The prime minister of Spain is the head of the government of Spain. Under Article 99 of the Constitution of Spain, the prime minister is appointed by the king of Spain on the nomination of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Cortes Generales.Constitution of Spain, Article 99. The candidate for the position of prime minister is not required to be a member of Congress.
After a general election or the resignation of a prime minister, members of Congress are proposed by the king for the position of prime minister. There can be only one candidate per session. If the Congress of Deputies, by the vote of the absolute majority of its members, gives its confidence in said candidate, the king will appoint them as prime minister. If said majority is not reached, the same proposal will be submitted to a new vote forty-eight hours after the previous one, and trust will be deemed granted if a simple majority is obtained.
The Constitution of Spain came into operation on 6 December 1978, following the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and the Spanish transition to democracy.
A breakdown of votes is on the pages of governments formed, while support for unsuccessful candidates is noted below.
ElectionCandidatePartyYesNoAbstainDateGovernmentNotes1979 electionsAdolfo SuárezUCD30 March 1979Suárez IIIFelipe GonzálezPSOE30 May 1980Motion of no confidenceAdolfo SuárezUCD18 September 1980Motion of confidenceResignation of Adolfo SuárezLeopoldo Calvo-SoteloUCD23 February 1981Failed25 February 1981Calvo-Sotelo I1982 electionsFelipe GonzálezPSOE1 December 1982González I1986 electionsFelipe GonzálezPSOE23 July 1986González IIAntonio Hernández ManchaAP30 March 1987Motion of no confidence1989 electionsFelipe GonzálezPSOE5 December 1989González III5 April 1990Motion of confidence1993 electionsFelipe GonzálezPSOE9 July 1993González IV1996 electionsJosé María AznarPP4 May 1996Aznar I2000 electionsJosé María AznarPP26 April 2000Aznar II2004 electionsJosé Luis Rodríguez ZapateroPSOE16 April 2004Zapatero I2008 electionsJosé Luis Rodríguez ZapateroPSOE9 April 2008Failed11 April 2008Zapatero II2011 electionsMariano RajoyPP20 December 2011Rajoy I2015 electionsPedro SánchezPSOE2 March 2016Failed4 March 2016Failed2016 electionsMariano RajoyPP31 August 2016Failed2 September 2016Failed27 October 2016Failed29 October 2016Rajoy IIPablo IglesiasPodemos14 June 2017Motion of no confidencePedro SánchezPSOE1 June 2018Sánchez IMotion of no confidenceApril 2019 electionsPedro SánchezPSOE23 July 2019Failed25 July 2019FailedNovember 2019 electionsPedro SánchezPSOE5 January 2020Failed7 January 2020Sánchez IISantiago AbascalVox22 October 2020Motion of no confidence
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