2023 Spanish General Election

Today (July 23rd) citizens of Spain go to polls to vote in the parliamentary election! These are actually snap, albeit the term was cut short of only four months.

Voting will be open from 9 AM to 8 PM local time (7 to 18 GMT), and we should expect the exit polls after the latter hour.

Spanish parliament (**General Courts**, Cortes Generales) is bicameral, elected for a four-year term, and consists of two chambers:

* Lower **Congress of Deputies** (Congreso de los Diputados) has 350 members (176 needed for majority), elected in 52 constituencies (matching provinces and two autonomous cities), by [closed list proportional representation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_list). Each constituency gets at least 2 seats (102 total), and remaining 248 are allocated between the constituencies & lists using the [D’Hondt method](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Hondt_method). There is a constituency (not national!) electoral threshold of 3%, which de facto matters only in two biggest ones (Madrid and Barcelona), electing above 30 deputies.

* Upper **Senate** (Senado) is made of 265 senators. 208 of them are elected directly: 50 mainland provinces get 4 seats each; 2 autonomous cities 2 each; Canary and Balearic Islands 14 and 5 total, respectively. Remaining 57 seats are indirectly elected by regional legislatures, on different dates.

Turnout in last (2019) elections was 66.2%.

Relevant national parties and alliances taking part in the elections are:

Name|Leader|Position|Affiliation|2019 result|Recent polling|**Exit poll**|Seats (2019)
:–|:–|:–|:–|–:|–:|–:|:–
[People’s Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Party_(Spain\)) (PP)|[Alberto Núñez Feijóo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez_Feij%C3%B3o)|centre-right (liberal conservative)|EPP|20.8%|31-37%|TBA|(89)
[Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Socialist_Workers%27_Party) (PSOE)|[Pedro Sánchez](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_S%C3%A1nchez) (current PM)|centre-left (social democracy)|PES|28.0%|28-29%|TBA|(120)
[Unite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumar_(electoral_platform\)) (Sumar)|[Yolanda Díaz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolanda_D%C3%ADaz)|left-wing (green progressive)|GUE/NGL, Greens-EFA|15.3%|13-14%|TBA|(38)
[Vox]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox_(political_party\))|[Santiago Abascal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Abascal)|right-wing (national conservative)|ECR|15.1%|12-14%|TBA|(52)

And here are the most important regional lists:

Name|Leader|Position|Affiliation|2019 result|Recent polling|**Exit poll**|Seats (2019)
:–|:–|:–|:–|–:|–:|–:|:–
[Republican Left of Catalonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Left_of_Catalonia) (ERC)|[Gabriel Rufián](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Rufi%C3%A1n)|left (Catalan independence, social democracy)|Greens-EFA|3.6%|2-3%|TBA|(13)
[Together for Catalonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Together_for_Catalonia_(2020\)) (Junts)|[Míriam Nogueras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%ADriam_Nogueras)|big tent (Catalan independence, centre populist)|-|2.2%|2%|TBA|(8)
[Basque Country Unite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EH_Bildu) (EH Bildu)|[Mertxe_Aizpurua](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mertxe_Aizpurua)|left-wing (Basque independence, socialist)|GUE/NGL|1.1%|1-2%|TBA|(5)
[Basque Nationalist Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Nationalist_Party) (PNV)|[Aitor Esteban](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aitor_Esteban)|centre (Basque nationalist)|Renew|1.6%|1%|TBA|(6)
[Galician Nationalist Bloc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_Nationalist_Bloc) (BNG)|[Néstor Rego](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A9stor_Rego)|left-wing (Galician nationalist, socialist)|Greens-EFA|0.5%|1%|TBA|(1)
[Popular Unity Candidacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Unity_Candidacy) (CUP)|[Albert Botran](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Botran)|left-wing (Catalan independence, socialist)|-|1.0%|1%|TBA|(2)

**Further reading**

[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Spanish_general_election)

[Al Jazeera live news feed](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/7/23/spain-election-2023-live-news-polls-open-in-snap-election)

[Will Sanchez’s political gamble pay off?](https://www.dw.com/en/spanish-elections-will-sanchezs-political-gamble-pay-off/a-66288935) (DW)

[The forgotten regions could decide who wins](https://www.politico.eu/article/kingmakers-spains-hyperlocal-parties-vox-sanchez-guitarte-teruel/) (Politico)

We shall leave detailed commentary (and any interesting trivia!) on elections and campaign, to our Spanish users, or anyone else with worthy knowledge. Feel free to correct or add anything.

by pothkan