"Spain's modern democratic political and party system
emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s during the
democratic transition following the death of Francisco
Franco in November 1975, bringing nearly 40 years of
repressive dictatorship to an end.1
Two parallel dynamics played out during this process. On the one
hand, the democratic opposition groups — the underground unions, numerous left-wing and liberal political movements, student and university groups, and regionalist movements, especially those in the Basque
Country and Catalonia — gained considerable strength
and organized long-term protests and mass actions demanding an immediate and democratic break from the
old regime. On the other hand, a system for negotiations between reform groups within the old regime
and moderate opposition groups developed, with participants seeking to instigate a peaceful and orderly
transition to democracy with free parliamentary elections and a new constitution..."

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