Encasillado
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The encasillado was the first (and fundamental) step in the mechanism of [electoral fraud](/wiki/Electoral_fraud "Electoral fraud") that characterized the [elections during the Bourbon Restoration in Spain](/wiki/Elections_during_the_Bourbon_Restoration_in_Spain "Elections during the Bourbon Restoration in Spain") ―and that the [electoral system](/wiki/Electoral_system "Electoral system") by [uninominal districts](/wiki/Single-member_district "Single-member district") greatly facilitated―. The objective was the peaceful distribution of seats between the "party of the day" that had just been given the task of forming a government by the Crown and the party that had governed until then and was now in opposition. The former obtained a comfortable majority of *ministerial* deputies in the Cortes and the latter a much smaller number of seats but enough to play its role of "loyal opposition" ―generally half a hundred―. Historian [José Varela Ortega](/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Varela_Ortega "José Varela Ortega") has defined *encasillado* as follows: "Literally, it is and meant the process by which "the Minister of the Interior manufactures the elections" by placing in casillas corresponding to each district the names of the candidates ―whether ministerial or opposition― that the government had decided to sponsor or tolerate".Varela Ortega (2001\) p.498\-499\.
[thumb\|Caricature in the form of an [auca](/wiki/Auca_%28cartoon%29 "Auca (cartoon)") about the political career of Francisco Romero Robledo, known as *El Gran Elector*, published on August 28, 1881, a few months after the fall of the [Cánovas](/wiki/Antonio_C%C3%A1novas_del_Castillo "Antonio Cánovas del Castillo") government of which he was the "skillful" Minister of the Interior. One of the couplets reads: "In electoral frauds / leave [Posada](/wiki/Posadas%2C_Misiones "Posadas, Misiones") in diapers".](/wiki/File:Romero_Robledo%2C_de_Dem%C3%B3crito.jpg "Romero Robledo, de Demócrito.jpg")
The meeting to carry out the "*encasillado*" took place at the headquarters of the [Ministry of Home Affairs](/wiki/Ministry_of_home_affairs "Ministry of home affairs"), hence, as Varela Ortega has pointed out, "for the candidate, the election was decided in the corridors of the Ministry of Home Affairs".Valera Ortega (2001\), p. 498 There the minister, who had become "the Great Elector" ―whose greatest exponent was [Francisco Romero Robledo](/wiki/Francisco_Romero_Robledo "Francisco Romero Robledo"), who inherited the epithet of [José Posada Herrera](/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Posada_Herrera "José Posada Herrera") from the [Elizabethan period](/wiki/Reign_of_Isabella_II_of_Spain "Reign of Isabella II of Spain"), because like him he possessed an "extraordinary capacity to maneuver from the ministry and few scruples to do so, so that the results would be in accordance with the wishes of the Government and his own"―,Romero Salvador (2021\), p. 83\-84\. "With less solemnity, but with abundant humor, [Ramón de Campoamor](/wiki/Ram%C3%B3n_de_Campoamor_y_Campoosorio "Ramón de Campoamor y Campoosorio") answered when he was asked, according to Valle\-Inclán, for which district he was deputy: "Me, for Romero Robledo". And he was not mistaken... given that, although he obtained his seat no less than ten times, he did so for districts in seven different provinces, that is to say, at the whim of where his political protectors placed him". agreed with the representative of the outgoing government party on the distribution of the districts, which also usually included those to be granted to [non\-dynastic](/wiki/Non-dynastic "Non-dynastic") parties ―for example, the governments always respected the seat of [Gumersindo de Azcárate](/wiki/Gumersindo_de_Azc%C3%A1rate "Gumersindo de Azcárate") for [León](/wiki/Le%C3%B3n%2C_Spain "León, Spain") or that of the Carlist [Matías Barrio y Mier](/wiki/Mat%C3%ADas_Barrio_y_Mier "Matías Barrio y Mier") for [Cervera de Pisuerga](/wiki/Cervera_de_Pisuerga "Cervera de Pisuerga")―.Varela Ortega (2001\), p. 480; 500; 512\. "The Canovists preferred to see the Republicans making speeches in the Cortes rather than rousing the masses in the streets or [conspiring in the barracks](/wiki/Pronunciamiento "Pronunciamiento"). For this reason also, the Republicans participated in the spoils and allowed themselves to be involved in the network of local pacts. The defection of "respectable" republican politicians from the revolutionary ranks was a task that the [Liberal\-Fusionist Party](/wiki/Liberal_Fusionist_Party "Liberal Fusionist Party") succeeded in accomplishing.
[left\|thumb\|Caricature from *[El Motín](/wiki/El_Mot%C3%ADn "El Motín")* entitled "Tribute to Blessed Praxedes by the candidates whom he miraculously saved from electoral death" (1881\) and showing several elected deputies in procession (under a canopy and with the bishop's mitre the republican [Emilio Castelar](/wiki/Emilio_Castelar "Emilio Castelar")) behind the President of the Government [Sagasta](/wiki/Pr%C3%A1xedes_Mateo_Sagasta "Práxedes Mateo Sagasta") carried on a platform, who in turn carries in his arms the Minister of the Interior Venancio González, who is the one who actually worked the *miracle*.](/wiki/File:Homenaje_tributado_al_beato_Pr%C3%A1xedes_por_los_candidatos_a_quienes_salv%C3%B3_milagrosamente_de_la_muerte_electoral%2C_de_Dem%C3%B3crito.jpg "Homenaje tributado al beato Práxedes por los candidatos a quienes salvó milagrosamente de la muerte electoral, de Demócrito.jpg")
The Minister of the Interior and the representative of the outgoing government decided ―although in the negotiations also intervened the caciques and the leaders of the factions of the parties― on the *available* districts ("docile", "dead" or "*mostrencos*"), whose candidates received the name of "*[cuneros](/wiki/Cuneros "Cuneros")*" or "transhumantes" (the historian [Carmelo Romero Salvador](/wiki/Carmelo_Romero_Salvador "Carmelo Romero Salvador") calls them "birds of passage") because they lacked roots in the same, while in principle the districts were left out of the distribution, in which a certain deputy, conservative or liberal, was guaranteed the election thanks to the [clientelistic networks](/wiki/Patronage_in_ancient_Rome "Patronage in ancient Rome") that he had carved out there ―thus becoming the local oligarch or [great cacique](/wiki/Caciquism "Caciquism")―, so it was useless to present an alternative candidate because he would be defeated, although they did not stop trying if the one who occupied it was of the opposite party to that of the government.Montero (1997\), p. 66\.Romero Salvador (2021\), p. 102\-103; 105; 117\-118\.Varela Ortega (2001\), p. 413\-414; 498\-499 José Varela Ortega has called the deputies of these last districts "natural candidates, with roots or in their own right",Varela Ortega (2001\), p. 414; 499\. "Everyone needed... \[to have] a minimum degree of control over the administrative apparatus; at least for the administration to close its eyes to their activities." and Carmelo Romero Salvador "hermit crabs" since, "just as those small crustaceans get into an empty shell from which it is very difficult to dislodge them, so they also took over the representation of a district becoming irremovable in it", thus constituting "lasting *[cacicatos](/wiki/Cacique "Cacique")*, with the same deputy throughout several legislatures".Romero Salvador (2021\), p. 102\-104\. "Most of the hermit crabs had as an essential characteristic that of being rooted in the district, or at least in the province to which that district belonged, either by birth, family ties and property, or by residence, occupation and activity. In short, and always referring to the majority of cases, they were local oligarchs... \[who] needed for their projection to the Parliament of a validator of greater scope and weight in national politics".

Romero Salvador pointed out that throughout the Restoration, the districts occupied by "hermit crabs" ―who repeated the same seat regardless of which party was in government― were increasing, with the consequent decrease of the "free" districts, which narrowed the governments' margin of maneuver to place the deputies in the "*encasillado*". "The proof of this lies in the fact that by always winning the elections the party that called them, the difference in seats with the other party became smaller and smaller throughout the first two decades of the 20th century".Romero Salvador (2021\), p. 105\-106; 117

This same historian has compiled a list of the deputies for the same district for ten or more times during the Restoration period, which totals 68: 32 conservatives and 32 liberals, plus three republicans (one of them [Gumersindo de Azcárate](/wiki/Gumersindo_de_Azc%C3%A1rate "Gumersindo de Azcárate") for the district of [León](/wiki/Le%C3%B3n%2C_Spain "León, Spain"))Varela Ortega (2001\), p. 445\. "He was deputy for the district of the capital from 1886 until his death \[in 1917]. Long before that date \[of 1886], Azcárate had won the vote of the urban sections (based on the workers' and artisan classes' vote); but... he could not win the election until he also counted on a cacique mechanism in the towns. Later, he would even come to an agreement with the local Liberal cacique. In this way he had no competitor in his district and even counted on the electoral goodwill of the dynastic governments". and one independent Catholic (for the district of [Zumaya](/wiki/Zumaia "Zumaia")). Among the conservatives [Antonio Maura](/wiki/Antonio_Maura "Antonio Maura") (nineteen times deputy uninterruptedly between 1891 and 1923 for the district of [Palma de Mallorca](/wiki/Palma_de_Mallorca "Palma de Mallorca")), [Francisco Romero Robledo](/wiki/Francisco_Romero_Robledo "Francisco Romero Robledo") (deputy during 21 legislatures for different districts) and [Eduardo Dato](/wiki/Eduardo_Dato "Eduardo Dato") (17 legislatures, twelve of them for the district of [Murias de Paredes](/wiki/Murias_de_Paredes "Murias de Paredes")) stand out; and among the liberals [José Canalejas](/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Canalejas_y_M%C3%A9ndez "José Canalejas y Méndez") (thirteen legislatures for different districts) and the [Count of Romanones](/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_de_Figueroa%2C_1st_Count_of_Romanones "Álvaro de Figueroa, 1st Count of Romanones") (seventeen uninterrupted legislatures for the district of [Guadalajara](/wiki/Guadalajara%2C_Spain "Guadalajara, Spain")). In addition, he has verified the existence of family dynasties of deputies such as those headed by [Cánovas](/wiki/Antonio_C%C3%A1novas_del_Castillo "Antonio Cánovas del Castillo") ―three brothers, four nephews, a brother\-in\-law and other brother\-in\-law were deputies―, by [Sagasta](/wiki/Pr%C3%A1xedes_Mateo_Sagasta "Práxedes Mateo Sagasta") ―a son, a son\-in\-law, a grandson and several uncles and cousins―, by [Francisco Silvela](/wiki/Francisco_Silvela "Francisco Silvela") ―two brothers, his father\-in\-law, his brothers\-in\-law and a nephew―, or by [Antonio Maura](/wiki/Antonio_Maura "Antonio Maura") ―three sons―. There were also deputies who "inherited" their parents' districts.Romero Salvador (2021\), p. 107\-114; 129\-139\. The parliamentary chronicler of the conservative newspaper *[ABC](/wiki/ABC_%28newspaper%29 "ABC (newspaper)")* [Wenceslao Fernández Flórez](/wiki/Wenceslao_Fern%C3%A1ndez_Fl%C3%B3rez "Wenceslao Fernández Flórez") wrote in 1916:Romero Salvador (2021\), p. 143
> When we write these lines, that precept that the nation cannot be the patrimony of any family or person has not yet been violated. It is not yet, in fact, of a single family, but of four or five, who have sons, sons\-in\-law, uncles, cousins, nephews, grandchildren and brothers\-in\-law in all the positions and in all the Chambers.

Article 29 of the [Electoral Law of 1907](/wiki/Electoral_Law_of_1907 "Electoral Law of 1907"), promoted by the conservative [Antonio Maura](/wiki/Antonio_Maura "Antonio Maura"), simplified the "*encasillado*" by establishing that in those districts where only one candidate was presented, he would be elected without the need to vote (Carmelo Romero Salvador has highlighted the paradox of depriving some voters of the vote when the law for the first time in Spain established it as a duty and fined those who did not vote). Article 29 was in effect during the following seven elections and in these 734 seats, a quarter of the total, were covered by this system ―[in 1916](/wiki/1916_Spanish_general_election "1916 Spanish general election"), called and won by the government of the liberal [Count of Romanones](/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_de_Figueroa%2C_1st_Count_of_Romanones "Álvaro de Figueroa, 1st Count of Romanones"), and [in 1923](/wiki/1923_Spanish_general_election "1923 Spanish general election"), called and won by the government of the liberal [Manuel García Prieto](/wiki/Manuel_Garc%C3%ADa_Prieto%2C_Marquis_of_Alhucemas "Manuel García Prieto, Marquis of Alhucemas"), a third of the deputies obtained their seats without going through the ballot box; "In both elections there were almost as many voters deprived of being able to exercise their vote (one million seven hundred thousand) as there were voters (two million) in those districts and constituencies in which there was an election"―.Romero Salvador (2021\), p. 123\-124\. "All the provinces had some deputy who did not have to go to the polls... There were even, at the national level, nine provinces in which in a particular election all their deputy seats were filled in this way, so their voters did not have the possibility of going to vote." Carmelo Romero Salvador explained the widespread application of article 29 as follows: "Given that going to the polls always meant for parties and candidates, even when the election was assured, inconveniences, expenses and a greater dependence on the personal and collective requests of the voters, reaching agreements to avoid competition between them became a highly desirable objective".Romero Salvador (2021\), p. 125\-126\. "It is not strange that in popular slang, to refer to something that must be done compulsorily, without the possibility of discussion or reply, the phrase "By Article 29!" has remained."


Why was it desirable for parties and candidates to avoid competition between them?