A regional election was held in Galicia on 18 February 2024 to elect the 12th Parliament of the autonomous community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election.
Overview Under the 1981 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of Galicia was the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a regional president.. The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions..
Date The term of the Parliament of Galicia expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. The election decree was required to be issued no later than 25 days before the scheduled expiration date of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Journal of Galicia (DOG), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication.; ( by ). The previous election was held on 12 July 2020, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 12 July 2024. The election decree was required to be published in the DOG no later than 18 June 2024, setting the latest possible date for election day on 11 August 2024.
The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Galicia at any given time and call a snap election, provided that it did not occur before one year after a previous one under this procedure. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called..
Following Alberto Núñez Feijóo's resignation as president of Galicia to become PP national leader, it was speculated that his successor, Alfonso Rueda, could seek to call a snap election for some time throughout 2023 or even to make it coincide with the scheduled general election in December 2023. Following Pedro Sánchez's surprise announcement of a snap general election on 29 May 2023, Rueda ruled out a simultaneous regional election "because Galicia cannot be infected by instability". It was later commented that a good result for Feijóo in the general election could prompt Rueda to trigger a snap election for late 2023, but the close result on 23 July prevented this from materializing. Following Sánchez's investiture in November 2023, rumours again emerged that Rueda was planning to hold a snap election for early 2024. Asked on 27 November on whether the Galician election would be held simultaneously with the Basque regional election as had been the case in the four previous occasions, Rueda proclaimed that "Galicia has its own way"; later, the president of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) Andoni Ortuzar said in an interview that the Galician election seemed "like it is going to go at full speed", with the Galician government allegedly not wishing a simultaneous election call. On 30 November, Rueda acknowledged that he would seek a Galician-only election "without a doubt (...) if that is in the interest of Galicia", and that election preparations were already underway. 18 February has been commented by the media as the most likely date for a snap election to be held. Finally on 21 December, Rueda announced a snap election to be held on 18 February 2024. While Basque lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu was informed of this decision, he distanced himself from Rueda arguing that "the Basque Country is not Galicia", thus paving the way for both elections to be held separately for the first time since 2005.
The Parliament of Galicia was officially dissolved on 26 December 2023 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the DOG, setting election day for 18 February 2024 and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 18 March..
Electoral system Voting for the Parliament was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Galicia and with full political rights, provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence.; ( by ). Amendments in 2022 abolished the "begged" voting system (), under which non-resident citizens were required to apply for voting. The begged vote system was attributed responsibility for a major decrease in the turnout of Spaniards abroad during the years it was in force.
The Parliament of Galicia had a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 80 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 75. All were elected in four multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra, each of which was assigned an initial minimum of 10 seats and the remaining 35 distributed in proportion to population—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a five percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency.; . The use of this electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution.
As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Parliament constituency was entitled the following seats:.
Seats Constituencies 25 A Coruña 22 Pontevedra 14 Lugo, Ourense
The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes. ( by ).
Outgoing parliament The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.
+ Parliamentary composition in December 2023 Groups Parties Legislators Seats Total People's Parliamentary Group of Galicia PP 42 42 Galician Nationalist Bloc's Parliamentary Group BNG 19 19 Socialists of Galicia's Parliamentary Group PSdeG–PSOE 14 14
Parties and candidates The electoral law allowed 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 were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list. ( by ). Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition..
Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:
Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PP Alfonso Rueda ConservatismChristian democracy 48.0% BNG Ana Pontón Galician nationalismLeft-wing nationalismSocialism 23.8% PSdeG–PSOE José Ramón Gómez Besteiro Social democracy 19.4% SumarGalicia Marta Lois ProgressivismGreen politicsDemocratic socialism 4.0% Podemos–AV Isabel Faraldo Left-wing populismDemocratic socialism Vox Álvaro Díaz-Mella Right-wing populismUltranationalismNational conservatism 2.0% DO Armando Ojea LocalismRight-wing populism colspan="2"
Campaign Timetable The key dates are listed below (all times are CET):
25 December: The election decree is issued with the countersign of the president, after deliberation in the Council of Government. 26 December: Formal dissolution of parliament and start of prohibition period on the inauguration of public works, services or projects. 29 December: Initial constitution of provincial and zone electoral commissions with judicial members. 1 January: Division of constituencies into polling sections and stations. 5 January: Deadline for parties and federations to report on their electoral alliances. 8 January: Deadline for electoral register consultation for the purpose of possible corrections. 15 January: Deadline for parties, federations, alliances, and groupings of electors to present electoral lists. 17 January: Publication of submitted electoral lists in the Official Journal of Galicia (DOG). 22 January: Official proclamation of validly submitted electoral lists. 23 January: Publication of proclaimed electoral lists in the DOG. 24 January: Deadline for the selection of polling station members by sortition. 1 February: Deadline for the appointment of non-judicial members to provincial and zone electoral commissions. 2 February: Official start of electoral campaigning.. 8 February: Deadline to apply for postal voting. 13 February: Start of legal ban on electoral opinion polling publication; deadline for non-resident citizens (electors residing abroad (CERA) and citizens temporarily absent from Spain) to vote by mail. 14 February: Deadline for postal and temporarily absent voting. 15 February: Deadline for CERA voting. 16 February: Last day of electoral campaigning. 17 February: Official election silence ("reflection day"). 18 February: Election day (polling stations open at 9 am and close at 8 pm or once voters present in a queue at/outside the polling station at 8 pm have cast their vote); provisional vote counting. 23 February: General counting of votes, including the counting of CERA votes. 26 February: Deadline for the general vote counting. 6 March: Deadline for the proclamation of elected members. 18 March: Deadline for the reconvening of parliament (date determined by the election decree, which for the 2024 election was set for 18 March).; . 15 April: Deadline for the publication of definitive election results in the DOG.
Party slogans Original slogan English translation PP « A Galicia que funciona » "The Galicia that works" BNG « Agora! A Galiza que queres » "Now! The Galicia you want" PSdeG–PSOE « Desta vai! » "This one goes!" Sumar « Farémolo posible » "We will make it possible" Podemos « Defende as túas ideas » "Defend your ideas" Vox « A mellor »« A mejor » "To better"
Debates + 2024 Galician regional election debates Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s) PP BNG PSdeG Sumar Podemos Audience 2 February El PaísCadena SER Ricardo Rodríguez S NI NI — 5 February TVG Marta DarribaAlejandro López 18.0% 14 February RTVE Xabier Fortes NI NI 17.4%
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 (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 38 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Galicia.