The Parliamentary Control I: The Motion of Censure and the Vote of Cofidence in the Spanish Constitutional System

Abstract

The present study is about the regulation in the Spanish constitutional system of the “motion of censure” and “vote of confidence” and its practice in the time elapsed since the entry into force of the Constitution. Both institutions are regulated in Title V of the Constitution “Relations between the Government and the Cortes Generales” closely linked with Section 1.3, which sets out: “The political form of the Spanish State is that of a parliamentary monarchy”. Both the motion of censure and the vote of confidence are commonly referred by the legal doctrine as the most important mechanisms dealing with the control of Government’s action, due to the fact they may lead to the removal of the Executive power and the election of a new Government, either in the same act or subsequently as a result of a new investiture of the President of Government.