Spaniards vote in general elections, which renew the Congress of Deputies and the Senate, normally every four years; in elections to the autonomous communities, with their own calendars (some vote together in May, on the same day as the municipal elections); in municipal elections; and for the European Parliament. The government is formed through a confidence vote in the Congress (see the Spanish state).
The electoral system
The 350 deputies are elected by proportional representation (D'Hondt method) in 52 constituencies, the 50 provinces plus Ceuta and Melilla, with closed lists and a threshold of 3% of the vote at provincial level. Each province has at least two deputies, and thinly populated inland provinces are over-represented. The result is a system that rewards the two biggest parties and regional parties with votes concentrated in one territory, such as Catalan and Basque nationalists, often decisive in forming a government, while penalising medium-sized national parties. Spanish citizens aged 18 and over vote, including those living abroad; EU citizens resident in Spain can vote in municipal and European elections.
Results since 1977
| Year | Largest party | Prime minister |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | UCD | Adolfo Suárez |
| 1979 | UCD | Adolfo Suárez, then Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo (1981) |
| 1982 | PSOE (202 of 350 seats) | Felipe González |
| 1986, 1989, 1993 | PSOE | Felipe González |
| 1996 | PP | José María Aznar |
| 2000 | PP (absolute majority) | José María Aznar |
| 2004, 2008 | PSOE | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero |
| 2011 | PP (186 seats) | Mariano Rajoy |
| 2015, 2016 | PP | Mariano Rajoy (after months without a government) |
| 2018 | no-confidence motion | Pedro Sánchez |
| April and November 2019 | PSOE | Pedro Sánchez |
| 2023 | PP (137 seats) | Pedro Sánchez (PSOE, 121 seats) |
The 2008 and 2011 elections
In the election of 9 March 2008, Zapatero was confirmed against the Popular Party's Mariano Rajoy, in a campaign dominated by the slowing economy, inflation and the property market crisis, which a few months later would turn into a deep recession. The snap election of 20 November 2011, called after Zapatero stepped down, was a triumph for the PP, which won an absolute majority and topped the poll in almost every province, while the PSOE, led by Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, had the worst result in its democratic history (see the 2008-2012 crisis).
The end of two-party politics
From 2015 the arrival of Podemos and Ciudadanos, and then Vox, multiplied the parties in Parliament: in 2016 Spain went almost a year without a government, and in 2019 it voted twice. In the election of 23 July 2023 Alberto Núñez Feijóo's PP came first but lacked the numbers to govern even with Vox, and Pedro Sánchez was re-elected prime minister in coalition with Sumar and with support from Catalan, Basque, Galician and Canarian parties.
29 November 2026
On 5 October 2026 Pedro Sánchez announced the dissolution of the Cortes and called a snap general election for 29 November 2026, after Parliament rejected his housing measures. We will update this page with the results. For the political background see politics in Spain.