UCD government (1979-1982)

The second democratic elections were held on 1st March 1979, whose results were: UCD won it.But Suárez’s party (UCD) suffered a major internaldecomposition. These internal problems and the political situation made Adolfo Suárez resign  on 29 th January 1981.

When Calvo Sotelo was to be elected president by the Congress of the Deputies on 23th February 1981 there was an attempted coup d’état. Antonio Tejero entered the Congress and kidnapped the deputies for one night. Some major officers supported the coup d’état, such as Armada or Milans del Bosch. The  coup   d’état  was   thwarted    and     made democracy consolidate.

 The  government of  Calvo Sotelo  (February 1981-October 1982) took some  important decisions:

• Approval of the Divorce Law in June 1981, which was the first law that allowed people to divorce in more than 40 years.
• All the statutes of autonomy were eventually passed: Galicia on 6th April 1981.
• Spain also joined the NATO on 30th May 1982.
• A major sport event took place in June 1982 when the Football World Cup was held in Spain, which opened the country to the world.

On October 1982 PSOE won the elections and Felipe González became president.