Conservative Party (Spain)

The Conservative Party (Partido Conservador) was a Spanish political party founded in 1876 by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo. Its other names include Partido Canovista, Partido Silvelista, Partido Maurista and Partido Dadista. In English, it is sometimes referred to as the Liberal-Conservative Party.

History

Foundation

The Conservative tag was for the type of ideas which, when thinking of questions of state, then dominated in Spain. The political formation of Spain by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo at the request of Alfonso XII of Spain, who assumed the crown after the failure of the First Spanish Republic. The Conservative Party brought together a varied group of people, from the supporters of Isabel II of Spain prior to the Republic to the members of other groups he had formed. Its existence was linked to Cánovas himself and on his death in 1897 it was kept going by Francisco Silvela.

In 1885 the party signed the Pact of El Pardo with the Liberal Party of Sagasta, in which the parties agreed to alternate (turno) in power after the death of Alfonso XII of Spain. The pact was guaranteed by the caciquiles networks right across Spain in both parties and was intended to keep out of power radical socialist, anarchist or republican parties that wished to destroy the monarchy.

Party leaders

• 1876–97 Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
• 1897–1905 Francisco Silvela
• 1905–13 Antonio Maura
• 1913–21 Eduardo Dato e Iradier
• 1921–23 Vacant
• 1923–30 Vacant (dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera);
• 1930–31 Juan de la Cierva y Peñafiel

See also

• Liberal Party (Spanish Restoration)