Spain, BOE formalizes dissolution of the Cortes and electoral calendar

The dissolution of the Cortes announced by Pedro Sánchez — we reported on it on October 5 — is now formalized by law. The Boletín Oficial del Estado published on October 6 the Real Decreto 806/2026, signed by King Felipe VI on the proposal of the President of the Government, which dissolves the Congreso and Senado elected on July 23, 2023.

The decree precisely defines the previously announced calendar: the electoral campaign will begin at 00:00 on Friday, November 13 and will close at 24:00 on Friday, November 27, two days before the vote set for Sunday, November 29. The new Chambers will hold their inaugural session on December 23 at 10:00, marking the formal start of the new legislature before the Christmas break.

A technical element accompanies the decree: the annex redefining the distribution of seats among the constituencies. Madrid gains one deputy compared to the previous legislature, while Cádiz loses one. This is the periodic update provided for under Spanish electoral law, which redistributes Congress seats according to demographic changes recorded between one round and the next: constituencies that have gained resident population obtain an additional seat, while those that have lost population give one up, according to an automatic mechanism that does not require a parliamentary vote.

The publication in the BOE closes the phase of procedural uncertainty opened by Sánchez’s announcement and officially opens the legal terms for the submission of candidacies, whose deadline will be determined by the Junta Electoral Central according to the timeframes established by electoral regulations. Between the publication of the decree and the vote on November 29, therefore, less than eight weeks will pass, an interval that Spanish electoral law sets as the minimum term for the technical organization of the vote, from the printing of ballots to the setting up of polling stations.

From today, the campaign has a defined time frame, and Spain’s parties enter the organizational phase preceding the race for seats in the new Congress, with the updated distribution of constituencies as the first factor to calibrate in drawing up their lists.