Spain 's democratic constitution is only 28 years old, before which the country had been under the rule of General Franco, and only on his death in 1975 did Spain move to a parliamentary monarchy.

1977 saw the first free elections following the death of Franco, which were won by the Central Democratic Union, led by Adolfo Suárez González, the Duke of Suárez. Suarez, who had been Minister Secretary General of the National Movement, the single governing party under Franco, and had been appointed by King Juan Carlos in the preceding two years to lead the country towards this general election.

This fledgling democracy nearly fell at the first hurdle when on 23 February, 1981, in an event known as the "23-F", discontented factions among the security forces seized the Spanish parliament (Cortes) and tried to impose a military-backed government. Fortunately the majority of the military forces remained loyal to King Juan Carlos, who used his personal authority to put down the coup attempt.

In 1982 the left wing PSOE swept to power, after having ditched its Marxist manifesto and adopted a more l iberal and capitalist economic policy (a move repeated by Britain's New Labour some years later) and held on to power until losing to Jose Maria Aznar's conservative PP (Popular Party) in 1996.

The PP held power until 2004, and whilst Aznar had given way to a new leader in the shape of party vice-president Mariano Rajoy, they appeared well on target to win a third consecutive term, but a public backlash against Spain's involvement in Iraq, and the aftermath of the March 11th Madrid train bombings led to the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and its leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero winning the popular vote.

Rodríquez Zapatero was elected prime minister with the votes of PSOE and a few minor parties, and selected the first Spanish government ever to have the same number of male and female ministers.

The relative novelty of Spain 's democracy manifests itself in the percentage turn out of the eligible vote. Unlike some countries, where centuries of having the right to vote appear to have led to many taking it so much for granted that they rarely bother to exercise the right, Spanish voters will turn out in great numbers to the polling stations - for example in Manilva's last local elections in 2003, the turnout was nearly 80% as opposed to the average for council elections in England of about 35%, and Germany of around 50%.