↑The Cortes had been an unicameral body during the Francoist period. In accordance with the law of political reform passed in 1976, the Cortes became a bicameral Parliament in 1977. The first bicameral Cortes, elected in 1977 in the first free elections since the Spanish Civil War, were empowered to draft a new Constitution for Spain. Fernando Álvares de Miranda served as the first president of the Congress of Deputies, the lower House of the bicameral Cortes Generales, but, until the entry into force of Spain's new Constitution on December 29, 1978, the office of President of the Cortes still existed, and was held by Senator Antonio Hernández Gil (by royal appointment), who, in that capacity, presided over joint sessions until his office ceased to exist.
↑The Cortes Generales elected under Spain's current Constitution, adopted in 1978 in the culmination of the process of transition towards democracy, are numbered, starting with the first Legislature elected under the Constitution, that took office in March 1979. The Cortes elected in 1977, that drafted the Constitution and served until March 1979 is not numbered, but referred to as the Constituent Legislature.
