2026 Castilian-Leonese regional election


A regional election will be held in Castile and León on Sunday, 15 March 2026, to elect the 12th Cortes of Castile and León of the autonomous community. All 82 seats in the Cortes will be up for election. The regional government confirmed in September 2025 that, should no snap general election take place earlier, the regional election will most likely be held on the latest possible date.

Overview

Under the 2007 Statute of Autonomy, the Cortes of Castile and León are the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a [President of the Regional Government of Castile and León|Regional Government of Castile and León|regional president].

Electoral system

Voting for the Cortes is on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprises all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Castile and León and in full enjoyment of their political rights, provided that they are not sentenced—by a final court ruling—to deprivation of the right to vote. Amendments to the electoral law in 2022 abolished the "begged" or expat vote system, under which Spaniards abroad were required to apply for voting before being permitted to vote. The expat vote system was attributed responsibility for a major decrease in the turnout of Spaniards abroad during the years it had been in force.
The Cortes of Castile and León are entitled to three seats per each multi-member constituency—corresponding to the provinces of Ávila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora—plus one additional seat per each 45,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 22,500. All members are elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional voting system, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes being applied in each constituency. The use of the electoral method may result in a higher effective threshold based on the district magnitude and the distribution of votes among candidacies.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Cortes constituency is entitled the following seats:
SeatsConstituencies
15Valladolid
13León
11Burgos
10Salamanca
7Ávila, Palencia, Segovia, Zamora
5Soria

The law does not provide for by-elections to fill vacated seats; instead, any vacancies that occur after the proclamation of candidates and into the legislative term will be covered by the successive candidates in the list and, when required, by the designated substitutes.

Election date

The term of the Cortes of Castile and León expires four years after the date of their previous election, unless they are dissolved earlier. The election decree shall be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the scheduled date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of Castile and León, with election day taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication. The previous election was held on 13 February 2022, which means that the legislature's term will expire on 13 February 2026. The election decree shall be published in the BOCYL no later than 20 January 2026, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible date for election day on Sunday, 15 March 2026.
The regional president has the prerogative to dissolve the Cortes of Castile and León and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence is in process and that dissolution does not occur either during the first legislative session or before one year has elapsed since a previous dissolution. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Cortes shall be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called.
In January 2023, it was commented that regional president Alfonso Fernández Mañueco could try to reset the electoral cycle to make it coincide with the 2023 Spanish local elections on 28 May that year, this was ruled out by Mañueco himself. Further speculation surfaced with the advancement of the 2023 Spanish general election to 23 July, but the regional government ultimately rejected it. In late 2024, it emerged that Mañueco was considering to call a snap election in the event of being unable to get his 2025 budget passed through parliament—following Vox's decision to exit the cabinet earlier that year—but this was rejected by Mañueco in December 2024, as well as another round of speculation following a party crisis in Vox that saw the resignation of Juan García-Gallardo as regional leader in February 2025. On 16 September 2025, the regional government confirmed that the election would most likely be held on 15 March 2026—the latest possible date in which it could legally be held—except in the event of a snap general election being called earlier by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in which case both would be held concurrently. After the confirmation on 27 October 2025 of a snap regional election in Extremadura for 21 December, Mañueco ruled out a concurrent electoral call and insisted that his plan was still to hold the Castilian-Leonese election in March 2026. 15 March was confirmed as the election date on 14 January 2026, a few days before the scheduled dissolution of parliament.
The Cortes of Castile and León were officially dissolved on 20 January 2026 with the publication of the dissolution decree in the BOCYL, setting election day for 15 March and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 14 April.

Outgoing parliament

The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.

Parties and candidates

The electoral law allows for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance ahead of an election are required to inform the relevant electoral commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors need to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they seek election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. Amendments to the electoral law in 2024 increased requirements for a balanced composition of men and women in the electoral lists through the use of a zipper system.
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which will likely contest the election:

Timetable

The key dates are listed below :

Opinion polls

The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll.

Voting intention estimates

The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below the percentages in a smaller font; 42 seats are required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Castile and León.

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Preferred President

The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become president of the Regional Government of Castile and León.
;All candidates
;Mañueco vs. Martínez
Polling firm/CommissionerFieldwork dateSample sizeOther/
None/
Not
care		Lead
Polling firm/CommissionerFieldwork dateSample sizeOther/
None/
Not
care		Lead
Polling firm/CommissionerFieldwork dateSample sizeMañueco
Martínez
Other/
None/
Not
care		Lead
SocioMétrica/El Español6–9 Oct 20251,20038.533.7–27.74.8

Predicted President

The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood for each leader to become president of the Regional Government of Castile and León.
Polling firm/CommissionerFieldwork dateSample sizeOther/
None/
Not
care		Lead
Polling firm/CommissionerFieldwork dateSample sizeOther/
None/
Not
care		Lead
Polling firm/CommissionerFieldwork dateSample sizeMañueco
Martínez
Other/
None/
Not
care		Lead
SocioMétrica/El Español6–9 Oct 20251,20051.817.7–30.634.1
Sigma Dos/RTVCyL27 May–7 Jun 20252,70068.515.5––53.0