La legislatura española de 1993-1996: crisis de legitimidad, crispación y alternancia política

Abstract

This article analyses Spain’s 1993-1996 legislature as a period of political transition between socialist predominance and the alternation of power in 1996. Drawing on press sources, parliamentary debates, and memoirs, it argues that the so-called crispación (political polarization) was not merely rhetorical, but a cumulative process that reshaped the conditions of democratic competition. The loss of the Socialist Party’s parliamentary majority introduced a new logic of governance based on external support, increasing executive vulnerability. At the same time, a series of scandals –including political corruption, the cesid intelligence scandal, and the judicial reactivation of the gal case– shifted political conflict from programmatic debate to questions of moral legitimacy. In this context, the interaction between political opposition, media actors, and the judicialization of public life intensified confrontation and fostered a climate of mutual delegitimization. The article concludes that the 1996 alternation in power did not reflect an ideological shift to the right, but rather a reallocation of political credibility in the context of declining governmental legitimacy.