ABSTRACT
One of the main characteristics of the Spanish party system and consequently the political system is the high degree of political stability. This was naturally a conscious choice by the political elites of transition led by the main architect of Spanish democracy, former Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez. Stability and governability of the new political system were high on the agenda, when the different parties of political transition decided upon the electoral system to which they were willing to submit themselves in the transition and after the constitutional settlement. Indeed, the decision for a proportional representation systemmoderated by small constituencies was certainly influenced by the negative experiences of former electoral systems up until the Civil War, but in particular the Second Republic between 1931 and 1936, which was an electoral system leading to political instability, fragmentation of the vote and simultaneously polarisation along a left-right spectrum.
