6th December, 40th anniversary of the Spanish Constitution

Critics identify the need for change but the Constitution has well outlasted the transition from dictatorship to democracy

This Thursday 6th December Spain celebrates the 40th anniversary of the referendum by which the Constitution was overwhelmingly approved, although four decades on there are those who suspect that the “Magna Carta” which has not been modified since 1978 is facing something of a mid-life crisis.

The most widely quoted statistic concerning the referendum in December 1978 is that 88.54 per cent of voters were in favour of the document, which institutionalized a return to democracy three years after the death of General Franco and 39 years after his forces triumphed at the end of the Civil War. But it should be remembered that there was an unexpectedly high abstention rate of almost a third, meaning that in fact the Constitution was approved by “only” 58.97 per cent of the electorate.

These results were mirrored in most areas of the country – for example, in Murcia the abstention rate was 35.2 per cent but 91.3 per cent of those who cast their votes were in favour of the Constitution – but in the Basque Country, Navarra and parts of the Canaries and Galicia the level of overall support, taking into account non-voters, was below 50 per cent.

These regional discrepancies notwithstanding, though, for most of the last 40 years the Constitution has remained unquestioned as the cornerstone of post-Franco Spanish society.

However, in recent times various aspects of the document have been called into question with ever greater frequency, and most of the leading political parties are in favour of reforms, some sweeping and others relatively minor, viewing certain Articles and clauses as “obsolete” in the 21^st century.

The PP is among those offering the strongest defence of the Constitution as it stands, but Ciudadanos identifies the need to eliminate the immunity from prosecution for certain offences which has been enjoyed by many of those who hold public office since 1978. Podemos, on the other hand, sees the need for a more drastic reform, including the elimination of the “archaic” monarchy, and the far-right Vox party is in favour of doing away with Spain’s 17 Autonomous Communities and the differing policies adopted by their respective regional governments.

This point has become more relevant over the last five years due to the separatist policies adopted by successive regional governments in Catalunya, where last year the controversial Article 155 of the Constitution was invoked for the first time as the central government imposed direct rule after a unilateral declaration of independence was made in the Catalan parliament.

In general it is accepted that in some respects the Constitution is out of date, and that it was designed merely for the transition from dictatorship to democracy. For example, it takes military service for granted, it prioritizes the Catholic Church over all other religions, and contains clauses which can now be seen to give more rights to men than to women.

Times have changed. In 1978 Spain was not in the EU (then the EEC), or in NATO, and internet and mobile phones were the stuff of science fiction. But for a document drawn up merely to enable Spain to become a democratic country again in the short term, it has lasted remarkably well, and as the Spanish celebrate once again the happy coincidence which provides them with two national holidays in three days (8^th December is the feast of the Immaculate Conception, another recognition of Catholicism in the national calendar!) they should perhaps celebrate the Constitution’s successes rather than the shortcomings which might have become apparent in more than a generation.

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