Spanish general election, 2016

Spanish general election, 2016

26 June 2016
All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 (of the 265) seats in the Senate 176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Opinion polls
Registered	36,518,100 0.0%
Leader Mariano Rajoy Pedro Sánchez Pablo Iglesias Party PP PSOE UP Leader since 2 September 2003 26 July 2014 15 November 2014 Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid Last election 123 seats, 28.7% 90 seats, 22.0% 71 seats, 24.5% Seats needed 53 86 105   Leader Albert Rivera Gabriel Rufián Francesc Homs Party C's ERC–CatSí CDC Leader since 9 July 2006 7 November 2015 6 November 2015 Leader's seat Madrid Barcelona Barcelona Last election 40 seats, 13.9% 9 seats, 2.4% 8 seats, 2.3% Seats needed 136 Unable Unable
435px Most voted party by autonomous community and province.
Incumbent Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (caretaker) PP

The 2016 Spanish general election will be held on Sunday, 26 June 2016, to elect the 12th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. At stake will be all 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 of 265 seats in the Senate.

No party secured a majority in the 2015 election, which had resulted in the most fragmented parliament since 1977. Ensuing negotiations led to a political deadlock, with failure in coalition talks paving the way to a fresh election for 26 June—the first time that a Spanish election has been triggered due to failure in the government formation process.

Overview

Electoral system

The Spanish legislature, the Cortes Generales (Spanish for General Courts) is composed of two chambers at the time of the 2016 election:

• The lower chamber, the Congress of Deputies.
• The upper chamber, the Senate.

This bicameral system is regarded as asymmetric, because while legislative initiative belongs to both chambers (as well as to the Government), the Congress of Deputies has greater legislative power than the Senate, and it can also override most of the Senate initiatives by an absolute majority of votes. Also, only Congress has the ability to grant or revoke confidence from a Prime Minister. Nonetheless, the Senate possesses a few exclusive functions which are not subject to the Congress' override, but these are limited.

Settled customary practice has been to dissolve and re-elect both chambers at the same time, thus triggering a "general" election. Article 115 of the Spanish Constitution allows, however, for each chamber to be elected separately. The electoral system in Spain is on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot.

Congress of Deputies

For the Congress of Deputies, 348 members are elected in 50 multi-member districts using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional representation for four-year terms. In addition, Ceuta and Melilla elect one member each using plurality voting. Each district is entitled to an initial minimum of two seats, with the remaining 248 seats being allocated among the 50 provinces in proportion to their populations. Only lists polling above 3% of the total vote in each district (which includes blank ballots—for none of the above) are entitled to enter the seat distribution. However, in most districts there is a higher effective threshold at the constituency level, depending on the district magnitude.

For the 2016 election, seats will be distributed as follows:

Seat distribution for the 2016 election

Seats	Districts
36 × 1 = 36	Madrid
31 × 1 = 31	Barcelona
16 × 1 = 16	Valencia(+1)
12 × 2 = 24	Alicante and Seville
11 × 1 = 11	Málaga
10 × 1 = 10	Murcia
9 × 1 = 9	Cádiz
8 × 5 = 40	A Coruña, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Las Palmas and Biscay
7 × 4 = 28	Granada, Pontevedra, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Zaragoza
6 × 7 = 42	Almería, Badajoz, Córdoba, Girona, Gipuzkoa, Tarragona and Toledo
5 × 7 = 35	Cantabria, Castellón, Ciudad Real, Huelva, Jaén, Navarre and Valladolid
4 × 10 = 40	Álava, Albacete, Burgos, Cáceres, León(–1), Lleida, Lugo, Ourense, La Rioja and Salamanca
3 × 8 = 24	Ávila, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Huesca, Palencia, Segovia, Teruel and Zamora
2 × 1 = 2	Soria
1 × 2 = 2	Ceuta and Melilla
= 350	Total seats

Senate

For the Senate, each of the 47 peninsular districts (the provinces) is assigned four seats. For the insular provinces, the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands, districts are the islands themselves, with the larger—Mallorca, Gran Canaria, and Tenerife—being assigned three seats each, and the smaller—Menorca, Ibiza-Formentera, Fuerteventura, Gomera, Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma—one each. Ceuta and Melilla are assigned two seats each, for a total of 208 directly elected seats. The system used is that of limited voting. In districts electing four seats, electors may vote for up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, for up to two candidates; and for one candidate in single-member constituencies. Electors vote for individual candidates; those attaining the largest number of votes in each district are elected for four-year terms.

In addition, the legislative assemblies of the autonomous communities are entitled to appoint at least one senator each, and one senator for every million inhabitants, adding a variable number of appointed seats to the 208 directly-elected senators. This appointment usually does not take place at the same time as the general election, but after the autonomous communities hold their respective elections.

Eligibility

Dual membership of both chambers of the Cortes or of the Cortes and regional assemblies is prohibited, meaning that candidates must resign from regional assemblies if elected. Active judges, magistrates, ombudsmen, serving military personnel, active police officers and members of constitutional and electoral tribunals are also ineligible, as well as CEOs or equivalent leaders of state monopolies and public bodies, such as the Spanish state broadcaster RTVE. Additionally, under the Political Parties Law, June 2002, parties and individual candidates may be prevented from standing by the Spanish Supreme Court if they are judicially perceived to discriminate against people on the basis of ideology, religion, beliefs, nationality, race, gender or sexual orientation, foment or organise violence as a means of achieving political objectives or support or compliment the actions of "terrorist organisations".

Following changes to the electoral law which took effect for the 2007 municipal elections, candidates' lists must be composed of at least 40% of candidates of either gender and each group of five candidates must contain at least two males and two females.

Parties and coalitions of different parties which have registered with the Electoral Commission can present lists of candidates. Groups of electors which have not registered with the Commission can also present lists, provided that they obtain the signatures of 1% of registered electors in a particular district. Also since 30 January 2011, political parties without representation in any of the Chambers in the previous general election are required to obtain the signatures of 0.1% of registered electors in the districts they want to stand for in order to present lists for those districts.

Background

Election aftermath

Podemos celebrating its election result on 20-D.

After the 2015 election resulted in the most fragmented Congress of Deputies in recent times, the possibility of a new election having to be held as a result of parliamentary deadlock during the investiture of a Prime Minister candidate became real for the first time since the Spanish transition to democracy. According to Article 99.5 of the Spanish Constitution, "if within a period of two months from the first investiture vote no candidate has obtained the confidence of Congress, the King shall dissolve both chambers and call a new election, with the endorsement of the Congress President."

A period of crisis developed within the PSOE after the December election result, with critics accusing Secretary-General Pedro Sánchez of lack of self-criticism in advance of the PSOE's spring leadership election. While Sánchez favoured trying to reach an agreement with Podemos, regional party leaders refused to accept Podemos' negotiation terms and instead favoured allowing the PP to try to form a government on its own, with the possibility of a PSOE-Podemos pact fading. President of Andalusia Susana Díaz, who was reported to be leading an open rebellion within the party, was said to be seeking to replace Sánchez as party leader and to eventually lead the PSOE into a new general election in 2016.

As neither of the two possible pacts between the major parties (PP–C's or PSOE–Podemos) was enough to command a majority on its own, attention focused on the PSOE as it underwent a leadership crisis. The PP wished for the Socialists to either abstain in Rajoy's investiture or form a joint grand coalition with them; C's pressured the PSOE into abstaining and avoiding a snap election; while Podemos accused Sánchez of losing control over his party. PSOE and C's feared that a new election could harm them and benefit both PP and Podemos.

PP scandals

The unveiling of a wave of corruption scandals kept striking the PP throughout the negotiation process. On 22 January, the PP became the first party to ever be judicially charged in a corruption case after being accused of destroying Bárcenas' hard drives in 2013, which allegedly contained information related to the party's illegal funding. The same day, one of Deputy PM Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría's right-hand staff was forced to resign from his post after it was discovered that he had been involved in a case of fraudulent awarding of public contracts.

Operation Taula, a major police operation in Valencia that took place on 26 January 2016, resulted in the arrest of several former and incumbent high-ranking members from the regional PP branch as a consequence of the ongoing investigation on the PP's corruption in the region during its time in government. By early February, a massive illegal financing network had been uncovered affecting the PPCV, with dozens of party officials and city councillors indicted or arrested. Judicial investigation also pointed to former long-time Mayor of Valencia Rita Barberá as a participant in the scandal; her arrest or imputation only being prevented by the fact she had legal protection as an incumbent senator. A few days later, on 1 February, all PP city councillors in the city of Valencia were charged for a possible money laundering offense, including new local party leader Alfonso Novo, as well as most members of Barberá's late government. The party found itself at risk of losing its municipal group in the city of Valencia—the third largest of Spain, which had seen 24 years of PP rule under Barberá's command—and rumours arising on a refoundation of the party in the region.

On 11 February, the scandal spread to Madrid after the Civil Guard was sent to register the PP main headquarters as part of the ongoing investigation resulting from the Operation Punica scandal, unveiled in October 2014. Evidence suggested that the public work contract kickbacks of the Punica case could also involve a possible illegal financing of the PP branch in the region. Esperanza Aguirre, former President of Madrid in the 2003–2012 period and president of the party's regional branch since 2004, resigned as regional leader on 14 February as a consequence of the scandal's political fallout, emphasizing her lack of "direct responsibility" in the scandal but "assuming [her] political responsibility" as both party leader and former regional premier.

In April, an urban planning corruption scandal was revealed to involve Granada's mayor and his government, all from the PP. Concurrently, the Spanish Treasury fined former Prime Minister José María Aznar for evading tax payments through a society. On 15 April, caretaker Industry Minister José Manuel Soria renounced his post as a result of his involvement in the Panama Papers scandal and his confusing and changing clarifications on the issue.

Economy

As negotiations for government formation were underway, Spain's public deficit for 2015 was revealed to be at 5.2%, well short of the 4.2% target agreed with the European Union and even exceeding the European Commission 4.8% forecast. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded that the excessive 2015 deficit be translated into "substantial fiscal tightening", blaming the deficit to the PP government's 2015 tax cuts as a result of the election year. On 16 April, the government lowered its economic growth forecast for 2016 from 3% to 2.7%. As a result, Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro announced a €2 billion spending cut in order to curb public deficit, while also demanding 12 autonomous communities to approve their own austerity plans within 15 days to freeze public spending.

Other economic data for Q1 2016 showed the Spanish economy growing by 0.8% since the previous quarter, but with unemployment increasing slightly by 11,900 to 21%.

Government formation

Further information: 2015–16 Spanish government formation

On 22 January, Mariano Rajoy turned down King Felipe VI's task of forming a government after Podemos offered a coalition proposal to the PSOE, with Sánchez as Prime Minister, Pablo Iglesias as his deputy and also including IU. Such an offer shocked the PSOE—which suddenly found itself at the mercy of Iglesias' party—with prominent PSOE figures regarding the proposal as an "insult" and "blackmail". The next day, Sánchez also renounced to run for the investiture until Rajoy clarified whether he was willing to make his try or stepped back definitely. Corruption scandals affecting the PP caused rejection in other parties and their withdrawal from negotiations with Rajoy. This situation lasted for a week until, on 2 February, the King tasked Pedro Sánchez with the formation of a government.

After several weeks on inter-party negotiations, the PSOE surprisingly struck a government deal with C's on 24 February. The agreement's form and content, however, met with criticism from parties both to the left and right of the spectrum, including PP and Podemos. The PP stated its opposition to the PSOE–C's pact, refusing to cave in to C's demands to "abstain" in the investiture to an agreement they saw as "a farce". On the other hand, Podemos and all other left-wing parties felt betrayed and broke up negotiations with PSOE, seeing the deal as an unholy alliance between the two former opposing parties. Other minor parties, such as ERC, DL, PNV and EH Bildu, also announced their opposition. As a result, Pedro Sánchez's investiture was rejected on 4 March by an overwhelming majority of 219 to 131 in the Congress of Deputies, thus becoming the first candidate to ever fail to pass an investiture vote.

Parties kept negotiating throughout March and April, but the rift between Podemos and C's made any three-way PSOE–Podemos–C's pact impossible. The PP pressured the PSOE to cave in to a grand coalition, a scenario which the latter rejected. A final round of talks on 25–26 April proved inconclusive, with King Felipe VI failing to nominate a candidate for Prime Minister, President of the Congress Patxi López announcing the Cortes Generales' dissolution for 3 May and a fresh election to be called for 26 June—an outcome already seen as inevitable by all parties after the failure of negotiations.

Fresh election

On 3 May, the King executed the constitutional mandate and triggered an election—with the endorsement of Patxi López—by issuing a royal decree dissolving the Parliament. The decree came into force the same day by its publication in the BOE. This marked the first time in democracy that an election was held under Article 99.5 of the Constitution, by which the initiative of issuing the Cortes' dissolution belonged to the King and not to the Prime Minister.

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the Spanish general election, 2016

Pre-election

Electoral calendar

Electoral calendar for the 2016 election

Date	Event
2 May 2016	After failure in the forming of a new government, the decree ordering the Cortes Generales' dissolution and the calling of the general election is ratified by the King with the endorsement of the President of the Congress of Deputies.
3 May 2016	The decree enters into force by its publication in the BOE. Parliament is officially dissolved and the general election is called. Official start of the electoral period.
13 May 2016	Deadline for parties intending to contest the election in coalition with other parties to communicate it to the appropriate electoral boards.
18–23 May 2016	Time limit for parties intending to contest the election to submit their candidacies to the Electoral Board.
25 May 2016	Submitted candidacies are provisionally published in the BOE.
28 May 2016	Deadline for Spanish electors residing abroad to apply for voting.
28 May–1 June 2016	Sweepstakes to appoint members of the polling stations.
31 May 2016	Candidacies for parties, coalitions and groups of voters standing for election are proclaimed and published in the BOE after a period of notification and amendment of possible irregularities in 27–29 May 2016.
10 June 2016	Official start of the electoral campaign at 00:00 CET (UTC+01:00).
16 June 2016	Deadline for electors residing in Spain to apply for postal voting.
21–25 June 2016	Legal ban on opinion polling publication in Spanish territory.
24 June 2016	Official end of the electoral campaign at 24:00 CET (UTC+01:00).
25 June 2016	Reflection day.
26 June 2016	Election Day. Polls open from 09:00 CET to 20:00 CET. Provisional vote count officially starting from 21:00 CET.
19 July 2016	The elected Congress and Senate convene. From the Cortes' convening but without a defined term, the King calls for a round of talks with political parties' representatives so that, depending on each other parliamentary representation, nominate a candidate for Prime Minister, which is submitted to Congress for an investiture debate and subsequent vote. The nominated candidate must muster an absolute majority of votes in the first ballot, or a relative majority in a second ballot to be held 48 hours after the first, in order to be elected. If within two months from the first investiture vote no candidate has obtained the confidence of Congress, the Cortes Generales are dissolved and a new general election called.

Electoral alliances

Regional coalitions

In Asturias, FAC announced its intention to continue their electoral coalition with the PP, due to the PP–FAC tandem obtaining 3 out of the 8 seats at stake in the December election. Meanwhile in Navarre, both UPN and PP were likely to maintain their alliance ahead of the upcoming general election, aiming at keeping their status as the first political force in the region. I-E, IU's regional branch, started talks with Podemos ahead of an alliance. Geroa Bai and EH Bildu were open to "exploring" coalition possibilities after failing to make headway in the Congress in the region after the 2015 election. After Podemos and I-E rejected their offer of building a common platform, both parties studied the option of standing together, but ended up discarding such a possibility. Both PSOE and NCa announced their intention of continuing their alliance in the Canary Islands, whereas the PP offered to maintain its alliance with PAR in Aragon.

CDC—which contested the 2015 election under the Democracy and Freedom (DL) banner — made an offer to ERC to resurrect the unitary coalition in which they both contested the 2015 Catalan regional election. Former Catalonia President Artur Mas offered himself to lead such a coalition into the election if it was eventually formed. ERC, however, rejected the offer and chose to run alone instead. Subsequently, debate arose within CDC on the opportunity to continue the DL alliance or to opt for alternative formulas to contest the election. Democrats of Catalonia and Reagrupament, CDC's allies within DL, suggested rebranding the alliance as "Together for Catalonia" (JxCat) and demanded it to be led by an independent. CDC leaders rejected this proposal and announced on 9 May that they were contesting the election on their own.

On 10 May, the newly-formed Podemos-IU alliance offered a nationwide alliance with PSOE to contest the Senate election, in an effort to prevent a new PP absolute majority in that chamber. Pedro Sánchez rejected such a possibility as negotiations were already underway in Aragon, Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community. However, the party's Valencian branch, which advocated for an alliance with Compromís and Podemos for the Senate under the "Valencian Accord" label (In Valencian: Acord Valencià), refused to acknowledge Sánchez's command, threatening a schism in PSOE ranks as the party's national leadership tried to override their regional counterpart. After several days of conflict, the PSPV acquiesced to Sánchez's demand on 13 May, reluctantly rejecting the alliance with Compromís-Podemos.

Podemos–IU alliance

Further information: Unidos Podemos

Logo for the Unidos Podemos alliance.

Podemos aimed at enlarging its alliance system from December, seeking to conglomerate all forces to the left of PSOE in a single, unitary alliance for the 2016 election. Both En Comú Podem and En Marea had already announced their intention to continue their successful coalitions, while Compromís' leaders expressed their will to renew their alliance with Podemos but also seeking to include EUPV, which had been left out of the coalition for the previous election. Talks between Podemos and Més had also started in the Balearic Islands ahead of a prospective election alliance, aiming at forming a "grand coalition of the left" in the islands. Podemos tried to probe PACMA for a common nationwide list for the 2016 election, but this was rejected by the latter as it perceived that Podemos was "not clear enough on the issue of banning bullfighting".

Already from 20 April, both Podemos and IU-UPeC started exploring the possibility of forming a joint list for a likely fresh election. By 30 April, as the new election was confirmed, both parties acknowledged that talks had formally started and that an agreement was expected to be reached throughout the next week. On 9 May, Pablo Iglesias (Podemos) and Alberto Garzón (IU) officially announced that a formal alliance had been reached and that their parties would be running together in the upcoming general election. Equo, which had already supported the continuation of its coalition with Podemos, announced it would also participate in the newly-formed alliance. The Podemos-IU national accord paved the way for United Left to join the És el moment alliance in the Valencian Community as well.

On 13 May, it was announced that the alliance name for the election would be "Unidos Podemos" (Spanish for United We Can).

Pre-campaign

Campaign cost

One of the main themes going into the June election was the economic cost that a new campaign would mean for the budget. During the final round of talks, King Felipe VI—anticipating a fresh election—had asked parties to run austere campaigns.

The PP proposed that the party avoid large scale rallies, aiming at running a "simpler" campaign—with smaller events in medium-sized cities and towns—while also suggesting reducing the campaign's length to 10 days and removing external advertising—namely that involving advertising through billboards and flags. The PSOE suggested reducing campaign spending by 30%, cutting mailing spending and removing external advertising. Podemos and C's proposed unifying party mailing, with C's being favourable to cutting party spending by 50%. Podemos went further and suggested limiting parties' spending to 3 million each.

All three PSOE, Podemos and C's were against PP's proposal of making a shorter campaign or for cuts to affect election debates. As some of these proposals required changes in the electoral law—something which could not happen as the Cortes would be dissolved—parties called for reaching a gentlemen's agreement; in Albert Rivera's words, "a political pact through which changing the law wouldn't be necessary". However, negotiations held to discuss the reduction of electoral spending failed to produce an agreement, with parties expected to cut their spending at will.

Party moves

As parties geared up for the upcoming election campaign, the PP faced the fresh election looking back at the corruption scandals under judicial investigation in which the party was involved. Some of such scandals, involving senior party members such as Rita Barberá, stirred up debate as to whether it was best to maintain these people within party ranks or force their withdrawal. C's, on its part, discarded its pact with the PSOE after it was announced that a new election would be held, with party leaders stating that it "won't be in force anymore" once the Cortes were dissolved. However, they wanted to use the accord as a showing of the party's "willingness to negotiate" with forces both to the left and right of the spectrum. The party's main aim was to prevent that a possible campaign polarization could cast "fearful" voters away to the PP to prevent a Podemos' rise. Albert Rivera said that the PP was "controlled by its 'old guard'" and that his party would not negotiate with the PP so long as Rajoy remained as leader.

The PSOE suffered from the end of the negotiations period. Carme Chacón—former Defence Minister under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero—and Irene Lozano—an independent, formerly aligned to UPyD, personally enlisted into PSOE by Pedro Sánchez for the December election—both announced their withdrawal from PSOE lists ahead of the June election. Concurrently, PSOE leaders had tried to pressure IU into avoiding an electoral alliance with Podemos out of fear of being pushed into third place nationally, with some commenting that the party's actions had been erratic and confusing throughout negotiations. Coupled with growing pessimism within PSOE ranks, this was said to potentially be able to harm them going into the campaign. On 30 April, Sánchez tried to stir up morale among party members and asked for "unity and trust" around him ahead of the new election. Susana Díaz, Sánchez's rival for the party's leadership, warned him that she would only accept "a PSOE win". Once the hegemonic party of the Spanish left, the PSOE had been pushed out of the left and into the centre, with some fearing it could run down the path of the Greek PASOK.

The 15-M fifth anniversary coincided with the pre-campaign of the general election.

As the newly-formed Unidos Podemos alliance was announced on early May, the PSOE found itself under threat of being marginalized as both PP and UP sought to polarize the campaign between the two. Sánchez tried to remain in the spotlight and cast off the phantom of party internal division by releasing a series of key announcements throughout the first weeks of May. Margarita Robles—a judge from the Spanish Supreme Court and former Interior State Secretary under Felipe González—and Josep Borrell—former Public Works Minister—were announced to be signing up for Sánchez's campaign; concurrently, Susana Díaz accepted to officially present Sánchez's proclamation as PSOE candidate, in a move seen as an act of apparent "reconciliation" between the two leaders ahead of the election. Sánchez was also expected to announce his "shadow cabinet" on 15 May, and tried to appeal to centrist voters that a vote for him would be a "vote for change".

Pablo Iglesias blamed the PSOE for the failure in negotiations and commented that Podemos' aim in the June election would be to directly face the PP as equals, in what he referred to as a "second round" of the December run. Iglesias offered to explore the possibility of an accord with PSOE after the election, expressing his will to form a "progresist" government, but condemned the way the PSOE had—in his view—treated his party up until that point. During an interview held a few days later, Iglesias took for granted that his party had already surpassed the PSOE nationally and stated he would offer Sánchez be his deputy in a Podemos-led cabinet. Once his electoral coalition with IU had been formalized, Iglesias again reiterated his wish to see the PSOE "as an ally"—despite the Socialists having rejected Podemos' offer for an alliance to the Senate—and put overtaking the PP as his target.

For the first time since 2011, the anniversary of the 15-M Movement came marked by the pre-electoral campaign of a general election. UP, self-declared as the Movement's political heir, intended to use the event as a launching point for its campaign. Various winks to the 15-M were made: the announcement of the Podemos–IU alliance was staged on 9 May at Puerta del Sol, long-regarded as a symbol and focal point for the 15-M. Concurrently, Podemos launched an "accountability" campaign under the 'Congress in your square' label "to regain the connection with the streets". On 15 May, thousands gathered at Puerta del Sol to commemorate the 15-M anniversary; the crowd shouting some of the Movement's most featured slogans, such as the "Yes we can!" warcry—which had also served as Podemos' party slogan ever since its inception.

As UP struggled to gain momentum, PP, PSOE and C's turned their attacks on the newborn alliance, trying to corner it to the far-left side of the spectrum. Andalusian President Susana Díaz said of it that it was "the reunion of the Communist Youth"; the PP described it as "the old-fashioned communists but with another name". C's leader Albert Rivera commented that his party offered itself "without sickles, hammers nor corruption", in reference both to UP and the PP.

Campaign

Party manifestos and slogans

Party/alliance	Manifesto (external link)	Other slogan(s)
People's Party (PP)
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)		"A YES for change"
United We Can (Unidos Podemos)
→In Common We Can (En Común Podem)		"Let's Win the Change"
→Commitment–We Can–United Left (A la valenciana)
→In Tide (En Marea)
Citizens-Party of the Citizenry (C's)		"Time of agreement; time of change"

Leaders' debates

After the success of leaders' debates in the 2015 election, the organizing of new debates for the incoming campaign started after the Cortes' dissolution. As in the previous election, the first debate was organized by the Demos Association, to be held in the Charles III University of Madrid on 6 June. The leaders of the four main parties were invited, with Pablo Iglesias and Albert Rivera confirming their presence but conditioning it to Rajoy and Sánchez attending as well. Atresmedia also announced the group's intention to have a four-way debate, scheduled for 16 June, similar to the one held on 7 December. This time, Mariano Rajoy was willing to attend a four-way leaders' debate—unlike the previous election campaign, in which his party sent Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría instead. The PP was, however, unconvinced of repeating another two-way debate with Pedro Sánchez, with Rajoy unpleased with the format of the 14 December debate—allegedly after a harsh confrontation with Sánchez ensued after him referring to Rajoy as "indecent".

The PSOE announced that Sánchez would not attend a debate with Iglesias and Rivera if Rajoy was not present as well. C's conditioned Rivera's presence to either Rajoy attending or having an empty lectern put in his place, but would not accept the PP sending another person instead. Podemos did not took a firm stance on the issue but Íñigo Errejón stated that his party would "go to all debates, always sending spokespeople at the same level as those sent by other political forces", thus opening the door for Iglesias not attending debates if other parties did not send their prime ministerial candidates.

Spanish general election debates, 2016
N°.	Date	Broadcaster	Moderator	Invitees				Notes
Name  Invited Participant.    N  Non-invitee.    A  Absent invitee.
1	6 June	UC3M	Carlos Alsina	Rivera			Iglesias
2	16 June	Atresmedia

Results

Congress of Deputies

Overall

← Summary of the 26 June 2016 Spanish Congress of Deputies election results

Party		Vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	People's Party (PP)
	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)

	United We Can (Unidos Podemos)
		We Can–United Left–Equo: United We Can (Podemos–IU–Equo)
		In Common We Can-Let's Win the Change (En Comú Podem)
		Commitment–We Can–United Left (Compromís–Podemos–EUPV)
		In Tide (Podemos–En Marea–Anova–EU)

	Citizens-Party of the Citizenry (C's)
	Republican Left of Catalonia–Catalonia Yes (ERC–CatSí)
	Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC)
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV)
	Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA)
	Basque Country Unite (EH Bildu)
	Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD)
	Canarian Coalition–Canarian Nationalist Party (CC–PNC)
	Galician Nationalist Bloc–Us–Galician Candidacy (BNG–Nós)
	Vox (Vox)
	Zero Cuts–Green Group (Recortes Cero–GV)
	Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE)
	Yes to the Future (GBai)
	Citizens of Democratic Centre (CCD)
	Blank Seats (Eb)
	Spanish Falange of the JONS (FE-JONS)
	We Are Valencian (SOMVAL)
	Internationalist Solidarity and Self-Management (SAIn)
	The Greens–Ecopacifists (Centro Moderado)
	Libertarian Party (P-LIB)
	Humanist Party (PH)
	United Extremadura–Extremadurans (EU–eX)
	Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE)
	National Democracy (DN)
	Regionalist Party of the Leonese Country (PREPAL)
	United Free Citizens (CILUS)
	Navarrese Freedom (Ln)
	Forward Valencians (Avant)
	Family and Life Party (PFyV)
	Independents for Aragon (FIA)
	Sovereignty for the Islands (SI)			New
	Revolutionary Anti-capitalist Left (IZAC)			New
	State of Spain Unionist Party (PUEDE)			New
	The Falange (FE)			New
	Merindades of Castile Initiative (IMC)			New
	We Are Andalusians Party, For Andalusia and the Peoples (AND)			New
	Platform for Catalonia (PxC)			New
	Independents' Coalition for Huelva (ICxH)			New
	Forward (Entabán)			New
	Social Aragonese Movement (MAS)			New
	Democratic Centre Alliance (ALCD)			New
	Leonese People's Union (UPL)			New
	The Force of the Elders of Spain (FME)			New
	Unity of the People (UP)			New
	Together for Canaries (JXC)			New
	Everyone's Union (UDT)			New
	Political Renovation (REPO)			New
	Blank ballots
Total			100.00		350	±0
Valid votes
Invalid votes
Votes cast / turnout
Abstentions
Registered voters
Source: BOE

Senate

The Spanish Senate at the time of the 2016 election is made up of 265 seats:

• 208 directly elected by popular vote.
• 57 appointed by the regional legislatures.

All senators serve for four-year terms, though regional legislatures may recall their appointees at any time. The appointment process of these seats depends on the legislatures' parliamentary composition, and it is frequent for changes to happen each time regional elections are held.

For the Senate election, voters have one, two or three votes, depending on the number of senators awarded to each constituency.

← Summary of the 26 June 2016 Spanish Senate election results

Party		Election		Not up	Total	+/−
		Seats	+/−			Before	2015

	People's Party (PP)				21
		People's Party (PP)			21
		Aragonese Party (PAR)			–
		Navarrese People's Union (UPN)			–
		Asturias Forum (FAC)			–

	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)				20
		Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)			19
		Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC)			1

	United We Can (Unidos Podemos)				7
		We Can–United Left–Equo: United We Can (Podemos–IU–Equo)			5
		In Common We Can-Let's Win the Change (En Comú Podem)			1
		Commitment–We Can–United Left (Compromís–Podemos–EUPV)			1
		In Tide (Podemos–En Marea–Anova–EU)			–

	Citizens-Party of the Citizenry (C's)			3
	Republican Left of Catalonia–Catalonia Yes (ERC–CatSí)			2
	Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC)			2
	Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV)			1
	Basque Country Unite (EH Bildu)			1
	Change (Cambio-Aldaketa)			–
	Canarian Coalition–Canarian Nationalist Party (CC–PNC)			1
	Gomera Socialist Group (ASG)			–
Total		208	±0	57	265	–1	–1
Source(s):