1978 Spanish constitutional referendum
Spanish voters ratify the 1978 Constitution
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗The document Spain celebrates every 6 December did not legally take effect until the 29th.
One question on the ballot
On 6 December 1978, Spanish voters answered a single question: do you approve the draft Constitution? The Cortes elected in June 1977 had approved the text on 31 October.
Of 26,632,180 registered electors, 17,873,301 voted — a turnout of 67.11 percent.
The count
15,706,078 voted for the draft and 1,400,505 against. Another 632,902 returned blank ballots, nearly half as many as voted no.
Percentages quoted for the result differ by denominator: the Interior Ministry's 88.54 percent uses all ballots cast, while the commonly cited figure of roughly 92 percent excludes blank and invalid ballots. Turnout was markedly lower in the Basque Country.
Three more weeks to force
The referendum was required by the 1977 Political Reform Law, which obliged the king to submit a constitutional-reform project to a national vote before sanctioning it.
The Electoral Board certified the result on 21 December. King Juan Carlos I sanctioned the Constitution on 27 December, and publication brought it into force on 29 December.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes
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