Carlism was the dominant political movement in elections in Navarre during the period between the Third Carlist War and the Primo de Rivera dictatorship. The movement, defeated in 1876, during the Restauración period recalibrated its focus from military action to political means and media campaigns. Accommodating themselves to political framework of the Alfonsine monarchy, party leaders considered elections, and especially elections to Cortes Generales, primary vehicle of political mobilization. Navarre turned out to be the Carlist electoral stronghold; it elected 35% of all Carlist deputies voted into the parliament during almost 50 years of the monarchical liberal democracy. Though the phenomenon remained marginal from the national Spanish perspective, political prowess of Carlism in the province was key to sustain its potential until the movement regained momentum during the Second Spanish Republic.

Joaquín Baleztena Azcárate was a Spanish Carlist politician. During three consecutive terms between 1919–1923 he served as a Traditionalist member of the Cortes. In two separate strings of 1931–1942 and 1951–1957 he headed the regional party organization in Navarre; he remained one of key nationwide Carlist politicians from the late 1910s till the early 1970s. In 1937–1939 he was a member of the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS executive, Consejo Nacional.