2015 Spanish general election

Spanish general election, 2015

November 2015
All 350 seats of the Congress of Deputies and 208 of 264 seats in the Senate 176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Leader Mariano Rajoy Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba Cayo Lara Party PP PSOE IU Leader since 4 September 2003 9 July 2011 14 December 2008 Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid Last election 186 seats, 44.63% 110 seats, 28.76% 11 seats, 6.92% Current seats 185 110 11 Seats needed 9 66 165 Opinion polls 2012-04-14[1] 38.1% 23.0% 11.6% 2012-03-03[2] 46.3% 24.4% 9.1% 2012-02-12[3] 46.2% 23.0% 8.8%   Leader Rosa Díez Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida Iñaki Antigüedad Party UPyD CiU Amaiur Leader since 26 September 2007 14 March 2004 27 September 2011 Leader's seat Madrid Barcelona Vizcaya Last election 5 seats, 4.70% 16 seats, 4.17% 7 seats, 1.37% Current seats 5 16 7 Seats needed 171 Unable to win Unable to win Opinion polls 2012-04-14[4] 5.9% — — 2012-03-03[5] 5.1% — — 2012-02-12[6] 6.3% — —
Incumbent Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy PP

Legislative elections for the Cortes Generales in Spain are scheluded to take place on November 2015 at the latest, as the Cortes' approximate duration between disolutions (a legislature) must not exceed 4 years.

The elections will be for 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, and the 208 directly elected seats in the upper house, the Senate, determining the Prime Minister of Spain. The governing People's Party, led by current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will battle against the main opposition party, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, whose current leader and (arguably) Prime Ministerial candidate is Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba.

After former PM José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced he would not seek a third term and his wish for the party to elect a new Secretary-General, the PSOE held its 38th Congress in early February to elect the new leadership of the party. After a close race against his main opponent Carme Chacón, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, PSOE candidate for the 2011 election was elected as Zapatero's successor.

Overview

The Congress of Deputies is composed of 350 members of Congress, which are elected in 50 multi-member circumscriptions using the D'Hondt voting distribution system with the 2 autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla electing one member each using plurality voting.

176 seats will give an absolute majority in the Congress, and thus in the government, for any party, though it is not required to win an election. Traditionally, should an election results in a hung parliament, the largest party will form a minority government rather than seek a coalition with other parties, instead relying on punctual pacts and alliances in order to pass legislation into the Congress of Deputies.

Candidates

By tradition, the first candidate on each Madrid party list for the Congress of Deputies is the Prime Ministerial candidate for that party. Nationalist parties who do not expect to win enough seats to be contenders for the office of Prime Minister typically designate one of their list leaders as their main candidate. Those candidates are generally featured more prominently in the Spanish national media than other list leaders or candidates. Regional, provincial and local media nearly always cover the activities of the Prime Ministerial candidates, together with the leading candidates in their area.

Opinion polls

Poll results are listed in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first.

The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour.

The table just includes those parties represented at a national level.

2012

Date(s) conducted	Polling organisation/client	Sample size	PP	PSOE	IU	UPyD	Others	Lead
11–12 Apr	Metroscopia/El País	1,000	38%	23%	12%	6%	21%	15%
2–6 Apr	Celeste Tel	1,100	41%	29%	10%	5%	15%	12%
1–6 Mar	Celeste Tel	1,100	45%	26%	10%	6%	13%	19%
29 Feb – 1 Mar	Metroscopia/El País	1,007	46%	24%	9%	5%	16%	22%
15–20 Feb	NC Report/La Razón	955	45%	25%	–	–	–	20%
8–9 Feb	Metroscopia/El País	1,003	46%	23%	9%	6%	16%	23%
1–6 Feb	Celeste Tel	1,100	44%	27%	9%	5%	15%	17%
16–20 Jan	NC Report/La Razón [7]	1,000	46%	27%	7%	5%	15%	19%
9–13 Jan	Celeste Tel	1,100	45%	28%	8%	5%	14%	17%
4–5 Jan	Metroscopia/El País [8]	1,000	46%	27%	8%	5%	14%	19%
4 Jan	CIS [9]	2,480	43%	28%	8%	6%	15%	15%

2011

Date(s) conducted	Polling organisation/client	Sample size	PP	PSOE	IU	UPyD	Others	Lead
14–15 Dec	Metroscopia/El País	1,000	45%	28%	–	–	–	17%
20 Nov	Election Results	24,666,392	45%	29%	7%	5%	14%	16%