How Spain's general election works
On Sunday 29 November 2026 Spain elects both chambers of its parliament: the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) and the Senate (Senado). This page explains how votes become seats and what happens next. It names no party and shows no opinion polls.
At a glance
- Date
- Sunday 29 November 2026.
- Polling stations
- open from 09:00 to 20:00.
- Congress
- 350 members, chosen in 52 constituencies.
- Senate
- 209 senators chosen directly by voters (by our calculation), plus senators appointed by the regional parliaments.
- Campaign
- from Friday 13 November to Friday 27 November.
- Day of reflection
- Saturday 28 November.
What is being elected?
Spain's parliament, the Cortes Generales, is made up of two chambers. The Congress has 350 members. The Senate is the chamber of territorial representation. Some senators are elected directly by voters in each province or island, and in Ceuta and Melilla, and the regional parliaments appoint others. Each chamber's term lasts four years, or until it is dissolved.
Voters get a separate ballot paper for each chamber.
How are the 350 Congress seats shared between constituencies?
In the Congress, each province is a constituency (circunscripción), and Ceuta and Melilla count as one constituency each. That makes 52 constituencies.
The law sets the seats this way: every province starts with 2 seats, Ceuta and Melilla get 1 each, and the other 248 seats are shared out between provinces in proportion to their population. The decree that called this election lists the number of seats for each constituency.
| Constituency (official name) | Congress seats |
|---|---|
| Albacete | 4 |
| Alicante/Alacant | 12 |
| Almería | 6 |
| Araba/Álava | 4 |
| Asturias | 7 |
| Ávila | 3 |
| Badajoz | 5 |
| Balears (Illes) | 8 |
| Barcelona | 32 |
| Bizkaia | 8 |
| Burgos | 4 |
| Cáceres | 4 |
| Cádiz | 8 |
| Cantabria | 5 |
| Castellón/Castelló | 5 |
| Ciudad Real | 5 |
| Córdoba | 6 |
| Coruña (A) | 8 |
| Cuenca | 3 |
| Gipuzkoa | 6 |
| Girona | 6 |
| Granada | 7 |
| Guadalajara | 3 |
| Huelva | 5 |
| Huesca | 3 |
| Jaén | 5 |
| León | 4 |
| Lleida | 4 |
| Lugo | 4 |
| Madrid | 38 |
| Málaga | 11 |
| Murcia | 10 |
| Navarra | 5 |
| Ourense | 4 |
| Palencia | 3 |
| Palmas (Las) | 8 |
| Pontevedra | 7 |
| Rioja (La) | 4 |
| Salamanca | 4 |
| Santa Cruz de Tenerife | 7 |
| Segovia | 3 |
| Sevilla | 12 |
| Soria | 2 |
| Tarragona | 6 |
| Teruel | 3 |
| Toledo | 6 |
| Valencia/València | 16 |
| Valladolid | 5 |
| Zamora | 3 |
| Zaragoza | 7 |
| Ceuta | 1 |
| Melilla | 1 |
| Total | 350 |
Source: annex to Real Decreto 806/2026. Constituencies are listed in the order the decree uses.
How do votes become seats in the Congress?
Seats are given out constituency by constituency, by these rules:
- Lists under 3% drop out. A list needs at least 3% of the valid votes cast in that constituency to take part in sharing out the seats.
- Blank votes (an envelope with no ballot paper) are valid votes.
- Each remaining list's votes are divided by 1, 2, 3 and so on. This method is known as D'Hondt.
- The biggest results get the seats. The seats go to the lists with the largest results in the table, in order, until all the constituency's seats are given out.
- A tie goes to the list with more votes in total; if those are equal too, a draw decides.
- Within a list, seats go to candidates in the order printed on the ballot paper. A vote cast on a ballot paper where names have been crossed out, added or reordered is void.
An example, using the numbers in the law. Take a constituency with 480,000 valid votes and 8 seats. Six lists, labelled A to F (not real parties), get 168,000, 104,000, 72,000, 64,000, 40,000 and 32,000 votes. All six are above the 3% line, which is 14,400 votes. Dividing gives this table. The eight largest results are in bold and marked with ●.
Scroll the table sideways to see all of it.
| Divisor | A | B | C | D | E | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ÷1 | 168,000 (seat 1) | 104,000 (seat 2) | 72,000 (seat 4) | 64,000 (seat 5) | 40,000 | 32,000 |
| ÷2 | 84,000 (seat 3) | 52,000 (seat 7) | 36,000 | 32,000 | 20,000 | 16,000 |
| ÷3 | 56,000 (seat 6) | 34,667 | 24,000 | 21,333 | 13,333 | 10,667 |
| ÷4 | 42,000 (seat 8) | 26,000 | 18,000 | 16,000 | 10,000 | 8,000 |
The eighth seat goes to list A, for its result of 42,000. The next result, 40,000, is just short. So A gets 4 seats, B gets 2, and C and D get 1 each. (This example uses the figures printed in the law and gives the same result.)
In each of Ceuta and Melilla, one deputy is elected: the candidate with the most votes.
How does the Senate work?
The Senate is elected differently. Voters choose individual candidates, not a list.
- Provinces: each province elects 4 senators.
- Islands: Mallorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife elect 3 each; Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma elect 1 each.
- Ceuta and Melilla: 2 each.
- How many names you can mark: up to 3 in the provinces; up to 2 in Mallorca, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Ceuta and Melilla; 1 in the other islands. Marking more makes the vote void.
- Who wins: the candidates with the most votes, until all the seats for the constituency are filled.
- Regional senators: each region also appoints one senator, plus one more for every million inhabitants of its territory, through its regional parliament.
A change this time. In earlier elections, Ibiza and Formentera shared one Senate constituency. A reform of the Constitution of May 2026, applied by an organic law of June 2026, gives Formentera its own senator from these elections. By our calculation that makes 209 senators chosen directly by voters. (Calculated from the law: 47 constituencies of 4 senators each, plus 6 in the Balearic Islands, 11 in the Canary Islands and 4 in Ceuta and Melilla.)
What happens on voting day?
- Polling stations open at 09:00 and close at 20:00.
- Counting starts as soon as voting ends, in public, at each polling station.
- Each station makes its result public at once, in a count record (acta de escrutinio) posted outside the polling place.
- The Government provides provisional information. A copy of each record goes to a person the administration appoints, so the Government can give provisional information on the result.
What is the calendar?
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| Fri 13 Nov | Campaign starts |
| Fri 27 Nov | Campaign ends at 24:00 |
| Sat 28 Nov | Day of reflection |
| Sun 29 Nov | Voting, 09:00 to 20:00 |
| 4 to 7 Dec | Provincial electoral boards do the general count |
| 8 to 16 Dec | Elected members are officially proclaimed |
| Wed 23 Dec, 10:00 | The new chambers meet |
| Within 40 days of the proclamation | The Central Electoral Board publishes the official results in the official state gazette (BOE) |
What happens after the vote?
After each renewal of the Congress, the King proposes a candidate for Prime Minister after consulting the political groups with parliamentary representation. The candidate presents a programme to the Congress. If more than half of its members, an absolute majority, back the candidate, the King appoints them. With 350 members, that is 176 votes. If not, there is a second vote 48 hours later, and a simple majority is enough. If nobody is approved within two months of the first vote, the King dissolves both chambers and calls new elections.
Voting by post
If you live in Spain and want to vote by post, you can request it up to and including 19 November.
Why does this page show no polls?
Spanish law bans the publication of electoral polls in the five days before a vote, which this time means 24 to 28 November. This page publishes no polls, before or after that period, and makes no forecasts.
Election night
This section stays empty until election night, 29 November. Official election information: Ministry of the Interior, Infoelectoral
Provisional figures from the official page, copied by hand
Lists are shown in order of seats won; lists with the same number of seats are in alphabetical order. Every list the official page shows is included. We do not add, estimate or compare any figure. This is not the general count, which the provincial electoral boards carry out from 4 December.
Not yet available.
Last updated: not yet available
Sources and method
How this page was made. An AI system wrote this page from the sources listed below. No person changed the text.
Official sources
- Ley Orgánica 5/1985, the General Electoral Law (LOREG), consolidated text, BOE, read on 6 November 2026.
- Spanish Constitution, consolidated text, BOE, read on 6 November 2026.
- Real Decreto 806/2026, dissolving the Cortes and calling the election, with its annex, BOE, read on 6 November 2026.
- Ley Orgánica 2/2026, BOE, read on 6 November 2026.
- Reform of article 69.3 of the Constitution, BOE, read on 6 November 2026.
- Ministry of the Interior, general election calendar, read on 6 November 2026.
- Ministry of the Interior, Infoelectoral, legal notice, read on 6 November 2026.
Other source
- Maldita.es, "What is the D'Hondt system used to share out seats in elections?", only for the common name "D'Hondt", read on 6 November 2026.
Data credit: Origen de los datos: Ministerio del Interior.
Corrections. Changes to a number, date or rule are listed here with the date and what was changed. There are no corrections yet.
Independence. Count Atlas is not connected to any electoral authority, party or public body.