Abstention in the 1978 Referendum and the political costs of establishing the constitution.<br>

Authors

  • BRAULIO GÓMEZ FORTE

Keywords:

Abstention, electoral behaviour, transition to democracy, constitution, ideology.

Abstract

This article offers an explanation of the abstention recorded in the Spanish Constitutional Referendum of 1978, based, for the first time, on analysis of polling data. Firstly, we ask whether abstention was more likely amongst citizens to the left of the ideological spectrum. Secondly, we find out whether there was any relationship between abstention and political motivations. We test for three political motivations in the article: rejection of the lack of transparency with which the procedures to establish the constitution were carried out, disagreement with part of the content of the constitution, and the use of the constitutional referendum as a second-order election in which to punish Adolfo Suarez’s government through abstention.

Published

2008-03-28

Issue

Section

RESEARCH NOTES