On this day in 1936, the socialist-communist coalition won the elections in Spain. A few months later, a civil war broke out after right-wing forces led by General Francisco Franco conducted a military coup.
The left-wing coalition which won the elections on this day was called the Popular Front (Spanish: Frente Popular) and consisted of around 15 different parties, including the Communist Party of Spain (Spanish: Partido Comunista de España – PCE).
The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (Spanish: Partido Socialista Obrero Españo – PSOE) was individually the strongest party in the coalition. In fact the same party is currently the strongest social-democratic party in Spain (it remained in power until 2011).
The party called the Republican Left (Spanish: Izquierda Republicana) was almost as strong. The leader of that party – Manuel Azaña – received the mandate for forming a government and became the Spanish prime minister (later that year he also became the Spanish president).