A general election was held in Spain on 6 June 1993 to elect the members of the 5th under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 256 seats in the Senate.
The outcome of the 1989 election—amid accusations of irregularities and a re-run in Melilla—had seen the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) under Prime Minister Felipe González forming a de facto majority government, thanks to Herri Batasuna's policy of abstentionism. His third term saw Spain's participation in the Gulf War, the completion of major infrastructure works such as the Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line, the hosting of events such as the Seville Expo '92 and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and the signing of the Maastricht Treaty (which led to the adoption of an austerity agenda to meet the euro convergence criteria). This period also saw the unveiling of scandals affecting the ruling PSOE: the Juan Guerra affair (which led to Alfonso Guerra's resignation as deputy prime minister), the Ibercorp affair (involving suspicions of misconduct by the Bank of Spain), and a judicial probe on the alleged illegal funding of PSOE campaigns (the Filesa affair). The outset of the early 1990s recession and the 1992 European Monetary System crisis, and their impact on the Spanish economy—amid rising inflation and unemployment—forced the government to devalue the peseta three times. The mounting crises and political tensions prompted González to call a snap election for June 1993.
Opinion polling predictions of a very close result and economic uncertainty polarized the campaign and fueled a large voter turnout of 76.4%, the highest since 1982. González's PSOE overperformed expectations and emerged as the largest party for a fourth consecutive time, gaining one million votes from 1989, though it lost the overall majority it had held after one decade in power. In contrast, the People's Party (PP) under José María Aznar benefitted from the collapse of the Democratic and Social Centre, making significant inroads by increasing its support to almost 35% of the vote with three million more votes, but it slightly underperformed expectations (which hinted at the PP securing the most seats); this was attributed to González being perceived as decisively defeating Aznar in the second of two head-to-head leaders' debates. United Left (IU) remained stagnant, with party leader Julio Anguita having suffered a stroke that prevented him from campaigning. In his victory speech, an emotional González proclaimed having "understood the message" and the citizens' desire for "change upon change".
For the first time since 1979, the election brought in a hung parliament, but parliamentary arithmetics meant that the PSOE remained the only party able to form a government. His animosity with IU's Anguita forced González to seek the support from peripheral nationalist groups—such as Convergence and Union (CiU) and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)—in order to renew his tenure, in exchange for concessions on regional autonomy. His fourth government was a minority one, in spite of coalition offerings made to CiU and PNV being rejected.
Background The 175-seat victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the 1989 general election (exactly half of Congress), together with Herri Batasuna's policy of abstentionism, allowed Felipe González to form a de facto majority government in Spain. Reports of election irregularities over the electoral roll in a number of constituencies saw a re-run in Melilla and only 332 lawmakers being sworn-in by the time of González's investiture as prime minister of Spain, prompting him to submit (and win) a confidence motion in April 1990.
On the international stage, Spain participated in the multinational military coalition formed in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait leading to the Gulf War (which saw an increase in conscientious objectors to compulsory military service in Spain), and in the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, which established the European Union (EU) and provided a roadmap towards a common currency. Domestically, González's third government oversaw the liberalization of the television market (seeing the first private TV channels in Spain—Antena 3, Telecinco and Canal+—challenge RTVE's monopoly on television broadcasting), and a tax harmonization with the European Communities (seeing reforms in VAT and excise taxes such as alcohol, tobacco or fuel). Reforms were enacted in 1991 to improve the procedures for election petition and electoral roll updating. The establishment of a "European citizenship" by Maastricht required a constitutional reform (the first since the approval of the 1978 Constitution) to introduce active and passive suffrage in local elections for nationals of EU member states. These years also saw the country hosting events such as the Madrid Conference of 1991, the Seville Expo '92 (celebrating the Columbus Quincentenary), Madrid's European Capital of Culture designation and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona (which served as a demonstration of Spain's soft power), as well as the completion of major infrastructure works such as the Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line and the establishment of the first AVE service.
The ETA group intensified its attacks in the run up to the Barcelona Olympics to gain wider attention, seeing the 1990 Sabadell bombing, the 1991 bombings in Mutxamel and Vic (the latter killing 5 children), and the 1992 Madrid bombing, as well as a number of attacks in the Netherlands. A major Franco–Spanish police operation in March 1992 resulted in the arrest of the ETA leadership at the time in the French commune of Bidart. The 1992 Citizen Security Protection Law, aimed both at repealing outdated public security legislation (in force since Franco's dictatorship) and helping the fight against drug-related crimes (which in June 1990 had already seen major action against the Galician mafia), was criticized due to it empowering law enforcement forces to enter a home without the need for a warrant. These provisions (which earned the bill the "Kick in the Door Law" nickname) would be eventually struck by the Spanish Constitutional Court in November 1993, prompting the resignation of the interior minister and the law's promoter, José Luis Corcuera.
Divisions formed within the PSOE over strategy after one decade in power. The party's apparatus under deputy leader Alfonso Guerra (referred to as guerristas) reasserted its control in the 1990 congress (which also formalized the party's separation from the Workers' General Union), but a schism arose with those advocating for the government's political autonomy and greater openness (influenced by González). The rift between the two leaders and the Juan Guerra affair (involving Guerra's brother in a nepotism, influence peddling and tax evasion scandal) prompted Guerra's resignation as deputy prime minister in January 1991. Opposition to the Socialist government coalesced around the People's Party (PP) and its new party leader, José María Aznar. The 1991 local and regional elections saw the PSOE losing important local councils to PP-supported coalitions, such as Valencia and Seville, as well as the collapse of the Democratic and Social Centre and the farewell of its leader, Adolfo Suárez, from active politics.
During this period, a string of political scandals undermined the government's public image. The Juan Guerra affair was joined in May 1991 by the unveiling of the Filesa affair (the illegal funding of PSOE campaigns in the 1980s, using money funnelled through various party-linked companies in exchange for fictitious consultancy works). Julián García Valverde was forced to resign as health minister in January 1992 after it was revealed that RENFE—the state-owned company operating the national Iberian-gauge railway network, which he had presided between 1985 and 1991—had purchased overpriced lands hinting at a possible embezzlement. The Ibercorp affair in February 1992 saw the governor of the Bank of Spain, Mariano Rubio, accused of owning stock shares in the Ibercorp investment bank and concealing these from the National Securities Market Commission; while Rubio denied all accusations, he was not renewed for a new term in the post. November that year saw the uncovering of an illegal kickback-for-contract scheme involving the overpriced purchase of newsprint for the Official State Gazette (BOE), in what would become known as the BOE affair.
From 1992 onwards—amid González's efforts to meet the euro convergence criteria, which earned him a general strike in 1992 over cuts to unemployment benefits and a proposed Law on Strikes—the Spanish economy was severely affected by the early 1990s worldwide recession, the high debt incurred by public administrations and companies over the investments in events and public works (which had temporarily helped Spain weather the crisis's impact), and rising inflation stemming from the 1992 European Monetary System crisis (aggravated by the outcome of the 1992 Danish Maastricht Treaty referendum and the Bundesbank's raise of German interest rates in response to excess expenditure on German reunification). The currency crisis and the economic slowdown strained the Bank of Spain's reserves and led to a sharp increase in the unemployment rate, worsening economic forecasts, and the country entering recession in Q4 1992. This forced the government to devalue the peseta three times in nine months (on 17 September and 21 November 1992, and 13 May 1993; the latter becoming known as "Black Thursday"), approve broad budget cuts, and freeze civil servants' wages for 1993 (partially reversed in January that year).
The last months of the legislative term were dominated by an increasingly hostile opposition from the PP (fueled by improving ratings and the government's growing unpopularity in opinion polls), mounting revelations in the ongoing scandals affecting the ruling party, and the continuation of internal problems within the PSOE (with a growing confrontation between González and the guerrista faction and doubts about the prime minister's willingness to stand for re-election). Polling predictions of a hung parliament also increased the role of regionalist and peripheral nationalist parties as prospective kingmakers (particularly Convergence and Union and the Basque Nationalist Party), with the PP trying a rapprochement with these to overcome the party's perceived difficulty in securing an outright majority. González ultimately chose to run for a fourth term and to advance the election to June 1993, in an effort to prevent further erosion to his party.
Overview Under the 1978 Constitution, the Spanish were conceived as an imperfect bicameral system.. summarizing . The Congress of Deputies held greater legislative power than the Senate, having the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a prime minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority.. Nonetheless, the Senate retained a limited number of specific functions—such as ratifying international treaties, authorizing cooperation agreements between autonomous communities, enforcing direct rule, regulating interterritorial compensation funds, and taking part in constitutional amendments and in the appointment of members to the Constitutional Court and the General Council of the Judiciary—which were not subject to override by Congress..
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