You drop a ballot in the box, but you don't actually choose the prime minister. And a party with fewer votes can end up with more seats than a bigger one.
With a snap general election called for 29 November 2026, this guide walks through the rules that turn Spanish votes into seats: the districts, the lists, the d'Hondt maths, what happens to a blank vote, and how the Senate works. No politics, just the mechanics. (For what happens once the seats are filled, who does what between the King, parliament and the Government, see our companion guide to how Spain is governed.)
Four kinds of elections, two ballots
Spain holds four kinds of elections: general (generales), regional (autonómicas), municipal (municipales) and European (europeas). This guide is about the big one, the general election, which decides who governs the country.
At a general election you vote for both chambers of parliament at once, with two different ballot papers:
- The white ballotis for the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados). You choose a whole party list.
- The salmon-coloured ballotis for the Senate (Senado). You tick the names of individual people.
Congress matters most, because Congress is what later picks the prime minister. So that's where we start.
350 seats, 52 districts
Congress has 350 seats, but there is no single nationwide count. Spain is split into 52 districts (circunscripciones): the 50 provinces, plus the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Each district elects its own deputies.
The seats are shared out in two stages:
- 102 fixed seats:every province starts with two, and Ceuta and Melilla get one each.
- 248 seats by population:the rest are handed out in proportion to how many people live in each province.
The result is very uneven. Madrid and Barcelona elect more than 30 deputies each, while the smallest provinces elect just two or three.
Why votes weigh differently
That two-seat minimum makes sure small provinces never drop off parliament's map. But it comes at a price.
In Soria, the least populated province, there is one deputy for roughly every 45,000 residents. In Madrid, it's roughly one for every 185,000. So a vote in a small province weighs about four times as much as one in Madrid.
This is by design, not a mistake. The Constitution makes the province the electoral district, and the minimum seats per province were set to give rural Spain a voice in Congress.
Closed party lists: you pick a party, not a person
In each district, every party puts forward a list of candidates in a fixed order. In the polling station you take one party's ballot, put it in the envelope, and that's your vote.
You can't reorder the names or cross anyone out. These are listas cerradas y bloqueadas: closed and blocked lists. If the party wins three seats in your province, the first three names on its list become deputies.
So for a candidate, their spot on the list is almost everything. Being number 1 in Madrid is a safe seat; being number 20 is not.
- Lucía García
- Javier Moreno
- Marta Ruiz
- Pablo Navarro
- Ana Jiménez
- David Ortega
- The party sets the orderlistas cerradas y bloqueadas
- No reordering, no crossing outVoters take the list exactly as printed.
- Your place on the list is almost everythingNumber 1 in a big province is a safe seat; number 20 rarely is.
The d'Hondt method, step by step
Now the key part: how votes turn into seats. Inside each district, Spain uses the d'Hondt method, named after the Belgian lawyer Victor d'Hondt. It sounds technical, but it fits in three steps.
Take a made-up district with 5 seats, 100,000 valid votes (including 1,100 blank votes) and five parties, A to E:
- 1. Apply the 3% threshold.Any party under 3% of the valid votes is out. Party E has 2.9%, so it's left out.
- 2. Divide.Each remaining party's votes are divided by 1, by 2, by 3, and so on, up to the number of seats.
- 3. Take the biggest numbers.The five largest results win the five seats, one each.
| Party | Votes | ÷ 1 | ÷ 2 | ÷ 3 | ÷ 4 | ÷ 5 | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 42,00042% | 42,0001 | 21,0003 | 14,000 | 10,500 | 8,400 | 2 |
| B | 31,00031% | 31,0002 | 15,5004 | 10,333 | 7,750 | 6,200 | 2 |
| C | 15,00015% | 15,0005 | 7,500 | 5,000 | 3,750 | 3,000 | 1 |
| D | 8,0008% | 8,000 | 4,000 | 2,667 | 2,000 | 1,600 | 0 |
| E | 2.9% is under 3%, so E is left out before the division | 0 | |||||
- 1A 42,000
- 2B 31,000
- 3A 21,000
- 4B 15,500
- 5C 15,000
The result: A gets two seats, B gets two, C gets one. And party D, with 8% of the vote, gets zero.
Why zero? Only the five biggest numbers win a seat, and the fifth one here is 15,000. D's best number is 8,000. It just doesn't make the cut.
Notice, too, how close it was at the edge: the fifth seat went to C with 15,000, ahead of A's third quotient of 14,000. A thousand votes moved one seat.
Seats in the example 5 shared by A, B and C
Party D's vote 8% and zero seats
Margin for the last seat 1,000 votes
The real threshold is much higher than 3%
On paper, a party needs 3% of the vote in a district to take part in the share-out. In practice, the size of the district matters far more.
The fewer seats a district has, the more votes you need to win the first one. As a rule of thumb, the effective threshold is roughly 75% divided by the number of seats plus one:
- 2-seat district(a small province): about a quarter of the vote.
- 5-seat district(a mid-sized province): around 12%.
- 10-seat district(a large province): around 7%.
- 30+ seats(Madrid, Barcelona): about 2.5%, which is where the legal 3% finally starts to matter.
Only in Madrid and Barcelona does the official 3% threshold really change anything.
Blank votes, spoiled votes and staying home
A common question: what if you put an empty envelope in the box? That's a voto en blanco, a blank vote, and it's treated differently from the other ways of not backing a party.
- Blank vote (voto en blanco):an empty envelope. It counts as a valid vote. It goes to no party, but it is included in the total the 3% threshold is calculated from.
- Spoiled ballot (voto nulo):a torn, marked or mixed-up ballot. It doesn't count for anything.
- Not voting (abstención):doesn't count for anything either.
Here's what that means in practice. Say a small party gets 2,950 votes out of 97,000 valid votes. Three percent of 97,000 is 2,910, so the party is in. Now add 3,000 blank votes: the total becomes 100,000, three percent becomes 3,000, and the same party is out.
Blank votes don't go to anyone, but they can push a small party under the bar. And no, they don't go to the winner: that's a myth.
Who the system helps
Put all of that together, and you can see who comes out ahead:
- The biggest partieswin seats even in small districts, where the effective threshold is 25% or more.
- Regional partiesdo well because their votes are concentrated in a few provinces, where they can clear the bar.
- Mid-sized national partieshave it hardest: their votes are spread across the whole country, and in small districts they often go to waste.
Supporters say this delivers stable governments and gives rural Spain a voice. Critics reply that the result is less proportional to the national vote.
The details can be changed through the electoral law, the Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General (LOREG). But the province as the electoral district is written into the Constitution itself, in Article 68, so changing that would mean a constitutional reform.
The Senate: a vote for people
Now, that salmon-coloured ballot. The Senate works completely differently from Congress.
Every mainland province elects four senators, however many people live there: Soria and Madrid get the same four. The islands, Ceuta and Melilla have their own numbers: three each for Mallorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, one for each smaller island, and two each for Ceuta and Melilla. From this election, Formentera gets its own senator for the first time, separate from Ibiza.
You vote for people, not a list. You can tick up to three names, even from different parties. In practice that usually gives three seats to the winning party in the province and one to the runner-up.
That's how 209 senators are elected directly. Around 57 more are appointed by the regional parliaments: one per region, plus one for every million residents.
The Senate can propose amendments and veto bills, but on laws, Congress almost always has the last word. For how the two chambers share power, see our guide to how Spain is governed.
Election day, from campaign to count
- The campaignlasts 15 days and ends at midnight on the Friday before the vote.
- No pollscan be published in Spain during the last five days.
- Saturday is the day of reflection(jornada de reflexión): no campaigning allowed.
- Sunday is polling day:polling stations are open from 9:00 to 20:00.
Polling stations are run by a mesa electoral: ordinary voters picked by lottery from the electoral roll. If your name comes up, it's very hard to say no; skipping it without a valid reason is an offence.
Votes are counted right there, in public (escrutinio), as soon as the polls close, and results come in the same night. If you'll be away on the day, you can vote by post (voto por correo) by applying at a post office in advance.
After the vote: investiture
Once the new Congress meets, it votes on a candidate for prime minister, nominated by the King after talks with the party leaders.
- First vote:the candidate needs an absolute majority, 176 votes out of 350.
- Second vote, 48 hours later:more yes votes than no votes is enough.
- Two months with no prime minister:parliament is dissolved and Spain votes again.
So it's not necessarily the party that came first that governs. It's whoever can put a majority together. What the new prime minister can do then, and how Congress can remove them with a motion of censure, is covered in how Spain is governed.
- The King nominates a candidateafter meeting the leader of every party with seats in the new Congress
- First vote in Congressthe candidate needs 176 yes votes out of 350 YesSpain has a prime minister
- Second vote, 48 hours latermore yes than no is enough, so abstentions help YesSpain has a prime minister
- Two months and still no prime minister?parliament is dissolved and Spain votes again
Can you vote in Spain?
If you live in Spain but aren't Spanish, the answer depends on your passport and the type of election.
- Spanish citizens aged 18 and overcan vote in every election.
- EU citizenscan vote in municipal and European elections, if they've signed up to the electoral roll (censo electoral).
- Citizens of countries with a reciprocity agreement, such as the UK, Norway, Colombia or Ecuador, can vote in municipal elections after a few years of legal residence, once registered.
General and regional elections, including the 29 November vote, are for Spanish citizens only.
| Who | General | Regional | Municipal | European |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish citizensaged 18 and over | GeneralYes | RegionalYes | MunicipalYes | EuropeanYes |
| EU citizensonce on the electoral roll | GeneralNo | RegionalNo | MunicipalYes | EuropeanYes |
| Agreement countriese.g. UK, Norway, Colombia, Ecuador, after years of residence | GeneralNo | RegionalNo | MunicipalYes | EuropeanNo |
The short version
You vote for a party list in your province. Seats are shared out province by province with the d'Hondt method, small provinces weigh more, and the Senate has rules of its own. Then Congress, not the voters, picks the prime minister.
Whether that's fair is an old debate in Spain. But now you know the rules. If you'd like to follow the election and everything after it in five minutes a day, in English, Spain Daily sends the news every morning for free.