Senate of Spain

The Senate (Spanish: Senado) is the upper house of the Cortes Generales, which along with the Congress of Deputies – the lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palace of the Senate in Madrid. The presiding officer of the Senate is the president of the Senate, who is elected by the members at the first sitting after each national election.

The composition of the Senate is established in Part III of the Spanish Constitution. Each senator represents a province, an autonomous city or an autonomous community. Each mainland province, regardless of its population size, is equally represented by four senators; in the insular provinces, the larger islands are represented by three senators and the minor islands are represented by a single senator. Likewise, the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla elect two senators each. This direct election results in the election of 208 senators by the citizens. In addition, the regional legislatures also designate their own representatives, one senator for each autonomous community and another for every million residents, resulting in a total of 58 additional senators.

The Spanish Senate is constitutionally described as a territorial chamber. Consequently, although in general its powers are similar to those of the Congress of Deputies, it is endowed with exceptional powers such as authorising the Government to apply direct rule to a region or to dissolve local government councils.

Intensive debates about reforming the Senate's function and purpose have been going on for many years without any resolution.

The first Spanish Constitution, the constitution of 1812, established a unicameral legislature; an upper Chamber did not exist.

The Senate was first established under the Royal Statute of 1834 approved by Queen Regent Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies under the denomination of House of Peers alongside the Deputies of the Realm. Under the constitution of 1837 it was named the Senate. Members were royal princes, hereditary nobility and clergy, and one appointed member for every 85 000 inhabitants. The districts were not yet fixed as today the electors were typically wealthy male citizens, selected through a census suffrage system. These electors then proposed a list of three persons to the king, who would choose one senator. It remained under the regimes of the constition of 1845, draft constitition 1856.

With the glorious revolution 1869 the terna system was abolished; for a brief period of time Senators were elected indirectly until a hybrid model was adopted under constitution of 1876. Senators were of three main categories: senators by their own right, senators for life appointed by the crown, ex officio, or by institutions (archbishops, etc), and elected senators.

This house, along with the Congress of Deputies, was suppressed after the coup of General Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923.