The path to the 1977 elections: the portrayal of the first Adolfo Suárez cabinet in the political cartoons of the daily press

Abstract

This article analyses the image of the first government led by Adolfo Suárez portrayed by the cartoonists of the national press during a period of paramount importance in the Spanish transition to democracy. This ran from July 1976, when Suárez was appointed Presidente del Gobierno (Prime Minister) by the king to June 1977, when democratic elections were held in Spain for the first time since 1936. Cartoons published by five of the most important Spanish newspapers (Abc, El Alcázar, Informaciones, La Vanguardia and Ya) are analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. It becomes apparent that the Suarez cabinet was praised by cartoons published in the catholic Ya, harshly criticised in the hard-line right-wing El Alcázar and considered with different degrees of scepticism by the monarchist Abc, democratic Informaciones and Catalano-democratic La Vanguardia.