With the 29 November election approaching, parties have until 26 October to register candidates. Most polls apart from the CIS project a comfortable PP-Vox majority, while Feijóo is promising a smaller government and tax relief for minimum-wage earners.
Parties have until Monday 26 October to register their candidates for Congress and the Senate. The Senate race could pit a joint PSOE-Frente Amplio list against one formed through a possible PP-Vox pact. Earlier reporting on pact talks covered the right-wing parties’ efforts to coordinate their Senate candidates.
Most polls, with the CIS as the exception, forecast that PP and Vox would comfortably secure enough seats to form a government. A GAD3 barometer for ABC, published on 12 October and updated in its election tracker on 24 October, gave the PP 31.4% of the vote and projected 133 seats, compared with 137 in 2023. It projected 107 seats for the PSOE, 14 fewer than in 2023, and 65 for Vox, up from 33. An absolute majority in the 350-seat Congress requires 176 seats. Vox has recorded the largest growth compared with the 2023 election, according to the supplied polling picture. An IMOP survey for El Confidencial says the PSOE is closing the gap with the PP; it projects the PP losing 14 seats to Vox. An average reported by The Rio Times on 21 October, drawing on 15 pollsters, put the PP at 31.9%, the PSOE at 26.5% and Vox at 19.0%. The October CIS estimate instead placed the PSOE first, at 34.0%, ahead of the PP at 22.2% and Vox at 17.1%.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo outlined his campaign offer in an interview with Aimar Bretos on Cadena SER’s Hoy por Hoy, then addressed a rally in València. On 19 October, Feijóo signed the PP platform, Mi contrato con España, which includes commitments on Spain’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, separation of powers, state effectiveness, housing, immigration and pensions. If elected, he says he would lead a smaller government and order a comprehensive spending audit on his first day. He also promises a law exempting people on the minimum wage from IRPF, and urged voters who want change not to stay at home. The PP has renewed close to 60% of its lead candidates for Congress and plans to present them in Salamanca on Sunday. The party has also pledged to build one million homes and lower IRPF in 2027. POLITICO reported that Feijóo’s proposed government overhaul would include scrapping the standalone Equality Ministry.
Pedro Sánchez gave his first pre-campaign interview on La Revuelta. He said he had been wrong to trust José Luis Ábalos and expressed little optimism about Podemos’ left-wing unity project with Gabriel Rufián. Sánchez said Ceuta’s situation could have been handled better and defended his government’s housing record, blaming a lack of further progress on what he described as obstruction by PP-run autonomous communities. Ábalos, who is serving a 24-year corruption sentence, replied that his loyalty had helped Sánchez reach his current position.
The head-to-head debate between Feijóo and Sánchez is confirmed for 16 November on Mediaset. Talks over a four-way debate remain stuck on whether RTVE or Atresmedia should broadcast it. A separate debate among parliamentary spokespeople is scheduled for 23 November on Televisión Española.
Sánchez has also confirmed he will take part in an interview on Jordi Wild’s podcast The Wild Project. At the Princess of Asturias Awards ceremony, King Felipe VI said democracy required daily commitment and care for its institutions. Junts spokesperson Miriam Nogueras said her party could stop evictions if Catalonia had the relevant powers. Vox leader Santiago Abascal urged voters across political lines to support change, naming national preference, remigration, deregulation and tax cuts as campaign priorities.
In Mahón, about 400 anti-fascist activists gathered near a Vox rally. The protest did not interrupt the event; police dispersed the demonstrators at its end. Vox deputy in the Balearic Parliament María José Verdú has died aged 58 after a long illness. She had served as a regional deputy since 2023, was deputy spokesperson and chaired the Health Committee; she was also on the party’s Congress list.
Equality Minister Ana Redondo criticised the Castilla y León regional government’s funding policy for projects it considers to involve ideological indoctrination, calling it a reversal that restricts creative freedom. Separately, the Supreme Court gave ministers Félix Bolaños and José Manuel Albares five days to provide the names of 163,020 people affected by the Grandchildren Law, warning of possible fines or a criminal investigation.
