Spain's political parties are finalising their candidate lists and negotiations with less than 40 days to go before the general election on 29 November, according to RTVE.es. Campaigning has not formally begun, but parties across the spectrum are already holding events, and the pre-campaign period has been dominated by disputes over electoral pacts, the composition of the PP's Madrid list and a planned general strike.
Why it matters
The 29 November vote will decide the composition of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate at a moment when the left and right blocs are trading accusations over democratic conduct and the treatment of voters abroad. The final shape of the ballot — which parties stand where, and which do not stand at all — can shift seats in sparsely populated provinces, where the contest is often decided by narrow margins. The weeks before the vote are also being shaped by labour unrest and by foreign intervention in the domestic debate.
PSOE denies Congress deal with Frente Amplio
Rebeca Torró, the PSOE's organisation secretary, said in an interview with Cadena Ser that her party has not held talks with Frente Amplio aimed at keeping the left-wing coalition off the ballot in Congress constituencies where the Socialists are best placed to win a seat, RTVE.es reports.
Torró was asked about the decision by the CHA-Frente Amplio Aragón coalition not to contest the Teruel constituency for the lower house, a move intended to avoid splitting the left-wing vote. She said the only negotiations between the two formations concerned the Senate agreement, and described the wider impression of a Congress-level deal as the product of misunderstandings.
She added that the PSOE has begun registering its single lists for Congress and expects to finish the process on Friday. Frente Amplio has separately stated that it has reached no agreement with the Socialists on maximising the electoral offer in less populous constituencies, and that its only arrangement with the PSOE covers joint Senate candidatures.
PP confirms Madrid slate as López attacks its direction
The PP has confirmed that Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo will take the second spot on its Madrid list for Congress, with Borja Sémper in third, behind leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, according to La Vanguardia and El Diario Vasco. RTVE.es reports the lineup as the parties settle their candidacies ahead of the campaign.
Óscar López, the minister for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service and secretary general of the PSOE's Madrid branch, called Álvarez de Toledo's placement a statement of intent. In remarks carried by RTVE.es, he argued that Feijóo has given up on the political centre and adopted Vox's positions, describing the result as a small, radical and extreme PP. He also said the PP's doubts about the electoral system amount to an anti-democratic argument.
López further accused the PP and Vox of trying to block voting by Spaniards living abroad through their legal challenges to the application of the Democratic Memory Law, and called for that right to be guaranteed. He defended the Spanish electoral system as an example and as entirely secure, and criticised attempts to cast doubt on how it works.
On economic matters, speaking on RNE's Las Mañanas, López confirmed that public employees' pay will rise on 1 January 2027 in line with the agreement reached with the unions, though he did not say when the government would approve the increase. He also defended the rise in the minimum wage, which he said has gone from 735 to 1,221 euros since Pedro Sánchez took office.
A court deadline and a foreign visit stir the debate
The government is counting on the Supreme Court to uphold voting under the so-called ley de nietos, or grandchildren's law, RTVE.es reports, even though the Constitutional Court declined to admit a appeal from the Defensor del Pueblo, Spain's ombudsman, against the suspension of voting rights for naturalised citizens. The deadline for affected parties to appear before the Supreme Court has now closed, according to EL PAÍS.
The pre-campaign has also been marked by the visit to Madrid of Argentina's president, Javier Milei, who called Sánchez an "impresentable dictator," RTVE.es reports. Milei met representatives of Vox and the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. López said Milei represents what could happen in Spain if the PP governed with Vox.
Unions frame the 11 November strike around pay and housing
CCOO and UGT are pressing ahead with a general strike on 11 November, which they present as a means of forcing a substantial change in housing policy and securing a recovery in wages through a nationwide agreement that the employers' confederation CEOE has so far declined, RTVE.es reports.
Speaking on RTVE and Efe's Los Desayunos, Unai Sordo of CCOO said the action is intended to promote a large social mobilisation. He said it is evident that what brings people onto the streets is events such as the eviction of Maricarmen and the failure to approve decrees, and that those who do not vote for them are the PP, Vox and Junts. Pepe Álvarez of UGT said wages do not stretch because housing spoils everything, describing pay and housing as linked, and said shared responsibilities lie with different levels of government. He called it absurd to argue that pensions should not be discussed during a campaign, and criticised remarks by Ayuso and the PP that he said were aimed at dividing people.
Álvarez said the unions want the strike to have an influence on the campaign. Sordo said he does not know how far it will, but that the unions' job is to put the issues affecting working people into public debate.
What to watch: the PSOE is due to complete its Congress lists on Friday, and the parties will move into formal campaigning in the coming weeks, with the 11 November strike and the Supreme Court's handling of the voting-rights dispute both set to shape the debate before polling day.
