The first government of Adolfo Suárez was formed on 8 July 1976, following the latter's appointment as Prime Minister of Spain by King Juan Carlos I on 3 July and his swearing-in on 5 July, as a result of Carlos Arias Navarro's resignation from the post on 1 July 1976.

[1][2][3] It succeeded the second Arias Navarro government and was the Government of Spain from 8 July 1976 to 5 July 1977, a total of 362 days, or 11 months and 27 days.

[4][5] Suárez's first cabinet comprised members from the National Movement (with the notable absences of FET y de las JONS and the Opus Dei),[6] but also by members of the reformist 'Tácito' group,[7][8] a number of political associations that could not yet be legalized as parties—such as the Spanish People's Union (UDPE) and the Spanish Democratic Union (UDE)—and the Federation of Independent Studies (FEDISA) political society.

[9][10][11] Following the death of dictator Francisco Franco, the regulations of the Cortes Españolas had been amended to allow legislators to group into parliamentary factions, one of whom—the Independent Parliamentary Group (GPI), which would later become the Independent Social Federation (FSI) party—being represented in the Council of Ministers through Rodolfo Martín Villa.

[12] On 7 April 1977, the National Movement and the FET y de las JONS party were officially disbanded,[13][14] and many cabinet members—who had gone their own separate ways to a number of political parties ahead of the 1977 general election—joined into the nascent Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) electoral alliance under Suárez's leadership upon its formation in May 1977.