2016 Spanish general election (June 26, 2016)

The 2015 Spanish general election ended the two-party system in Spain. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's ruling Partido Popular (PP) lost more than a third of its vote share, but remained the strongest party with 28.7 %. The opposition social democratic PSOE also lost votes and remained the second strongest force with 22 %. The left-wing Podemos, founded in 2014, remained only slightly behind the PSOE with 21 %, while the economic liberal Ciudadanos achieved 14 % of the vote. In addition to these four major parties, various regional parties, especially Catalan and Basque, entered both chambers of parliament.

Apart from a grand coalition of PP and PSOE, which both parties ruled out, no two-party alliance was thus possible for the formation of a government. Podemos and Ciudadanos ruled out cooperation. The support of the Catalan regional parties was linked to their approval of a Catalan independence referendum - which all major parties except Podemos refused.

It was not possible to form a government, which is why the parliament elected on 20 December 2015 was dissolved by decree on 3 May 2016 in accordance with Article 99.5 of the Constitution and new elections were called for 26 June 2016.

Congress

According to Article 68(2) of the Constitution and Article 162 of the Electoral Code, the Congress has 350 deputies elected in 52 constituencies. Constituencies are the 50 provinces and the two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. One deputy is elected in each of Ceuta and Melilla. Each of the 50 provinces is allocated two mandates in advance. The remaining 248 MPs are allocated to the provinces in proportion to their populations according to the Hare-Niemeyer method.

The following numbers of MPs were elected in the provinces:

• Province of Madrid: 36 deputies
• Barcelona Province: 31 deputies
• Province of Valencia/València: 16 deputies
• Provinces of Alicante/Alacant, Seville: 12 deputies each
• Province of Málaga: 11 deputies
• Province of Murcia: 10 deputies
• Province of Cádiz: 9 deputies
• Provinces of Asturias, Balearic Islands, Bizkaia, A Coruña and Las Palmas: 8 deputies each
• Provinces of Granada, Pontevedra, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Zaragoza: 7 deputies each
• Provinces of Almería, Badajoz, Córdoba, Guipuzkoa, Girona, Tarragona and Toledo: 6 deputies each
• Provinces of Cantabria, Castellón/Castelló, Ciudad Real, Huelva, Jaén, Navarra and Valladolid: 5 deputies each
• Provinces of Albacete, Araba/Álava, Burgos, Cáceres, León, Lleida, Lugo, Ourense, La Rioja and Salamanca: 4 deputies each
• Provinces of Ávila, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Huesca, Palencia, Segovia, Teruel and Zamora: 3 deputies each
• Soria Province: 2 deputies
• Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla: 1 deputy each

In the provinces, the election is based on closed lists, with seats allocated to each list according to the D'Hondt method. In the autonomous cities, MPs are elected by relative majority.

The allocation of seats takes place solely at the level of the constituencies (provinces); there is no residual vote equalisation at the national level. The nominal threshold is only 3 % in all constituencies. In most constituencies, however, the de facto percentage hurdle is much higher due to the limited number of mandates to be allocated.

Senate

For the Senate, in accordance with Article 69 of the Constitution and Article 165 of the Electoral Code, four senators are elected in each mainland province, three senators in each of the islands of Gran Canaria, Majorca and Tenerife, two senators in each of the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and one senator in each of the islands or groups of islands of Ibiza-Formentera, Menorca, Fuerteventura, Gomera, Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma. In total, 208 senators will be directly elected.

It was a personal election. The voter can vote for up to three candidates in the four-man constituencies, for up to two candidates in the three- and two-man constituencies and for one candidate in the one-man constituencies, also distributed among several election proposals ("panache"). The candidates with the highest number of votes are elected.

The other members of the Senate are appointed by the parliaments of the autonomous communities, each parliament appointing one senator for every 1,000,000 inhabitants or part thereof of the respective community.

The election proposals approved by the election committees were published in the State Bulletin (Boletín Oficial del Estado) on 31 May 2016.

Left parties (Podemos, IU, Equo, En Comú Podem, En Marea, Compromís)

In the 2015 election, the traditional left-wing party Izquierda Unida (IU) and the new left-wing party Podemos had already run together in Catalonia and Galicia as part of the joint candidacies En Comú Podem and En Marea respectively, but in the other constituencies they had run against each other. For the 2016 election, IU and Podemos, together with the green party Equo, formed the joint candidacy Unidos Podemos. This party is running nationwide except in Catalonia, Galicia and the region of Valencia. In Catalonia and Galicia, the joint candidacies En Comú Podem and En Marea were relaunched. In the Valencia region, the IU joined the Podemos-Compromís electoral alliance formed for the 2015 election. In the 2016 election, therefore, Podemos and IU will not run against each other in any constituency. The top candidate of Unidos Podemos is Podemos Secretary General Pablo Iglesias. Alberto Garzón (IU's top candidate in the 2015 election) is in 5th place on the list for the Madrid constituency.

PP and joint candidacies

For the conservative PP, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is once again the leading candidate. There are the same joint candidacies as in the 2015 election: with the UPN in Navarre, with PAR in Aragon and with FAC in Asturias.

PSOE

The leading candidate of the social democratic PSOE was Pedro Sánchez, as in the 2015 election. As in 2015, there was joint candidacy with Nueva Canarias (NCa) in the Canary Islands. The PSOE leadership rejected efforts by individual regional associations to form joint candidacies with Podemos and the other left parties for the election to the Senate.

Ciudadanos

As in the 2015 election, Albert Rivera was Ciudadanos' top candidate.

Catalan parties

The joint candidacy Democràcia i Llibertat (election 2015) was not re-launched, rather the bourgeois CDC stood alone.

House of Representatives

The clear winner of the election is Prime Minister Rajoy's conservative PP. However, the situation for forming a government is very similar to that after the 2015 election. Apart from a grand coalition (PP/PSOE), none of the conceivable two-party coalitions (PP/Ciudadanos, PSOE/Podemos, PSOE/Ciudadanos) would have a majority in the Chamber of Deputies.

Contrary to most pre-election polls, the PSOE was able to maintain its second place ahead of Unidos Podemos, but lost five seats.

The candidacies of the left-wing parties (Unidos Podemos, En Comú, En Marea, Podemos-Compromís-EUPV) lost a good 3 % compared to the combined result of the Podemos candidacies and IU in the 2015 election and would thus actually be the clear losers of the election. The fact that they were nevertheless able to retain the 71 seats that these parties had won in the 2015 election is largely due to the electoral system, which disadvantages small parties that run nationwide (including IU in 2015). The joint candidacy prevented this effect in the 2016 election.

However, Ciudadanos was caught by this effect of the electoral system in the 2016 election. The only slight losses (0.89 %) led to a loss of eight deputy mandates. The 13 % share of the vote led to a mandate share of only 9 %.

The regional parties (ERC, CDC, PNV, EH Bildu, Coalición Canaria) managed to re-enter the Chamber of Deputies, mostly in their previous strength. Only the PNV lost one seat.

The official final result of the election to the House of Representatives:

Eligible voters: 36,520,913

Voters: 24,279,259 (turnout: 66.48 %)

invalid votes: 225,504

Valid votes: 24,053,755

The result (votes and seats) in the individual autonomous communities (regions) and the two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla:

Fractions

The following factions were formed:

• PP (Grupo Parlamentario Popular): 134 members
• PSOE (Grupo Parlamentario Socialista): 84 members
• Unidos Podemos (Grupo Parlamentario Confederal de Unidos Podemos-En Comú Podem-En Marea): 67 members
• Ciudadanos (Grupo Parlamentario Ciudadanos): 32 members
• ERC (Grupo Parlamentario de Esquerra Republicana): 9 members
• EAJ-PNV (Grupo Parlamentario Vasco - EAJ-PNV): 5 members

According to the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives, the remaining MPs are grouped together in the Grupo Mixto ("mixed parliamentary group"). These are MPs who have not joined a parliamentary group or have not been accepted by a parliamentary group. They also include MPs from parties that do not meet the minimum requirements (mandates or share of the vote) to form a parliamentary group. The Grupo Mixto currently includes 19 MPs (the eight CDC MPs, the four Compromís MPs elected through the joint list with Podemos and IU, the two EH Bildu MPs, the two UPN MPs elected through the joint candidacy with the PP, the one FAC MP elected through the joint candidacy with the PP, the one NCa MP elected through the joint candidacy with the PSOE and the CCa MP).

Senate

The Senate is composed of members directly elected by the people and other senators appointed by the parliaments of the individual Autonomous Communities (Spanish: Comunidades Autónomas). The direct election takes place at the same time as the elections of the members of the Congreso. The number of indirectly elected senators depends on the population of the respective region (one plus one per 1 million inhabitants).

In the 12th legislature, the Senate consists of 266 members: 208 directly elected and 58 delegated by the regional parliaments.

For the direct election, the electoral area is divided into 59 constituencies. These are the 47 mainland provinces (each with four senators, regardless of population), the island constituencies of Gran Canaria, Mallorca and Tenerife (three senators each), Ibiza-Formentera, Menorca, Fuerteventura, Gomera, Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma (one senator each) and the two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla (two senators each), resulting in a total number of 208 directly elected senators. This is a personal election. Voters can vote for up to three candidates in the four-member constituencies, for up to two candidates in the three- and two-member constituencies and for one candidate in the one-man constituencies, and they can also vote for several candidates ("panache"). The candidates with the highest number of votes are elected. The parties only nominate the number of candidates in the constituencies that corresponds to the number of votes the voter has (i.e. three in four-member constituencies) in order to prevent a fragmentation of the electorate. This, together with the fact that most voters give their votes unanimously to the candidates of their preferred party, means that the ratio of seats won by the strongest party to those won by the second strongest party is, in the vast majority of cases, 3:1 in four-member constituencies, 2:1 in three-member constituencies and 2:0 in two-member constituencies. In the 2016 elections, this was not the case only in the province of Gipuzcoa (PNV and Unidos Podemos two senators each). There is therefore a form of majority voting (see Elections in Spain), which explains the PP's absolute majority in the Senate in the 2016 election.

The composition of the senators sent by the regional parliaments can change during the legislative term (if new regional parliaments are elected during the legislative term), therefore only the composition of the Senate at the beginning of the legislative term is reflected below:

On 23 June 2016, three days before the elections in Spain, the referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union was held in the United Kingdom. The general election in Spain was the first parliamentary election in a European country after the close (51.9% to 48.1%) Brexit vote.

Legal framework

According to the Spanish Constitution, only the Chamber of Deputies is relevant for the formation of the government: It elects the Prime Minister (Art. 99), to whom alone the government is responsible (Art. 108).

After exploratory talks with the parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies, the King makes a proposal to the Chamber of Deputies for the office of Prime Minister. The Constitution does not set a deadline for this. This proposal is put to the vote after debate and, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives, in a public roll-call vote in which the deputies can vote yes, no or abstain. If the candidate receives an absolute majority (i.e. at least 176 votes in favour), he is elected Prime Minister. If he falls short of this majority, a second ballot is held 48 hours later, in which a simple majority is then sufficient (more yes votes than no votes, regardless of the number of abstentions).

If the nominee is also unsuccessful in the second ballot, further nominations shall be dealt with according to the same procedure (i.e. with two ballots if necessary).

If two months have passed after the first ballot on the first proposal without a candidate being elected Prime Minister, both Houses are dissolved by the King and new elections are held.

Once elected, a Prime Minister can only be overthrown by a constructive vote of no confidence, i.e. by the House of Representatives electing another Prime Minister by an absolute majority (Art. 113 of the Constitution).

Initial situation and further development

Initial situation

The initial situation for forming a government was as difficult as after the previous election. Apart from a grand coalition (PP/PSOE) or a PP/Unidos Podemos coalition (which is likely to be eliminated), no two-party alliance had a majority.

Unlike after the 2015 election, there was a majority of "bourgeois" parties in the newly elected parliament (PP, Ciudadanos, CDC, PNV, Coalición Canaria, together 183 seats), but the Catalan CDC continued to fail as a majority procurer for a PP-led government because of its independence course.

PP/Ciudadanos agreement and Rajoy's first attempt

Prime Minister Rajoy started talks on forming a government with the other parties in early July 2016.

On 19 July 2016, the newly elected chambers were constituted. Ana Pastor (PP), the former Minister of Construction and Transport, was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies with the support of Ciudadanos. Pío García-Escudero (PP) remained President of the Senate.

From 26 to 28 July 2016, King held exploratory talks with representatives of the parties. He then proposed the incumbent Rajoy for the post of Prime Minister.

On 28 August 2016, the PP and Ciudadanos reached a political agreement that included Ciudadanos voting for Rajoy in the election for Prime Minister. In the first round of voting on 31 August 2016, Rajoy received 170 votes (PP, Ciudadanos, UPN, FAC, Coalición Canaria) with 180 votes against (PSOE, Unidos Podemos, ERC, EAJ-PNV, CDC, Compromís, EH Bildu, Nueva Canarias). As expected, the necessary absolute majority was not achieved. The second round of voting on 2 September 2016 ended with the same result, so that the simple majority required in this round was also not achieved.

Leadership crisis in the PSOE and change of course

PSOE General Secretary Pedro Sánchez pursued the line of voting against Rajoy even in the event of another attempt by Rajoy, rather than allowing the PP to form a government by abstaining, and instead sought negotiations on a left-wing government with Podemos, supported by regional parties, which, however, was opposed by important party members such as former prime ministers González and Zapatero. After the PSOE's poor performance in the regional elections in the Basque Country and Galicia on 25 September 2016, internal party criticism of Sánchez intensified. Initially, 17 members of the party executive declared their resignation in protest. Sánchez then wrestled for several days with the party, which was divided into two camps, one of which no longer recognised him, and wanted to call a party congress to elect a new general secretary for the beginning of October in order to have his course confirmed. After the defeat of the vote in the party council (comité federal) on this measure by 107 votes to 132, Sánchez resigned as general secretary. A ten-member "managing commission" (comisión gestora) was appointed to lead the PSOE until the next party congress, chaired by the prime minister of Asturias, Javier Fernández.

At the meeting of the party council on 23 October 2016, it was decided to allow Rajoy to form a government by abstaining in his election as prime minister.

Election of Rajoy as Prime Minister

After this change of course by the PSOE, the King again proposed Mariano Rajoy for the post of Prime Minister. The first ballot on this renewed proposal on 27 October 2016 produced the same result as the ballots of 31 August and 2 September 2016 (170 votes in favour, 180 against). In the second round of voting on 29 October 2016, Rajoy obtained the simple majority necessary for his election due to a majority abstention of the PSOE parliamentary group. He again received 170 votes (PP, Ciudadanos, UPN, FAC, Coalición Canaria) with 111 against (Unidos Podemos, ERC, EAJ-PNV, CDC, Compromís, EH Bildu, Nueva Canarias, the 7 MPs of the PSC and 8 other MPs of the PSOE group) and 68 abstentions (rest of the PSOE group). The resigned PSOE General Secretary Pedro Sánchez had resigned from his parliamentary mandate in protest shortly before the ballot and therefore did not take part in the vote.

Polling stations open at nine in the morning in Spain. In the small town of Villarroya in La Rioja, all six eligible voters turned up on time at nine o'clock, which is why the electoral board was already allowed to close the polling station at 9:02 am. This did not set a record, however, because in the 2015 election the polling station was allowed to close again at nine o'clock after all eligible voters had voted.

In May 2016, the regional government of Castilla y León banned the killing of bulls in popular bullfights. This affected the Torneo del Toro de la Vega in Tordesillas. This chase, in which lancers on horseback or on foot stab a bull with their lances in the fields outside the city gates until it dies, is one of the most controversial bull spectacles in Spain. Opponents of the ban on killing the bull called for invalidating the ballot paper in the parliamentary election. While the percentage of invalid votes was less than 1% nationwide, it was 13% in Tordesillas.