The PSOE plans to approve its candidate lists for the 29 November general election at a Federal Committee meeting in Fuenlabrada on Saturday, 17 October. Photographers will be barred from the session, scheduled to start at 10:00 at the Centro de Arte Tomás y Valiente. Candidate proposals reached the Federal Lists Commission for review on 16 October. Provincial organisations drew them up, Agencia EFE reported. The committee is also expected to approve the campaign budget.
The meeting will be held away from the party’s headquarters on Ferraz in Madrid. The PSOE’s executive has removed the usual questions session from the agenda, leaving roughly 300 committee members without a chance to speak.
The PSOE will provide images and a video feed instead of admitting photographers. The party says the venue is too small. It has described the gathering as a technical meeting, though the agenda also includes a public pre-campaign rally by Pedro Sánchez, the PSOE leader and prime minister.
The decision comes as the party prepares for the 29-N elections and follows disputes over candidate lists at the 2023 Federal Committee. Some regional federations recall Sánchez arguing that disagreements should be aired at the committee. Javier Lambán and Emiliano García-Page criticised changes Sánchez and the federal executive made to lists submitted by some territories. Neither attended that meeting.
García-Page has not confirmed whether he will attend this time. His team said on Friday night that he had not decided. The latest dispute centres on Albacete. On 14 October, the provincial committee approved its proposed lists with 98.42% support. Emilio Sáez was initially placed first on the Congress of Deputies list, while Amparo Torres headed the Senate list.
On 16 October, the PSOE Federal Lists Commission replaced Sáez with Torres at the top of the Congress list, moving her from the Senate proposal. PSOE provincial secretary Santiago Cabañero had presented the provincial proposal, which the provincial executive committee unanimously backed before the vote. Albacete’s organisation later accepted the federal decision. Isabel Belén Iniesta became its leading Senate candidate.
PSOE candidate lists first pass through party bodies at provincial and regional level, then go to the Federal Lists Commission for review. The Federal Committee gives final ratification, making the candidates official. The party was expected to publish the final information after approval. Separate coverage of voting papers abroad has addressed another part of the 29-N process.
After the committee, Sánchez is due to hold a public pre-campaign rally in Fuenlabrada. The PSOE has governed the town since the first democratic elections and wants to present it as a symbol of Madrid’s red belt. Holding the committee there moves it from its usual setting at Ferraz and links list approval to the campaign’s public launch.
