Práxedes Mariano Mateo Sagasta y Escolar was a Spanish civil engineer and politician who served as Prime Minister on eight occasions between 1870 and 1902—always in charge of the Liberal Party—as part of the turno pacifico, alternating with the Conservative leader Antonio Cánovas. He was known as an excellent orator.

The Liberal Conservative Party, also known more simply as the Conservative Party, was a Spanish political party founded in 1876 by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo.