Spain general election 2026

Electoral calendar

• 5 October: Pedro Sánchez announces the dissolution of the Cortes.
• 6 October: the Official State Gazette (BOE) publishes the royal decree dissolving parliament and calling the election.
• 21 to 26 October: parties file their candidate lists.
• 2 November: candidate lists are formally proclaimed.
• 13 to 27 November: election campaign.
• 28 November: day of reflection (no campaigning).
• 29 November: election day; polling stations close at 20:00 CET.
• 23 December: the new Cortes meet for the first time.

The main parties

• PP (Partido Popular): the centre-right, liberal-conservative party of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, member of the European People's Party. Leads every private poll.
• PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español): the centre-left Socialist party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in power since 2018.
• Vox: the far-right party of Santiago Abascal, third in the polls and polling at its highest ever.
• Frente Amplio: the left-wing coalition that relaunches Sumar, with Izquierda Unida, Más Madrid and Catalunya en Comú; its candidate is Ada Colau, former mayor of Barcelona.
• Podemos: the left-wing party led into the election by Irene Montero, running separately from Frente Amplio.
• Regional parties running only in their own regions: ERC and Junts (Catalan pro-independence, on the left and the centre-right respectively), PNV (Basque nationalist, centre-right), EH Bildu (Basque pro-independence left), BNG (Galician nationalist left), Coalición Canaria and UPN (Navarre).
• Smaller national lists: Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF), the populist party of MEP Alvise Pérez, and the coalition of Democracia 21 —the new party of Miriam González Durántez— with Ciudadanos, only in Madrid and Barcelona.

How the prime minister is chosen

Once both chambers are constituted, the King holds a round of consultations with the parliamentary groups and proposes a candidate for investiture. To be elected, the candidate needs an absolute majority of 176 votes in a first ballot, or more yes than no votes in a second ballot 48 hours later. If no candidate succeeds within two months of the first vote, the Cortes are dissolved and the election is repeated, as happened in 2016 and 2019.

Scenarios after 29 November

• A PP and Vox majority. This is the outcome every poll points to. Feijóo hopes to govern alone with Vox's outside support; Abascal demands seats in the cabinet or policy changes in exchange for his votes.
• PP short of a majority with Vox. If the two fell short, Feijóo would need parties such as UPN, Coalición Canaria or the PNV, which would hardly back a government that includes Vox.
• A repeat of the 2023 majority. It would require the PSOE, Frente Amplio, Podemos and the nationalist and pro-independence parties to reach 176 seats again, which no poll shows today, and Junts to return to that bloc.
• Deadlock. If nobody wins an investiture vote, the election would be repeated.

Key campaign issues

• Housing: the issue that triggered the election. The PSOE and Frente Amplio want to intervene in the rental market; the PP and Vox favour increasing supply, releasing land and tougher action against illegal squatting.
• Governability: whether the PP can govern alone or with Vox in the cabinet, and whether the left can again add up with the nationalists.
• Immigration and security: Vox and Se Acabó La Fiesta have put them at the centre of their campaigns, and the PP has hardened its tone.
• Territorial model: the Amnesty Law, special financing for Catalonia and relations with Junts and ERC divide the blocs.
• A split left: the competition between Frente Amplio and Podemos for the same voters may cost them seats in mid-sized provinces.

How seats are allocated

The Congress is elected in 52 constituencies (the 50 provinces plus Ceuta and Melilla) using the D'Hondt method, with a 3% threshold in each province. Every province has at least two deputies, which gives more weight to the less populated ones and favours the largest parties.

The Senate on 29 November

Voters also elect 208 senators on 29 November: four per mainland province, plus those of the islands, Ceuta and Melilla. They are later joined by the senators appointed by the regional parliaments, 58 in the outgoing chamber. The Senate is not a closed-list vote but a vote for individuals: on the beige-coloured ballot voters can tick up to three candidates in each province, even from different parties. In practice the most-voted party in a province usually wins three of the four seats, which greatly amplifies the winner's lead.

The PP has held an absolute majority in the Senate since 2023: it won 120 of the 208 elected seats and, with the regionally appointed senators, more than 140 of a total of 266. If it keeps that majority and governs, it will control both chambers. If it does not govern, the Senate would again be its main counterweight: it can veto bills and delay them for up to two months, set up committees of inquiry and is the chamber that authorises Article 155. For the PSOE, winning back that majority, which it has not held since 2019, would remove that brake on a Socialist government.

Frequently asked questions

Which parties are standing in Spain's 2026 general election? The PP, PSOE, Vox, Sumar's Frente Amplio and Podemos run almost everywhere; Se Acabó La Fiesta and the Democracia 21–Ciudadanos coalition only in some constituencies; and ERC, Junts, PNV, EH Bildu, BNG, Coalición Canaria and UPN in their own regions. Lists are proclaimed on 2 November.

When is the Spanish general election? On Sunday 29 November 2026, after the Cortes were dissolved on 5 October.

Why was the election called early? Because on 2 October Congress voted down the government's two housing decrees, confirming that Pedro Sánchez had lost the parliamentary majority that invested him in 2023.

What do the polls say? The PP leads with 31% to 34% of the vote, followed by the PSOE (26–27.5%) and Vox (18–19.5%); the PP and Vox together have an absolute majority in the polls that estimate seats.

When will Spain have a new prime minister? The Cortes meet on 23 December and the investiture vote is expected in January 2027.