Elections in Spain

Elections in Spain encompass four different types: general elections, regional elections, local elections, and elections to the European Parliament. General elections and regional elections are typically conducted at the conclusion of the national or regional legislative mandate, which usually spans four years since the previous election. However, early elections can be called in certain circumstances. On the other hand, local council elections and elections to the European Parliament follow fixed dates, although some local government bodies, such as provincial councils, are not directly elected. In most elections, a party-list proportional representation system is employed, while the Senate utilizes the plurality system.

General elections

General elections are elections held for the national legislature, which is called in Spain Cortes Generales and consists of two chambers, the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. The Congress and Senate usually serve concurrent terms that run for a maximum of four years. However, the Prime Minister has the prerogative to dissolve both Houses at any given time either jointly or separately.

Congress of Deputies

The Congress is made out of 350 members directly elected by universal adult suffrage for a four-year term of office. Each one of Spain's fifty provinces is a constituency entitled to an initial minimum of two seats; the cities of Ceuta and Melilla elect one member each. The remaining 348 seats are allocated among the fifty provinces in proportion to their populations. Parties, federations, coalitions and agrupaciones de electores may present candidates or lists of candidates. The lists are closed, so electors may not choose individual candidates in, or alter the order of, such lists. Electors cast a ballot for a single list, or for a single candidate in Ceuta and Melilla.
The seats in each constituency are apportioned according to the largest average method of proportional representation, conceived by the Belgian mathematician Victor d'Hondt in 1899. However, in order to participate in the allocation of seats, a list must receive at least three percent of all valid votes cast in the constituency, including blank ballots. The single-member seats in Ceuta and Melilla are filled by the plurality or first-past-the-post method, under which the candidate obtaining the largest number of votes in the constituency is elected.
;Seat allocation in Congress
To illustrate the functioning of the system, the allocation of seats in the three provinces of the Self-Governing or Autonomous Community of Aragón - Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza - for the June 1993 general election is presented here in detail. At the time, Zaragoza province had seven seats in Congress, while both Huesca and Teruel had three.
In Zaragoza province, only four tickets, namely the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, the Popular Party, the Aragonese Party and the United Left won at least three percent of the valid votes cast in the election - including blank ballots - and were thus entitled to participate in the allocation of constituency seats. The tickets were sorted by number of votes from top to bottom, and the votes polled by each of these were then divided by 1, 2, 3, and so on until the number of seats to be allocated was reached, as detailed below:

Seats were then awarded to the tickets obtaining the largest quotients or averages. As indicated, the PSOE won three seats, the PP two, the PAR one and IU one. The seats won by each ticket were awarded to the candidates included therein, according to their ranking on the lists: therefore, the first three candidates on the PSOE list were elected to Congress, as were the first two candidates on the PP list and the candidates at the top of the PAR and IU lists, respectively.
Meanwhile, the results of the election in Huesca province were as follows:
The effective representation threshold in Huesca was 25,360 votes, or 19.0% of the valid vote.
Finally, the outcome of the election in Teruel was the following:

The effective representation threshold in Teruel was 18,163 votes, or 20.2% of the valid vote.
Having concluded the allocation of Congress seats in the three Aragón constituencies, the following peculiarities stand out:

The effective representation threshold in each province was substantially larger than the three percent barrier set forth by law: in all three constituencies, the seat apportionment would have been the same regardless of the statutory threshold.
The number of votes required to attain a seat in Zaragoza province - the largest of three constituencies - was substantially higher than the amount required to that end in Huesca or in Teruel.
The proportional allocation of seats in each constituency appeared to favor the major parties in general and specifically the majority party.
Senate

The system for electing the Senate was first used in 1979, though with regard to the provinces the system is unchanged since 1977. Senators are elected directly from the provinces and indirectly from the autonomous communities; currently, there are 264 senators, 208 directly elected and 56 indirectly elected.
In the provinces, a majoritarian partial block voting system is used. All peninsular provinces elect four senators each; the insular provinces elect one or three senators per island, and Ceuta and Melilla elect two senators each. Parties nominate three candidates; each voter has three votes and votes for candidates by name, the only instance of personal voting in Spanish national elections. The usual outcome is three senators for the party with the most votes, and one senator for the runner-up, except in very close races.
The autonomous communities receive one senator, plus one for each million inhabitants. They are entitled to determine how they choose their senators but are generally elected by the legislature of the respective community in proportion to its party composition.

Election results 1977–2023

Regional elections

1983 Spanish regional elections
1987 Spanish regional elections
1991 Spanish regional elections
1995 Spanish regional elections
1999 Spanish regional elections
2003 Spanish regional elections
2007 Spanish regional elections
2011 Spanish regional elections
2015 Spanish regional elections
2019 Spanish regional elections
2020 Spanish regional elections
2021 Spanish regional elections
2022 Spanish regional elections
2023 Spanish regional elections

Elections to the unicameral parliaments of the autonomous communities of Spain are held every four years. Most of the seventeen autonomous parliaments elections take place the same day, the fourth Sunday of May of the year before a leap year; the last election was held on 28 May 2023. Despite this, not all the regions celebrate elections at the same time due to the power of the regional presidents to call early elections if necessary.
Depending on the autonomy statute of each nationality or region, the regional president has a greater or lesser number of conditions for calling early elections. Regional elections are held in all nationalities, regions, and cities, fifty-four days after the publication of their announcement in the Official State Gazette and in the official gazette of the corresponding autonomous community.
There are currently two groups of autonomous communities: those that must hold elections on the fourth Sunday in May every four years—counting from May 1983—and those that do not have this obligation. Although all communities in both groups may bring forward elections, in the case of those in the first group that hold early elections, the new legislatures are limited by the natural term of the original legislature, so that in any case there will be elections in May of each four-year period.
The six autonomous communities required to hold elections on the fourth Sunday in May of each four-year period are Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja, the Community of Madrid, and the Region of Murcia. So far, only in Asturias and Madrid have elections been brought forward, resulting in shorter legislatures for that period.
The other autonomous communities, namely Andalusia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Castile and León, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, Galicia, Navarre, and the Basque Country, may bring forward elections, resulting in a full legislative term. Despite this, only six communities – Extremadura in 2025; Andalusia in 1996, 2015 and 2018; Castile and León in 2022; the Basque Country in 1986, 2001 and 2012; Catalonia in 1995, 2006, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2024; Galicia in 2009, 2012, 2020 and 2024; and the Valencian Community in 2019, have brought forward elections under this new system. The others – namely Aragon, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Navarre, and the Valencian Community since 2023 – continue to hold them jointly with the elections of the autonomous communities not authorized to bring them forward.

Local elections

1979 Spanish local elections
1983 Spanish local elections
1987 Spanish local elections
1991 Spanish local elections
1995 Spanish local elections
1999 Spanish local elections
2003 Spanish local elections
2007 Spanish local elections
2011 Spanish local elections
2015 Spanish local elections
2019 Spanish local elections
2023 Spanish local elections

Elections in the municipalities take place in all the country in the same day as the regional elections, the fourth Sunday of May of the year before a leap year. Last time was 28 May 2023.

Elections to the European Parliament

1987 European Parliament election in Spain
1989 European Parliament election in Spain
1994 European Parliament election in Spain
1999 European Parliament election in Spain
2004 European Parliament election in Spain
2009 European Parliament election in Spain
2014 European Parliament election in Spain
2019 European Parliament election in Spain
2024 European Parliament election in Spain