after the PP failed to form a government, King Felipe VI ordered caretaker Prime Minister Sánchez to form a government. Unless Sánchez and the PSOE can cobble together enough votes to forge another governing coalition, Spain will have to hold new elections in January 2024.
Possible Lessons for the US
Spain’s democracy has several characteristics that should be analyzed further, such as:
Voting – Despite the use of paper ballots and the unavailability of full recounts, the general elections are widely deemed free, fair and legitimate.
Legislative representation – Spain’s use of proportional representation party lists makes its Parliament more representative than in many other counties. In addition, Spain has the highest ratio of women in parliament in Europe.
Judicial branch – Spain’s merit-based approach to selecting judges, while subject to some political influence, may contribute to more impartial judicial decision-making.
Judicial administration – Employing an independent body (the General Council of the Judiciary) to oversee the courts is a promising idea, but political tensions have forced the Council to operate on in interim basis since late 2018.
Removal process – The no-confidence vote mechanism makes the Prime Minister more accountable to the Congress of Deputies (and indirectly to the voters).
Political scandals, economic ills and regional tensions continue to hound Spain and its political parties. The constitutional relief valve for autonomous communities has probably helped Spanish leaders restrain regional tensions. However, the Catalan and Basque separatist movements—and the accompanying political disruptions—will not fade away any time soon. In the meantime, Spain’s political system may not produce the stable governing majority it needs to address big challenges.