no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the date of expiry of the Cortes in the event that the prime minister did not make use of his prerogative of early dissolution. The decree was to be published on the following day in the Official State Gazette (BOE), with election day taking place between the fifty-fourth and the sixtieth day from publication. The previous election was held on 22 June 1986, which meant that the legislature's term would expire on 22 June 1990. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 29 May 1990, with the election taking place on the sixtieth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Cortes Generales on Saturday, 28 July 1990. The prime minister had the prerogative to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no state of emergency was in force and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since the previous one. Additionally, both chambers were to be dissolved and a new election called if an investiture process failed to elect a prime minister within a two-month period from the first ballot. Barred this exception, there was no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections for the Congress and the Senate. Still, as of there has been no precedent of separate elections taking place under the 1978 Constitution. On 25 August 1989, it was confirmed by governmental sources that Felipe González would be calling a snap election for 29 October. Background Felipe González's second term as prime minister was characterized by economic growth, with public investments favoured by the Structural Funds coming from the European Economic Community to which Spain had recently accessed. The GDP grew by around or above 5% between 1987 and 1989 and unemployment decreased from 20.6% to 16.9%. This period saw a consolidation of welfare system reforms initiated during González's first term, allowed through a better financing derived from a relatively progressive tax system. But the economic expansion fostered by the government's liberal policies brought about an increase in wealth differences and of inequality, leading to social unrest and a loss of popularity for the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), made apparent in the local, regional and European Parliament elections. In December 1988, the two major trade unions in Spain,