Prime Minister of Spain

Prime Minister of the Spanish Republic; Primer Ministro de España
	Incumbent; Gabriel Perez; since January 10th, 2017
Style	His/Her Excellency
Residence	Palacio Presidencial
Nominator	Political parties
Appointer	The President of Spain ; Appoints the leader of a political party that will command the confidence of the Congress of Deputies.
Term length	No fixed term ; General Elections for the Congress of Deputies occur every four years at most. No term limits are imposed on the office.
Formation	November 19, 1823 (overall); October 3rd, 2000 (Third Republic)
Salary	$200,000 a year

The Prime Minister of Spain (Spanish: Primer Ministro de España) is the executive head of the Government of the Third Spanish Republic. The office, in its current form, was established in 2000 by the Constitution of Spain. In previous Spanish governments, the Prime Minister was the head of the Council of Minister of Spain and was appointed by the Monarch or President of Spain.

The Prime Minister is officially appointed by the President and chosen from the Congress of Deputies. After each general election, the President appoints the leader of the largest political party or coalition in the Congress as the Prime Minister, as they will likely command the confidence of the Congress of Deputies. Although the head of government, the Prime Minister is seen as the de facto chief executive, as they command considerably more executive power than the President.

Along with leading the majority party/coalition in the Congress of Deputies, the Prime Minister is also the de facto head of the council of ministers known as the Cabinet of Spain. All cabinet ministers are appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister also presents candidates to fill federal judicial positions, which are later confirmed by the Senate and appointed by the President. The current Prime Minister is Gabriel Perez, who was appointed to the position after his party, the Democratic Socialists, won a majority of seats in the 2017 Spanish general election.

History

On 19 November 1823, after a brief liberal democratic period called the Liberal Triennium between 1820 and 1823, King Ferdinand VII re-established the absolute monarchy and created the Council of Ministers, which exists as the modern Cabinet. This Council was chaired by the Secretary of State (a precursor to the Minister of Internal Affairs, who acted as Prime Minister. The Spanish Royal Statute of 1834 replaced the chair with a President of the Council of Ministers invested with executive powers.

During the nineteenth century, the position changed names frequently. After the Glorious Revolution of 1868, it was renamed President of the Provisional Revolutionary Joint and later President of the Provisional Government. In 1869, the office resumed the name of President of the Council of Ministers. Following the abdication of King Amadeus I, during the First Republic the office was the President of the Executive Power and was head of state. In 1874, the office name reverted to President of the Council of Ministers.

Since its inception, the Prime Minister has been appointed and dismissed by the will of the monarch. Successive constitutions have confirmed this royal prerogative of the monarch in the Constitution of 1837 (article 47), article 46 of the Constitution of 1845, the Constitution of 1869 (article 68), and the Constitution of 1876 (article 54).

With the fall of the republic and the restoration of the Bourbon Dynasty on King Alfonso XIII, the office maintained its original name until the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, when it was renamed to President of the Military Directory. In 1925, the original name was restored again.

During the Second Republic the Prime Minister would go from being a non-executive ceremonial role to sharing executive power with the President in 1935. After the Republican victory in the Spanish Civil War and the establishment of Landonist Spain, the office of the Prime Minister was merged with the Presidency to form the position of People's Secretary.

In 1998, the office of the Prime Minister would be re-established as a deputy to the People's Secretary. However, the office was solely symbolic and was re-established by the Landonist government to appear as if it were liberalizing. During the Revolutions of 2000, the Landonist government would be uprising and a Third Republic would established. The modern-day office of the Prime Minister was established by the Constitution of Spain.

Constitutional Role

According to Section 4, Article 3 of the Constitution of Spain, the Prime Minister is the executive head of government of the Third Republic and the de facto executive of the nation. This is in accordance with the Westminster System, which promotes a executive head of government over a ceremonial head of state. The Prime Minister is chosen based on their ability to command the confidence of the Congress of Deputies and is appointed to the position by the President. By law, the Prime Minister is also the leader of the largest party or coalition in the Congress of Deputies.

Qualifications

Like the President, the Constitution sets a list of requirement for party leaders attempting to become Prime Minister. They are as followed:

A citizen of the Third Spanish Republic.
- If not a natural born citizen, then must be naturalized for 10 years.
A citizen over the age of 20.
A citizen that has a clean criminal background in both the Third Spanish Republic and the international community.
A citizen that has physically lived in the Third Spanish Republic for 15 years.

If a party leader does not meet one of the set requirements, they are disqualified from becoming Prime Minister.

Vote of no confidence

If the Prime Minister no longer has the confidence of the Congress of Deputies, a vote of no confidence can be called, in which the Congress votes whether or not to continue to support the Prime Minister and their government. If a vote of no confidence passes in the Congress, a similar vote is held in the Federal Senate and if that is passed, the President is required by law to call for a early general election to determine if the electorate wishes to continue the Prime Minister's government. There has only been one snap election in Spanish history, when the government of Miguel Miranda lost the confidence of the Congreso Nacional and was eventually replaced by Gabriel Perez in the 2017 Spanish general election.

List of Prime Ministers

No.	Name (Birth and Death)	Party	Term of office		Constituency	Elections won	Government	President
1	Felipe Calderón (1950–)	Democratic Socialist	October 3rd 2000	October 3rd 2004	Inner Madrid	2000	Calderón	Alberto Garcia
2	Maximilian Argos (1943–)	Democratic Union	October 3rd 2004	October 3rd 2012	Outer Pamplona	2004 2008	Argos I Argos II	Alberto Garcia
3	Miguel Miranda (1961–)	Democratic Union	October 3rd 2012	January 10th 2017	West Vigo	2012 2016	Miranda I Miranda II	Felipe Fernando
4	Gabriel Perez (1972–)	Democratic Socialist	January 10th 2017	-	Western Seville and Camas	2017 2021	Perez I Perez II	Santiago Morales