A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 10 September (for the Congress of Deputies) and on Sunday, 24 September 1905 (for the Senate), to elect the members of the 12th Cortes under the Spanish Constitution of 1876, during the Restoration period. All 404 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 180 of 360 seats in the Senate.

The informal turno system had allowed the country's two main parties—the Conservatives and the Liberals—to alternate in power by determining in advance the outcome of elections through electoral fraud, often facilitated by the territorial clientelistic networks of local bosses (the caciques). The absence of politically authoritative figureheads since the deaths of Cánovas and Sagasta, together with the national trauma from the Spanish–American War, weakened the internal unity of both parties and allowed faction leaders and local caciques to strengthen their positions as power brokers. Sagasta's death plunged the Liberal Party into turmoil, with an inconclusive leadership contest between Eugenio Montero Ríos and Segismundo Moret seeing the former temporarily splitting (together with supporters of José Canalejas and José López Domínguez) into the Liberal Democratic Party.

Francisco Silvela's second tenure as prime minister of Spain was short-lived, as he resigned in July 1903 over disagreements between the Crown and Antonio Maura over the latter's management of election preparations as Governance minister—which had led to a strong performance by anti-monarchist forces in urban districts in the 1903 election—and amid a growing rivalry with Finance minister Raimundo Fernández-Villaverde, a defender of orthodox economics who opposed Maura's deficit spending. A five-month long cabinet under Villaverde fell after most of the Conservatives coalesced around Maura as new party leader, but a government attempt by the latter collapsed in December 1904, following King Alfonso XIII's interference in the appointment of a new Chief of the Central Staff of the Army. The inability of any other Conservative leader to command the party's majority in parliament thwarted two government attempts by Marcelo Azcárraga and Villaverde (who had split into his own political faction), leading to a new Liberal "turn" under Montero Ríos.

Following the Bourbon Restoration in 1874, the Spanish Constitution of 1876 enshrined Spain as a semi-constitutional monarchy, awarding the monarch—under the royal prerogative—the right of legislative initiative together with the bicameral Cortes; the capacity to veto laws passed by the legislative body; the power to appoint government members (including the prime minister); the ability to grant or deny parliamentary dissolution, the adjournment of legislative sessions and the signature of royal decrees; as well as the title of commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The monarch would play a key role in the turno system by appointing and dismissing governments, which would then organize elections to provide themselves with a parliamentary majority. This informal system allowed the two major "dynastic" political parties at the time, the Conservatives and the Liberals—characterized as oligarchic, elite parties with loose structures dominated by internal factions, each led by powerful individuals—to alternate in power by means of electoral fraud (pucherazo). This was achieved by assigning candidates to districts before the elections were held (encasillado), then arrange their victory through the links between the Ministry of Governance and the territorial clientelistic networks of provincial governors and local bosses (the caciques), excluding minor parties from the power sharing.

The Restoration system had entered a phase of decline following the national trauma from the Spanish–American War (the "1898 disaster") and the absence of politically authoritative figureheads since the deaths of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (1897) and Práxedes Mateo Sagasta (1903), weakening the internal unity of both dynastic parties and strengthening the position of faction leaders and local caciques as power brokers. Concurrently, the anti-monarchist opposition became increasingly competitive in urban and some rural districts, partly due to the introduction of universal suffrage since 1890, partly due to the progressive weakening of the pro-government electoral apparatus.

Francisco Silvela's return to power in December 1902 had seen the incorporation of the remaining Gamacists under Antonio Maura—a strong adherent to Silvela's regenerationist view of a revolution from power"—into the Conservative fold, with Maura himself being appointed as new governance minister. The rivalry within Silvela's cabinet between Maura (whose position was more flexible in favour of corporatism and social reforms, even through deficit spending) and Raimundo Fernández-Villaverde (proponent of a rigid orthodox economic policy based on fiscal discipline and the gold standard) led to the latter's resignation as finance minister in March 1903.

Villaverde and Maura's financial clashes over a cabinet-sponsored Navy Law, coupled with disagreements between the Crown and Maura over election preparation procedures—as a result of the strong performance of anti-monarchist candidates in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia in the 1903 general election—led to Silvela's resignation on 20 July 1903, with young King Alfonso XIII appointing Villaverde as new prime minister. This situation would last for only five months, as most of the Conservatives coalesced around Maura (singled out by Silvela as his successor) after a vigorous parliamentary speech in defense of Conservative ideals on 11 November, prompting the downfall of Villaverde's government when it proved unable to get its 1904 budget bill through parliament in December.

A new government under Antonio Maura saw attempts to implement a regenerationist agenda, but his policy of increasing public spending caused a rift with the Villaverdists within the Conservative Party. During this period, the government had to deal with the "Nozaleda affair": its attempt to propose Bernardino Nozaleda—former archbishop of Manila, questioned for his role during the loss of the Philippines—as archbishop of Valencia, earning Maura criticism from the opposition. Maura resigned on 16 December 1904, following the King's refusal to sign the appointment of General Francisco Loño to the newly created post of Chief of the Central Staff of the Army—with Alfonso XIII preferring General Camilo García de Polavieja instead—sparking a political crisis as no other Conservative leader could command the party's parliamentary support: an interim cabinet by Marcelo Azcárraga fell within one month over disagreements on the date of re-opening of the Cortes, and a second government under Villaverde was left in a clear minority, surviving only for as long as the parliament remained closed. Once the Cortes were re-opened, the government suffered a string of parliamentary defeats until it was brought down in a vote of confidence on 20 June 1905. Both Silvela and Villaverde would die within a few weeks of each other in 1905, leaving Maura as the sole undisputed leader of the Conservative Party.