El voto en el Congreso de los Diputados durante el reinado de Isabel II

Abstract

This paper aims to display the main meanings vote gained, as well as to identify other agents which could condition it, in the Spanish Parliament during Isabel II's reign. First of all, the suffrage is contemplated as a mercantilist element. That is, as a good of exchange used by some civil servants and ambitious men to be successful in the administration or in personal businesses. This behaviour reveals a practice of the vote usually guided by patronage. Secondly, this analysis addresses other factors, which were also relevant in the emission of the suffrage in the lower House. The political representative considered electorate's interests, he was constrained by political parties' influence and he also valued ideology in his decisions. This approach introduces parliamentary dynamics not only ruled by patronage, but also regulated by a multiplicity of factors, which made liberal politics a more complex reality than the one represented by a particular profit.