Republican majorities in Oviedo’s city council, 1874-1890: councillor behaviour and municipal secularization

Abstract

During the first stage of the Spanish Restoration, the republican movement of Oviedo gave birth to long-lasting coalitions and obtained an unexpected voting strength which turned into wide majorities in local townhalls, even when the alliances did not bring together all the political factions. The aim of this article is to illustrate their presence in townhalls and to restore the work of democratic town councilors, stressing their republican ideals. Using newspapers and local documents as sources of information, their most remarkable motions and the stance they adopted in important debates will be examined, pointing out their contradictory votes or attitudes as well. The commitment to the secularization was one of their main distinctive characteristics.