2026 Spanish general election

The 2026 Spanish general election is scheduled to take place in Spain on 29 November 2026, following the early dissolution of both chambers of the Cortes Generales, the national legislature. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced the election on 5 October, and the royal decree formally calling it was published the following day. Voters will elect all 350 members of the Congress of Deputies and the directly elected members of the Senate. As of 15 October 2026, the election has not taken place. (boe.es)

Background and election call

The outgoing chambers were elected on 23 July 2023. In that election, the People’s Party won 137 seats in Congress, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and its associated organizations won 121, Vox won 33, and Sumar won 31. The remaining seats went to smaller parties and regional political formations. These figures describe the 2023 election results, rather than a projection for 2026. (boe.es)

The October 2026 election announcement followed a parliamentary defeat for the government over housing measures. In his statement on 5 October, Sánchez called for voters to determine the country’s political direction and announced an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers to initiate dissolution and an early election. The decision brought forward a contest that he had previously said would take place in 2027. (lemonde.fr)

The formal instrument was Royal Decree 806/2026 of 5 October, published in the official state gazette on 6 October. It dissolved the Congress and Senate elected in July 2023 and called elections to both chambers. The decree invoked Article 115 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the Organic Law on the General Electoral Regime. (boe.es)

Electoral timetable

The royal decree establishes the following dates:

Stage	Date
Publication of the dissolution and election decree	6 October 2026
Beginning of the official election campaign	13 November 2026
End of the official election campaign	27 November 2026
Polling day	29 November 2026
Constitutive meetings of the newly elected chambers	23 December 2026

The official campaign lasts fifteen days. The constitutive meetings of both chambers are scheduled for 10 a.m. on 23 December. (boe.es)

Electoral system

Congress of Deputies

Congress has 350 seats. Each province receives an initial allocation of two seats, with another 248 distributed among the provinces according to population. Ceuta and Melilla each elect one deputy. (boe.es)

In the provincial constituencies, deputies are elected through closed-list proportional representation. Lists must receive at least 3 per cent of valid votes in their constituency to participate in the allocation of seats. Seats are distributed using the D’Hondt method, which ranks successive quotients of each eligible list’s vote total. Candidates take seats in the order in which they appear on their list. In Ceuta and Melilla, the candidate receiving the most votes wins. The threshold is therefore a constituency threshold, not a nationwide requirement. (boe.es)

Senate

The Senate uses a different system. Voters select individual candidates, with limits on how many candidates each elector may support. In ordinary provincial constituencies, four senators are elected and each voter may choose up to three candidates. Different allocations and voting limits apply to island constituencies and to Ceuta and Melilla. (boe.es)

The 2026 election decree assigns three senators each to Gran Canaria, Mallorca and Tenerife, and one each to Ibiza, Formentera, Menorca, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma. Ceuta and Melilla each elect two senators. The Senate also includes members designated by the autonomous communities; those positions are distinct from the seats filled directly in the general election. (boe.es)

Government formation

The election does not directly choose the prime minister. Under Article 99 of the Constitution, the monarch consults representatives of the parliamentary political groups and proposes a candidate through the president of Congress. The candidate presents a programme and seeks the confidence of Congress. (boe.es)

An initial investiture vote requires an absolute majority—176 votes in a Congress of 350 members. If that fails, a second vote takes place forty-eight hours later, when a simple majority is sufficient. Consequently, the distribution of seats and subsequent agreements between parliamentary groups determine whether a candidate can form a government; finishing first in votes or seats does not itself confer the premiership. (boe.es)

If no candidate secures congressional confidence within two months of the first investiture vote, the Constitution requires the dissolution of both chambers and another election. (boe.es)