Spanish Constitution of 1978

This article is part of the series Politics of Spain

The Crown - Head of State

Cortes Generales - Legislative branch    Congress of Deputies    Senate    Government - Executive branch    President of the Government    Council of Ministers    Judicial system - Judicial branch    General Council of the Judicial Power    Constitutional Court    Supreme Court    Constitution    1977 Political Reform Act    1978 Constitution    Amendments Autonomous communities Madrid (capital city)

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 is the culmination of the constitution of Spain for the constitutional history of Spain, dating back to the constitution of 1812.

As part of the Spanish transition to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, a general election took place in 1977 to convene the Cortes Generales (Parliament) for the purpose of drafting and approving a constitution (this is called Cortes Constituyentes).

A seven-member panel was selected among the elected members of the Cortes to work on a draft of the Constitution to be submitted to the Cortes. These so-called Fathers of the Constitution were Gabriel Cisneros, José Pedro Pérez-Llorca, Miguel Herrero de Miñon, Miquel Roca, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, Gregorio Peces-Barba and Jordi Solé Tura.

The Constitution was approved by the Cortes on October 31, 1978, and by the Spanish people in a referendum on December 6, 1978, before being promulgated by King Juan Carlos on December 27. December 6 has since been a national holiday in Spain.

Constitutional reforms

The constitution has been reformed once to extend to citizens of the European Union the right to active and passive suffrage (both voting rights and eligibility as candidates) in local elections.

The socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has announced its intention to undertake a major reform of the constitution during its tenure. The proposed modifications would include

1. succession in the monarchy on the basis of age only, and not gender
2. an overhaul of the Senate transforming it into a chamber of territorial representation
3. officially incorporating the European Constitution
4. modifying the organization of the autonomous communities

The proposal has been met with scepticism from some quarters (notably the main opposition party PP) because some of these reforms affect protected sections of the constitution, undertaking their reform would require an entirely new constitution (see below). Furthermore, even an amendment of a non-protected part of the Constitution would require PP agreement, because it would require the support of 3/5 of each House: that's 210 votes in the Congress of Deputies and 156 in the Senate, while the maximum majority without the PP is 202 votes in the Congress of Deputies and 133 in the Senate.

Discussion

The Constitution itself determines in Title X that a new constitution must be written, should there be the need to reform the Preliminary Title; Title I, Section I, Chapter II; or Title II. These "special" sections indicate what the drafters of the constitution considered fundamental about the regime they were establishing: that the "fundamental rights and public liberties" cannot be changed without regime change; and that Spain is a constitutional monarchy. From a logical point of view, since Title X is does not protect itself, it would be possible to first reform Title X and then change the previously protected articles.

Preamble

Writing the preamble of the constitution was considered an honour, and a task requiring great literary ability. The person chosen for this purpose was Wikisource

• • at Wikisource