The Spanish parliament, the Cortes Generales, had been fractured throughout 1873 and consensus between the moderates, centrists, and intransigents could not be reached.

[2]: 317  With worsening situations on both fronts, Castelar called for the Cortes to reconvene on 2 January 1874, in an effort to seek unlimited powers.

[2]: 322  A new vote was then held to elect a new President of the Executive and when it appeared that the radicals in the Cortes (the "intransigents") were preparing to elect the avowed republican Eduardo Palanca Asensi [es], Pavia ordered his troops to surround the Cortes and request the session be dissolved.

[1]: 402  Instead, Pavia recruited former prime minister Francisco Serrano who had been in exile in France following a previous failed coup attempt in April 1873.

[2]: 329 Pavia's coup on 3 January effectively marked the end of the Spanish Republic, although it would continue to exist in name until 29 December 1874 when the Bourbon monarchy was peacefully restored in Spain.