Alberto Núñez Feijóo will ask the electoral authority for stronger safeguards before Spain's 29 November election. He says his doubts concern Correos executives, not postal workers, reviving a dispute from 2023.
On 7 October, Alberto Núñez Feijóo said the PP would take proposals for stronger postal-voting safeguards to the Junta Electoral Central before Spain's 29 November election. He did not say what measures the party wants. The announcement puts Correos back at the centre of the campaign.
Feijóo drew a line between the company's staff and its senior management. He said he trusts postal workers and civil servants but not the directors of Correos. His position carries an added detail: he led the public company first as director and later as president between 2000 and 2003 under José María Aznar.
За 48 лет испанской демократии не было доказано мошенничество на выборах через систему Correos.
The PP points to judicial investigations involving former senior figures at Correos. Feijóo named Juanma Serrano and Leire Díez and linked their cases to alleged irregularities and coercion. He used those investigations to question the company's leadership, not the employees who handle postal ballots. Yet an investigation into former executives does not by itself prove a problem with postal voting.
The demand came after two days of mixed signals from the party leadership. On Tuesday, Borja Sémper called Spain's electoral system highly secure. Feijóo then moved closer to doubts already raised by Isabel Díaz Ayuso after the early election announcement, even though the party had initially avoided backing her position. RTVE reported that the appeal to the JEC was institutional in form. The PP still had not set out the safeguards it wants.
JEC является высшим органом надзора за испанской избирательной администрацией. Обращение к нему переводит спор в институциональную плоскость, но само по себе не подтверждает наличие нарушений; состав органа формируется при участии партий.
Ayuso urged citizens not to vote by post. She warned of alleged anomalies and possible manipulation of electoral registers tied to the overseas count. Santiago Abascal took a similar position for Vox, encouraging voters to cast their ballots in person and warning about possible manipulation of ballot papers.
The dispute took shape before the formal campaign had fully started. During the July 2023 election, the PP questioned parts of the process, including the requirement for new identification documents and the unusually high number of requests during the holiday period when Pedro Sánchez called the election. The current row brings that argument back, this time with more attention on Correos management.
The PSOE accused the right of attacking confidence in the democratic process. Its parliamentary spokesman, Patxi López, compared the strategy with forms of preventive electoral destabilisation linked to "trumpism" in the United States and "bolsonarism" in Brazil. Alberto Ibáñez of the plurinational Sumar group went further. He said a candidate for prime minister should not cast doubt on the safeguards of the system he wants to lead.
The Government says Spain's electoral arrangements are among the safest and most tightly controlled in the world. It points to several procedural filters and mandatory triple identification through an identity document or digital signature. Electoral experts cited in the dispute also point to the strict judicial controls on postal voting. Telecinco reported that the PP had not produced concrete signs of a threat to the procedure. The public case for extra controls therefore rests on political distrust, not demonstrated electoral fraud.
The JEC is now where the PP must file and defend its request for extra supervision. Until the party names the measures, its political argument is clearer than its operational plan. Feijóo has not said postal workers are unreliable. He has shifted suspicion to Correos directors and to investigations involving former officeholders.
The campaign will also divide responsibilities inside the PP. Alma Ezcurra will prepare the electoral programme for 29 November. Ester Muñoz will act as campaign spokesperson alongside Borja Sémper. The party presents Ezcurra as an ideological and combative figure on issues such as irregular immigration, while Muñoz will handle the daily public defence of its message.
That gives the PP a defined campaign structure while Feijóo takes up a separate institutional fight over voting procedures. The facts point to a narrow conclusion: he is not claiming that postal voting has failed. He is asking for more guarantees because he distrusts Correos management and points to ongoing investigations. Until the party submits concrete measures, the initiative remains a political challenge to confidence in the system, not proof that postal voting has been compromised.
