The fifth-edition +Democracia ranking gives the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) a score of 3.6, down from 5.4 in the previous edition and below the report’s stated passing mark. Led by political scientist Cristina Monge, the assessment examines internal democratic practices and party safeguards. It places the PSOE result in the context of corruption controversies and criticism of the party’s response to recommendations on anti-corruption measures.
The ranking assesses 17 parties and reports an average score of 5.7. Ten parties, including Compromís, Comunes, ERC, EH Bildu, Podemos, Izquierda Unida, PNV, PSC, CHA and Junts, scored above that average. Coalición Canaria, BNG, Más Madrid, PSOE, the People’s Party (PP) and Vox fell below it. Compromís led with 8.3, followed by Comunes at 8.2 and ERC at 7.7. Vox scored 1.7, the lowest result, while PP received 2.9.
The six assessment areas are internal organization; members’ rights and protections; territorial autonomy; transparency; ethical codes and accountability; and the selection of public and organizational officeholders. The ranking describes weaknesses in how parties apply their own rules. Its scores assess governance quality, rather than determine a court ruling or establish that a party has violated the law. Spain’s Organic Law 6/2002 on Political Parties sets a legal structure for parties’ organization and democratic functioning, a separate matter from a comparative ranking.
The report also links public concern about party functioning to surveys by Spain’s Centre for Sociological Research (CIS) and refers to Eurobarometer findings on trust in political parties. Those measures capture different things: identifying parties as a national concern is not the same as expressing trust in them. The report says trust in Spanish parties is below the European Union average, without citing figures here.
The PSOE’s category scores are 3.1 for internal organization, 2.3 for members’ rights, 6.0 for territorial autonomy, 6.4 for transparency, 4.3 for ethical codes and 2.3 for selecting public and organizational officeholders. The strongest results are in transparency and territorial autonomy; the weakest are in member protections and selection procedures. The report criticizes changes approved at a PSOE federal congress that raised the threshold for primary-election candidacies, arguing that they made it harder for alternative candidates to compete and strengthened the federal leadership’s influence. It also criticizes rushed procedures and basic control over candidate selection.
On members’ rights, the report points to a gap between formal protections and their application, particularly in the handling of sexual-harassment complaints. It cites allegations involving Francisco Salazar, a former aide to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez who resigned after allegations surfaced. The report says complainants had not been contacted for months, prompting criticism from PSOE equality officials and a public apology from Sánchez.
The report says the PSOE’s ethical-code score fell by three points from the previous edition. It cites controversies involving former party organization secretaries Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos as damaging to the party’s credibility, arguing that they raise questions about how ethical standards are enforced and alleged violations addressed. Allegations and political assessments are distinct from findings established by a court.
PP scored below the report’s passing mark in five of the six categories. Its lowest result was 1.3 for transparency, while members’ rights was its only passing category, at 5.7. The report says national-level leaders’ negotiation frameworks with Vox during the formation of regional governments contributed to a two-point fall in territorial autonomy. It also criticizes the use of party defectors to secure local-government majorities, which it says conflicts with party statutes and anti-defection agreements. On harassment reporting, it cites concerns about complaints being ignored or suppressed, including an incident in Móstoles reported by El País.
Vox failed to reach the passing mark in all six categories, with its weakest results in internal organization and territorial autonomy. The report describes internal turmoil, including expulsions from the leadership, the removal of primary elections and scrutiny of party funding and the role of party foundations. It characterizes the party’s structure as highly centralized, with limited internal democratic participation.
Calls for greater party transparency and stronger anti-corruption safeguards have recurred in Spain over the past decade. The report says proposed reforms, including lobby regulation, remain stalled in Parliament and presents its comparison of 17 parties as a benchmark for debate on accountability and internal reform. Its findings concern party governance; on their own, they do not determine legal responsibility or establish a statutory breach.
