1. Who is the current President of the Government of Spain, and what is his political affiliation?
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, usually shortened to his mother's surname, of the PSOE.
2. Name the two houses of the Spanish legislature
No idea. IIRC the legislature is called the Cortes, or is that the main (lower) house?
3. Who is the current leader of the opposition, and what is his political affiliation?
Mariano Rajoy, PP
4. How many autonomous communities (excluding 2 autonomous cities) is Spain divided into?
I counted 17 off the top of my head; may have forgotten somewhere.
5. Of the parties which won seats in the 2008 election, only four of them ran in every constituency. Name these four parties, in order of seats held.
PSOE, PP, IU, PyD (not sure I got the name right, I know what they stood for and how many votes they got)
6. Who was President of the Government until 2004, that it is until the incumbent took office?
José Maria Aznar, PP
7. Which dictator ruled Spain between 1939 and 1975?
Francisco Franco Bahamonde, silly.
INTERMEDIATE8. 208 of 264 Senators are elected directly by popular vote. How are the 56 others chosen/elected?
Communities legislatures?
9. In elections to the Congress of Deputies, which administrative divisions form the constituencies used to elect members? For a bonus, how many constituencies are there?
The provinces, which are very old administrative divisions, unchanged since the first half of the 19th century (except the division of the Canaries, IIRC). 50ish.
10. How many seats are each constituency in Congress awarded, by law, minimum?
3.
11. Who are the current Presidents of the regional governments of Catalonia, Madrid, Andalusia and Euskadi/Pais Vasco?
I think I'd go "oh yeah, I knew that" if you threw the names of the first and last of these at me.
12. What is the
Generalitat? For bonus, name the four people who have presided the Generalitat since 1980.
The Government of Catalonia.
13. What is a
lehendakari? For bonus, name the four people who have been lehendakaris since 1979.
Sounds like it's the Chief Minister of Euskadi.
14. When was ETA founded and what does it stand for, in Basque and/or English?
60s I think. Dunno; E is probably for something beginning in Euska.
15. Name the founder of the Popular Alliance (AP) party.
Dunno.
16. Name the
six Presidents of Government since November 20, 1975.
Adolfo Suarez, Calvo-Sotelo (first name? He was just some interim solution), Felipe Gonzalez, José Maria Aznar, Zapatero. Wait, who am I forgetting? Some other interim solution presumably?
17. What does '23-F' refer to? Which Civil Guard officer was the main actor of '23-F'?
Never heard the term.
18. Who were Alejandro Lerroux, Jose Maria Gil Robles, Niceto Alcala-Zamora, Manuel Azana and Jose Antonio Aguirre? (5 point question!)
Bourgeois politicians of the 2nd Republic. Lerroux was the leader of the Radical Party, whose heyday was actually during the Monarchy. Its initial stronghold was Catalonia. By the Republic times, it had gone national and moved well to the right, but was still to the left of the essentially fascist CEDA with which it was allied. The Radicals held the Prime Ministership during the Bienio Negro (not sure if it was Lerroux himself; I think it probably was for part of the time), though CEDA was largest party, because President Don Niceto Alcala-Zamora refused point blank to give CEDA leader Gil Robles the office he desired. Which answers who these people were. As President, Alcala-Zamora had been something of a compromise choice between centre-left and centre-right, IIRC. Manuel Azana was the biggest name on the centre-left (the political current usually referred to as the Republicans, split between several parties). He was Prime Minister for at least part of 31-4, and was elected President after the Popular Front victory of 1936. I'd have to look up what happened to all or any of them during the Civil War and after. I do not know this Aguirre person, but his surname is Basque, so maybe he was the leader of the Basque Nationalists at the time (who went over from the centre-right to the left during the Republic... an event that's crucial to understanding Euskadi's post-75 history, of course.)
19. Who were Antonio Canovas, Práxedes Sagasta, Antonio Maura, Eduardo Dato and Miguel Primo de Rivera? (5 point question!)
Canovas was Prime Minister several times, and
the dominant figure, during the early years of the sham Constitutional Monarchy of the 1870s (or early 80s?) to 1922, and sort of the mastermind who set that system up. Antonio Maura, originally some sort of reforming Conservative, was Prime Minister several times, and
the dominant figure, during the latter years of the sham Constitutional Monarchy of the 1870s (or early 80s?) to 1922.
Primo de Rivera was dictator (under the king) during the 20s and quite the colorful character that it's difficult to unambiguously hate; his fall led fairly quickly to the fall of the monarchy as such. Dato and Sagasta... I've heard the names but can't think who exactly they were right now. Sagasta belongs to an earlier era than Dato.
TOUGH/INSANE20. The PSOE has been the largest party in
all elections (regional, municipal, EU, general) since 1977 in
one province. Which one?
Huelva? Cadiz? Sevilla? I can only guess, you see, but Western Andalusia sounds like the best bet.
21. The PSOE has been the largest party at least once in municipal, EU and general elections since 1977 in all autonomous communities except one, where the PSOE has never been the largest party in those elections. Which one?
Navarra?
22. In which year and in which French city was Felipe Gonzalez elected to the leadership of the PSOE?
pass
23. What was the Búnker? Who were the aperturistas? Name one prominent figure associated with each.
pass. I could make a guess based on the terms, but a guess is all it would be.
24. In 1974, ETA split into two factions. Name these factions. Goodies to those who tell me what each faction wanted to do and how they ended up.
A hardline faction that continued the armed struggle, but also had its election-participating ally HB (later banned etc). And a faction that ended the armed struggle... is that EA? Or... wait a second... there was a party called Euskadi Eskerra in the 70s and early 80s, something at the back of my mind tells me it might actually have been these people. Eventually splintered/merged into I forget which parties, presumably including IU.
25. What was the Junta Democrática and what was the largest party in this Junta Democrática?
pass
26. Who was killed by ETA on December 20, 1973 in Madrid? (this may sound insane, but it's a very famous person)
Yeah, some sort of crown prince/fascist big wig was assassinated by ETA around then. I forget his name though.
27. Which of these party acronyms was
not linked to Batasuna/ETA?: HB, EHAK, EH, EA.
EH was the refounded HB after the ban, and was banned right again. EHAK was a front for HB/EH after that. EA is also a Basque nationalist party, but nonviolent. See question 24. This question makes it seem that they do indeed not share a pedigree with Batasuna, so the answer there is probably indeed EE.
28. What was the "fast track" to autonomy and which four communities benefited from it?
Catalonia, Euskadi, Andalusia and ...Galicia?... got autonomy a year or three before autonomous communities were established everywhere in Spain, so presumably that.
29. Who came up with the phrase 'cafe para todos' and what does it refer to?
pass
30. In 1970, ETA split into two factions. Name these factions. Goodies to those who tell me what each faction wanted to do and how they ended up.
Ugh, another ETA split. Maybe that's my answer to the confusing array of Basque Nationalist parties beyond PNV.
31. There have been 13 democratic elections in Spain since 1931. In all these elections, only two members were elected to Congress representing an openly far-right party. Who were these members, when where they elected and which party did they represent?
I disagree with the premise of the second sentence.
There were two or three people elected for something to the fascist of AP in either the first or second post-75 election, and I assume you mean that. No idea who the MPs were or what their party was called, of course. But that's claiming the Traditionalist Communion of 1934 was not an "openly far-right party", which is... out there, really.
32. Besides Franco, which famous Spaniard died on November 20 (in 1936)?
pass
33. Of the four top 1936 coup leaders, which two died in plane crashes?
pass
34. Which parties won seats in the last regional elections in these regions? Catalonia (2010), Euskadi (2009), Galicia (2009), Madrid (2011), Aragon (2011), Castile-Leon (2011) and Navarre (2011)?
pass, don't intend to try.
35. Which one of the 17 autonomous communities does
not officially have a document called 'statute of autonomy'? What is it called?
pass
36. Was Franco a major douchebag?
No. He was a world-dwarving douchebag.
