A general election will be held in Spain on 29 November 2026 to elect the members of the 16th Cortes Generales under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies will be up for election, as well as 209 of 267 seats in the Senate.

Following the 2023 election, Pedro Sánchez was re-elected as prime minister of Spain and formed a third government—comprising the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Sumar—with the support of Together for Catalonia (Junts), in exchange for a controversial amnesty law. Tensions with the opposition People's Party (PP) and far-right Vox dominated Sánchez's third term, as well as an unraveling international situation (with the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Gaza genocide, the tariff policy of the second Trump administration, and the 2026 Iran war and its economic impact), economic growth amid a rising cost of living (together with an affordable housing crisis), and a number of corruption probes affecting the government (mainly, the Koldo and Zapatero affairs). Also notable were the alleged mismanagements of a number of environmental disasters by PP-controlled administrations (particularly climate crisis-aggravated environmental disasters such as the 2024 Valencian floods and the 2025 and 2026 wildfires), sexual misconduct allegations affecting various parties and institutions, increased scrutiny on the quality and condition of public services (particularly following the 2025 Iberian Peninsula blackout, and the 2026 Adamuz and Gelida train accidents), as well as the 2026 Ceuta migrant crisis.

While Sánchez admitted to having twice hesitated whether to resign—once in April 2024, amid a judicial probe into his wife; and then in July 2025, after his second-in-command in the party, Santos Cerdán, resigned over the Koldo affair—he voiced his intention to run for a new term as prime minister. Amid major housing protests in the autumn of 2026 and the parliamentary defeat of his relief plans by PP, Vox and Junts on 2 October, Sánchez dissolved parliament and called the election for 29 November, seeking to frame it on housing as the central issue. The member parties of Sumar set 17 October 2026 for the launching of their Broad Front platform and candidate.

Background

The 2023 general election saw Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his ruling coalition—formed by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Sumar—re-elected with the support of Together for Catalonia (Junts), in exchange for a controversial amnesty law for those tried and convicted for events linked to the 2017–2018 Catalan crisis and the 2019 protests. This deal sparked widespread protests, some of them violent in the days before Sánchez's investiture, seeing clashes near the PSOE's national headquarters in Madrid and the involvement of far-right groups.

Sánchez's third term was marked by a booming economy and falling unemployment, but also by rising living costs and an affordable housing crisis. During this period, a constitutional reform in 2024 introduced people-first language, and a bipartisan agreement ended the five-year blockade of the judiciary council. Political tensions with the People's Party (PP) and far-right Vox intensified, with the government accusing both of "lawfare", disinformation and harassment campaigns. These tensions peaked in April 2024, when Sánchez briefly considered resigning after a controversial judicial investigation into his wife, Begoña Gómez, over alleged influence peddling and embezzlement accusations brought by the far-right-linked group (Spanish for "Clean Hands"). The government also dealt with the 2025 Iberian Peninsula blackout, repeated failures in Spain's rail network (especially following the 2026 Adamuz and Gelida train accidents), and the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak.

On the international stage, Sánchez's government dealt with continued EU support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, the tariff policy of the second Trump administration, and the country's role within NATO amid a debate over the five-percent defence spending hike. Its strong criticism of the Gaza genocide led Spain to recognize Palestine and worsened relations with Israel, sparking pro-Palestinian protests and calls to boycott Israeli participation in international competitions, such as the 2025 Vuelta a España, and Spain's RTVE joining others' bid to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. The 2026 Iran war saw Sánchez and U.S. President Donald Trump clash over the use of joint military bases at Rota and Morón, reviving the "No to war" slogan previously used during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At the same time, the Spanish government sought to address the war's economic impact by approving a €5-billion relief package.

Several political scandals affected the PSOE government during this period, including the Koldo affair (a kickback-for-contract scheme linked to José Luis Ábalos—a former transport minister—and party official Santos Cerdán), the Zapatero affair (involving the lobbying activity of the former prime minister), and judicial probes into Sánchez's brother (for alleged cronyism) and the Spanish Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz (for an alleged data leak). Other probes into alleged irregularities in public procurement affected the SEPI holding company and ADIF (Spain's railway infrastructure manager), leading to arrests and police raids. The PP was also hit by scandals, including several affecting the Madrilenian president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso (an investigation into her partner for alleged tax fraud, forgery and organized crime; the controversial purchase of a luxury penthouse using public funds, and unjustified travel expenses); renewed attention on corruption cases during Rajoy's premiership such as the Montoro and Kitchen affairs (alleged cash-for-favours, influence peddling and deep state networks); as well as a resume padding controversy. Sexual misconduct allegations between 2024 and 2026 shook various parties and institutions and led to multiple resignations and dismissals, with the political backlash often compared to the MeToo movement.

Relations between the PP and Vox remained ambivalent, as the two parties competed electorally while still depending on each other to govern. The alleged mismanagement by PP-controlled administrations—including climate crisis-aggravated environmental disasters, such as the 2024 Valencian floods (seeing Carlos Mazón's resignation as regional president) and major wildfires in August 2025 and July 2026; as well as public outrage over an Andalusian Health Service's mishandling of breast cancer screening—was seen as contributing to Vox’s rise in opinion polls, helped by growing anti-political sentiment, denialism, conspiracist ideation and fake news. These issues and immigration (with high points in the 2024 unaccompanied migrant minors' distribution dispute, the 2025 Torre-Pacheco unrest, and the government's 2026 immigration amnesty) further pushed the PP closer to Vox's agenda, with PP's Alberto Núñez Feijóo embracing Santiago Abascal's nativist "national priority" in exchange of support for regional pacts. Concurrently, Vox purged several high-profile figures as it tried to broaden its appeal among working-class voters.

Changes in the political landscape of Catalonia—with Salvador Illa's Socialists' Party taking over the regional government in 2024 and the rise of the far-right Catalan Alliance—saw Junts withdrawing its support from the Spanish government in October 2025, but it remained uncommitted to support a no-confidence motion to oust Sánchez that would require the agreement of both PP and Vox. Throughout late 2025 and early 2026, the PP tried to capitalize on discontent with Sánchez's government by calling early regional elections in Extremadura and Aragon (together with regularly-scheduled ones in Castile and León and Andalusia), but this strategy backfired as the regional PP branches ended up relying even more on Vox to remain in power, while seeing a rise for regionally-based left-wing parties (such as Chunta Aragonesista and Adelante Andalucía). The political space to the PSOE's left fragmented amid Podemos's split from Sumar in December 2023, and Yolanda Díaz's announcement in February 2026 to not run for re-election, with attempts to reorganize it into a broad front of left-wing parties ahead of the general election still ongoing.

The issues of immigration and housing came to a head in the last few months of the government's tenure, amid the 2026 Ceuta migrant crisis and widespread protests across Spain following the high-profile eviction of an 87-year-old by a real estate company in September 2026. Sánchez's attempt to pass a housing relief package through parliament failed due to Junts's opposition, prompting him to dissolve the chambers and call a snap election for 29 November.

Overview Under the 1978 Constitution, the Spanish are conceived as an imperfect bicameral system.. summarizing . The Congress of Deputies holds greater legislative power than the Senate, having the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a prime minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority.. Nonetheless, the Senate retains a limited number of specific functions—such as ratifying international treaties, authorizing cooperation agreements between autonomous communities, enforcing direct rule, regulating interterritorial compensation funds, and taking part in constitutional amendments and in the appointment of members to the Constitutional Court and the General Council of the Judiciary—which are not subject to override by Congress..

Date The term of each chamber of the —the Congress and the Senate—expired four years from the date of their previous election, unless they were 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 State Gazette (BOE), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication.. The previous election was held on 23 July 2023, which meant that the chambers' terms would have expired on 23 July 2027. The election decree was required to be published in the BOE no later than 29 June 2027, setting the latest possible date for election day on 22 August 2027.

The prime minister had the prerogative to propose the monarch to dissolve both chambers at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no state of emergency was in force and that dissolution did not occur before one year after a previous one.. Additionally, both chambers were to be dissolved and a new election called if an investiture process failed to elect a prime minister within a two-month period from the first ballot.. Barring this exception, there was no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections to the Congress and the Senate. summarizing . Still, as of , there has been no precedent of separate elections taking place under the 1978 Constitution.