Redefining the Valencia political map: April-May 1931 Elections

Abstract

The April 1931 local election that gave both monarchists and republicans quite similar quotes of power in the province of Valencia, were soon questioned by the new republican government. Thus, in the following weeks they started to ‘purge’ every local councillor that had been elected by way of Article 29 of the Electoral Law, and those considered to have obtained their election certificate through fraud. The repeat elections held in May that year to fill the large number of councillor vacancies overturned the control of the city councils. The republicans went from controlling half of the councillorships to a shocking eighty per cent of them. However, how could such an abrupt turn around possible? Was that surprising percentage of republican support real? This article addresses the campaign of dismissals in the city councils of the Valencia province carried out after April 12. It also tries to unveil whether the accusations of vote rigging that arose after the April elections were sound or just an excuse to prepare the ground for the coming ‘Cortes’ elections of June that would have far-reaching impact on the development of a new constitution.