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 specify which measures the party wants. The announcement puts Correos back at the centre of the campaign.
Feijóo distinguished between the company's staff and its senior management. He said he trusts postal workers and civil servants, but not Correos directors. He led the public company first as director and later as president between 2000 and 2003 under José María Aznar. Telecinco reported that no electoral fraud involving Correos had been proven during Spain's 48 years of democracy.
The PP points to judicial investigations involving former senior figures at Correos. Feijóo named Juanma Serrano and Leire Díez, linking their cases to alleged irregularities and coercion. His criticism focused on the company's leadership, not the employees who handle postal ballots. An investigation into former executives alone does not prove a problem with postal voting.
The demand followed 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 Isabel Díaz Ayuso had already raised after the early election announcement, though the party had initially avoided backing her position. RTVE reported that the appeal to the JEC was institutional in form. The JEC is the highest body overseeing Spain's electoral administration, and parties help make up its membership. The PP had yet to set out the safeguards it wants.
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 of 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 revives that argument, 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, saying 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, as well as mandatory triple identification through an identity document or digital signature. Electoral experts cited in the dispute also point to strict judicial controls on postal voting. Telecinco reported that the PP had produced no concrete signs of a threat to the procedure. The public case for extra controls reflects political distrust; no electoral fraud has been demonstrated.
The PP must now file and defend its request for extra supervision before the JEC. Until the party names the measures, its political argument is clearer than its operational plan. Feijóo has distinguished postal workers from Correos directors, directing suspicion at the latter and at 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, 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 as Feijóo pursues a separate institutional fight over voting procedures. He is asking for more guarantees because he distrusts Correos management and points to ongoing investigations. Until the party submits concrete measures, the initiative challenges confidence in the system, while offering no evidence that postal voting has been compromised.
