1977 Spanish general election

1977 Spanish general election

← 1971 15 June 1977 1979 →
All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 207 (of 248) seats in the Senate 176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Opinion polls
Registered	23,583,762
Turnout	18,590,130 (78.8%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Adolfo Suárez Felipe González Santiago Carrillo Party UCD PSOE PCE Leader since 3 May 1977 13 October 1974 3 July 1960 Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid Seats won 165 118 20 Popular vote 6,310,391 5,371,866 1,709,890 Percentage 34.4% 29.3% 9.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Manuel Fraga Jordi Pujol Xabier Arzalluz Party AP PDC EAJ/PNV Leader since 9 October 1976 17 November 1974 1977 Leader's seat Madrid Barcelona Guipúzcoa Seats won 16 11 8 Popular vote 1,526,671 514,647 296,193 Percentage 8.3% 2.8% 1.6%
Election results by Congress of Deputies constituency
Prime Minister before election Adolfo Suárez UCD Prime Minister after election Adolfo Suárez UCD

The 1977 Spanish general election was held on Wednesday, 15 June 1977, to elect the Spanish Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as all 207 seats in the Senate.

It was the first free election held in Spain since 1936, prior to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. It was called by Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez as part of the political reform of the Francoist regime, ongoing since shortly after Francisco Franco's death in 1975 and promoted by his successor, King Juan Carlos I. Its aim was to elect a Constituent Cortes that was to draft a new constitution, which would ultimately lead to the repealing of the Fundamental Laws of the Realm and the culmination of the country's transition to democracy.

The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), the electoral coalition created to serve as Suárez's political platform in government, emerged as the largest party overall, albeit 11 seats short of an absolute majority. The election surprise was the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) of Felipe González, which—supported by the German SPD and running a campaign intended to highlight González's youth and charisma—won 118 seats and became the main left-of-centre party by a wide margin. The Communist Party of Spain (PCE), which had been the main opposition force to the dictatorship, and the right-wing People's Alliance (AP) of former Francoist minister Manuel Fraga, performed below expectations. Turnout was high at 78.8%, the second highest for any nationwide election held ever since.^[1][2]