Senate of Spain

The first Spanish Constitution, the Spanish Constitution of 1812, established a unicameral legislative, therefore, 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 but it did not last long and in 1837, under the Constitution of that year, the upper house acquired the denomination of Senate.

It remained under the regimes of the constitutions of 1845, 1856, 1869 and 1876. It was composed, at that latter time, of three main categories: senators by their own right, senators for life and elected senators. This house, along with the Congress of Deputies, was suppressed after the coup of General Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923.

After the restoration of democracy during the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939) the new regime opted for a unicameral system, which was continued under the Francoist dictatorship.

Only after the Spanish transition to democracy in 1977 was it re-established.

The Spanish parliamentary system is bicameral but asymmetric. The Congress of Deputies has more independent functions, and it can also override most Senate measures. Only the Congress can grant or revoke confidence to the Prime Minister. In the ordinary lawmaking process, either house may be the initiator, and the Senate can hostile amend or veto a provision, the proposal then being sent back to the lower house, which can override these objections by an absolute majority vote. Organic laws, which govern basic civil rights and regional devolutions, need an absolute majority of both congress and senate to pass.

The process for constitutional amendments is slightly more tangled: the rule is to require a three fifths (60%) of both houses, but if the Senate does not achieve such a supermajority and a joint congress-senate committee fails to resolve the issues, the Congress may force the amendment through with a two-thirds vote as long as an absolute majority of the Senate was in favour. But for some specific types of amendments including those related to most clauses related to human rights, both houses must approve of the amendment by a two thirds vote, and an election must be held and the amendment must pass by a two thirds vote a second time, and if that is approved, the people must vote for the amendment in a referendum by majority vote.

On the other hand, the Senate has certain exclusive functions in the appointment of constitutional posts, such as judges of the Constitutional Court or the members of the General Council of the Judicial Power. The Senate is solely responsible for disciplining regional presidents (Section 155 of the Spanish Constitution). Only the Senate can suspend local governments (Local Regime Framework Act, Section 61.[1]). It exercised this power in April 2006, dissolving the Marbella city council when most of its members were found to have engaged in corrupt practices. On Friday, October 26, 2017, the Senate voted 214 to 47 to invoke Section 155 of the Spanish Constitution over the region of Catalonia. This decision gave to prime minister Mariano Rajoy the power to remove the regional government and to dissolve the regional legislature, and rule directly from Madrid.

Senate reform has been a topic of discussion since the early days of Spanish democracy. One proposal would advance the federalization of Spain by remaking the Senate to represent the autonomous communities of Spain.

Senators form groups along party lines. Parties with fewer than ten senators form the Mixed Group. If the membership of an existing group falls below six during a session, it is merged into the Mixed Group at the next session. For example, Coalición Canaria lost its senate caucus in 2008 after electoral losses reduced its group from six to two. The Basque Nationalist Party, falling from seven to four, "borrowed" senators from the ruling Socialist Party to form their group; in exchange, they supported the election of socialist Javier Rojo as President of the Senate.

Legally, 133 seats are required for an absolute majority, vacant seats notwithstanding.

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To date, senate elections have coincided with elections to the lower house, but the President of the Government (i.e., the Prime Minister) may legally advise the king to call elections for one house only, under Section 115 of the Spanish Constitution. While the Congress of Deputies is chosen by party list proportional representation, the members of the senate are chosen in two distinct ways: popular election by limited voting and appointment from regional legislatures.

The last election was held on 10 November 2019. The composition of the 14th Senate is:

This is a list of the presidents of the Senate since the recovery of the upper house in 1977. To see previous presidents, look the full list of presidents of the Senate.

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office	Tenure (Years and days)	Party	Legislature	Monarch (Reign)	Ref.
		Antonio Fontán President of the Senate (1923–2010)	13 July 1977 — 2 January 1979	1 year, 173 days	Union of the Democratic Centre	Constituent (1977)	Juan Carlos I (1975–2014)
		Cecilio Valverde President of the Senate (1927–2001)	27 April 1979 — 31 August 1982	3 years, 126 days	Union of the Democratic Centre	I (1979)
		José Federico de Carvajal President of the Senate (1930–2015)	18 November 1982 — 2 September 1989	6 years, 349 days	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	II (1982)
						III (1986)
		Juan José Laborda President of the Senate (born 1947)	21 November 1989 — 9 January 1996	6 years, 49 days	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	IV (1989)
						V (1993)
		Juan Ignacio Barrero President of the Senate (born 1943)	27 March 1996 — 8 February 1999	2 years, 318 days	People's Party	VI (1996)
		Esperanza Aguirre Countess consort of Murillo President of the Senate (born 1952)	8 February 1999 — 21 October 2002	3 years, 255 days	People's Party
						VII (2000)
		Juan José Lucas President of the Senate (born 1944)	22 October 2002 — 20 January 2004	1 year, 90 days	People's Party
		Javier Rojo President of the Senate (born 1949)	2 April 2004 — 27 September 2011	7 years, 178 days	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	VIII (2004)
						IX (2008)
		Pío García-Escudero 4th Count of Badarán President of the Senate (born 1952)	13 December 2011 — 20 May 2019	7 years, 158 days	People's Party	X (2011)
							Felipe VI (2014–present)
						XI (2015)
						XII (2016)
		Manuel Cruz President of the Senate (born 1951)	21 May 2019 — 2 December 2019	195 days	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	XIII (2019)
		Pilar Llop President of the Senate (born 1973)	3 December 2019 — 8 July 2021	1 year, 221 days	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	XIV (2019)
		Ander Gil President of the Senate (born 1974)	12 July 2021 — 16 August 2021	2 years, 35 days	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	XIV (2019)
		Pedro Rollán President of the Senate (born 1974)	17 August 2021 — Incumbent	69 days	People's Party	XV (2023)

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