Our regime is based on bayonets and blood, not on hypocritical elections.

If authentically Franco’s, the line is a blunt admission that the regime’s legitimacy rests on coercive force (“bayonets and blood”) rather than popular consent expressed through elections. It frames elections as “hypocritical,” implying that electoral procedures are either inherently deceptive or merely a façade used by opponents, while the dictatorship claims honesty in acknowledging power’s violent foundations. The quote encapsulates a core logic of authoritarian rule: stability and unity are secured through military victory and repression, not through pluralism or competitive politics. It also functions rhetorically as intimidation—reminding listeners that the state’s ultimate guarantor is armed power, not law or ballots.