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2023 Spanish general election

"2023 Spanish election" redirects here. For the local elections, see 2023 Spanish local elections. For the regional elections, see 2023 Spanish regional elections.

2023 Spanish general election
← 2019 (Nov) 23 July 2023 Next →
All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 (of 266) seats in the Senate
176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Opinion polls
Registered37,469,458 Green arrow up1.3%
Turnout24,952,447 (66.6%)
Green arrow up0.4 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo Pedro Sánchez Santiago Abascal
Party PP PSOE Vox
Leader since 2 April 2022 18 June 2017 20 September 2014
Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid
Last election 89 seats, 20.8% 120 seats, 28.0% 52 seats, 15.1%
Seats won 137 121 33
Seat change Green arrow up48 Green arrow up1 Red arrow down19
Popular vote 8,160,837 7,821,718 3,057,000
Percentage 33.1% 31.7% 12.4%
Swing Green arrow up12.3 pp Green arrow up3.7 pp Red arrow down2.7 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Yolanda Díaz Gabriel Rufián Míriam Nogueras
Party Sumar ERC Junts
Leader since 2 April 2023 14 October 2019 12 March 2021
Leader's seat Madrid Barcelona Barcelona
Last election 38 seats, 15.3%[a] 13 seats, 3.6% 8 seats, 2.2%[b]
Seats won 31 7 7
Seat change Red arrow down7 Red arrow down6 Red arrow down1
Popular vote 3,044,996 466,020 395,429
Percentage 12.3% 1.9% 1.6%
Swing Red arrow down3.0 pp Red arrow down1.7 pp Red arrow down0.6 pp
Map of Spain showcasing seat distribution by Congress of Deputies constituency
Map of Spain showcasing winning party's strength by constituency
Map of Spain showcasing winning party's strength by autonomous community
Prime Minister before election

Pedro Sánchez
PSOE

Prime Minister after election

Pedro Sánchez
PSOE

The 2023 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 23 July 2023, to elect the 15th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 265 seats in the Senate.

The second government of Pedro Sánchez formed after the November 2019 Spanish general election consisted of a left-wing coalition between the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos, the country's first such nationwide government since the times of the Second Spanish Republic. The government's tenure was quickly overshadowed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, along with its political and economic consequences. These consequences included the COVID-19 recession resulting from the extensive COVID-19 lockdowns implemented to curb the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as the economic impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On the right side of the political spectrum, the People's Party (PP) underwent a leadership change at the 20th National Congress of the PP in February 2022, following an internal push by Galician and Madrilenian presidents, Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, to remove party leader Pablo Casado. Since Feijóo's accession, the PP led opinion polls and finished first in the regional and local elections of 28 May 2023.[1] Far-right Vox has been open to support the PP in a hung parliament in exchange for government participation and programmatic concessions.[2] The liberal Citizens party, once a leading force but having lost most of its support since 2019, decided not to run in this election, focusing its efforts on the 2024 European Parliament election instead.[3]

Despite speculation about an early election,[4][5] Pedro Sánchez, the incumbent prime minister of Spain, consistently expressed his intention to complete the legislature as scheduled in 2023.[6] He had initially set a tentative election date for December 2023, near the conclusion of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union. The poor results of the left-wing bloc in the May 2023 regional and local elections, with losses to the PP and Vox in all but three regions, led to a surprise early dissolution of parliament in what was described as a gamble by Sánchez to wrong-foot the opposition.[7][8]

In the closest election since 1996, the PP saw the biggest increase in support and secured 137 seats in the Congress, but fell short of expectations which had placed it at around 150 to 160 seats. The PSOE placed second and overperformed polls by improving upon previous results, gaining over 1 million votes and scoring its best result since 2008 in terms of votes and vote share. Vox saw a decrease in its popular vote and seats, while Sumar won 31 seats in the Congress, a decrease in the popular vote and seats of its constituent parties. Neither bloc achieved a majority and, despite losses among Catalan independence parties, the balance of power was held by the Together for Catalonia (Junts) party of former Catalan president and fugitive Carles Puigdemont.[9] Following a failed attempt by Feijóo to secure investiture, Sánchez struck a deal with Junts and most of the parliamentary regionalist and peripheral nationalist parties, going on to win re-election in the first ballot of investiture scheduled on 16 November with an absolute majority of 179 votes in favour.[10]


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  1. ^ Jones, Sam (28 May 2023). "Spain's conservative opposition heading for emphatic win in regional polls". The Guardian. Madrid. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Spain's Vox open to coalition government with PP". Reuters. 29 May 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Ciudadanos acuerda no ir a elecciones generales y volver para la cita electoral europea". VozPópuli (in Spanish). 30 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  4. ^ Mármol, Iolanda (5 November 2021). "Sánchez planifica el semestre europeo de 2023 para apurar la legislatura". El Periódico de España (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  5. ^ Hernández Valls, Fernando; Gil, Iván (23 February 2022). "Casado se despide como jefe de la oposición y Sánchez garantiza que no adelanta elecciones". El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Sánchez confirma que las elecciones generales serán en diciembre de 2023". Crónica Balear (in Spanish). Europa Press. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  7. ^ Elordi Cué, Carlos (29 May 2023). "Pedro Sánchez adelanta las elecciones generales al 23 de julio ante el fiasco de las autonómicas" [Pedro Sánchez advances general elections to 23 July after the fiasco of the autonomous community elections]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  8. ^ "Spain's Sanchez gambles on snap election after regional ballot rout". Reuters. 29 May 2023. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Spanish elections: Popular Party wins tight election but no clear majority". BBC News. 23 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  10. ^ Jones, Sam (16 November 2023). "Sánchez prepares for fraught second term as PM after Catalan amnesty". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2023.

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