Next Castilian-Leonese regional election

Next Castilian-Leonese regional election
No later than 14 April 2030
All 82 seats in the Cortes of Castile and León
42 seats needed for a majority
 
Leader Alfonso Fernández Mañueco Carlos Martínez Carlos Pollán
Party PP PSOE Vox
Leader since 1 April 2017 9 January 2025 9 February 2026
Leader's seat Salamanca Soria León
Last election 33 seats, 35.5% 30 seats, 30.7% 14 seats, 18.9%
Current seats 33 30 14
Seats needed 9 12 28
 
Leader Alicia Gallego Pedro Pascual Ángel Ceña
Party UPL XAV SY
Leader since 14 June 2025 9 April 2019 10 January 2022
Leader's seat León Ávila Soria
Last election 3 seats, 4.4% 1 seat, 0.9% 1 seat, 0.7%
Current seats 3 1 1
Seats needed n/a[a] n/a[b] n/a[c]
Constituency results map for the Cortes of Castile and León
Incumbent President

Alfonso Fernández Mañueco (acting)
PP



A regional election was held in Castile and León on Sunday, 14 April 2030, to elect the 13th Cortes of the autonomous community. All 82 seats in the Cortes were up for election.

The 2026 election saw the People's Party (PP) of incumbent president Alfonso Fernández Mañueco falling well short of an overall majority in parliament, requiring the support of the far-right Vox party to retain power.[1] As a result, Spanish media commented on the possibility of a repeat election in the event of a failure in the government formation process.[2][3] The regional leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), Carlos Martínez, has also hinted at a political deadlock requiring a repeat election while ruling out his party facilitating Mañueco's investiture.[4]

Overview

Under the 2007 Statute of Autonomy, the Cortes of Castile and León are the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president.[5]

Electoral system

Voting for the Cortes is on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprises all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Castile and León and in full enjoyment of their political rights, provided that they are not sentenced—by a final court ruling—to deprivation of the right to vote.[6][7][8]

The Cortes of Castile and León are entitled to three seats per each multi-member constituency—corresponding to the provinces of Ávila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora—plus one additional seat per each 45,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 22,500. All members are elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional voting system, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes (which includes blank ballots) being applied in each constituency.[6][9] The use of the electoral method may result in a higher effective threshold based on the district magnitude and the distribution of votes among candidacies.[10]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Cortes constituency would be entitled the following seats (as of 11 December 2025):[d]

Seats Constituencies
15 Valladolid
13 León
11 Burgos
10 Salamanca
7 Ávila, Palencia, Segovia(+1), Zamora
5 Soria

The law does not provide for by-elections to fill vacated seats; instead, any vacancies that occur after the proclamation of candidates and into the legislative term will be covered by the successive candidates in the list and, when required, by the designated substitutes.[12][13]

Election date

The term of the Cortes of Castile and León expires four years after the date of their previous election, unless they are dissolved earlier. The election decree shall be issued no later than the twenty-fifth day prior to the scheduled date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of Castile and León (BOCYL), with election day taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication.[6][14][15] The previous election was held on 15 March 2026, which means that the legislature's term will expire on 15 March 2030. The election decree shall be published in the BOCYL no later than 19 February 2030, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible date for election day on Sunday, 14 April 2030.

The regional president has the prerogative to dissolve the Cortes of Castile and León at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence is in process and that dissolution does not occur either during the first legislative session or before one year has elapsed since a previous dissolution.[14][16] In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Cortes shall be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called.[17]

Parties and candidates

The electoral law allows for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance ahead of an election are required to inform the relevant electoral commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors need to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they seek election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.[18][19] Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required in the electoral lists through the use of a zipper system.[20]

Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which will likely contest the election:

Candidacy Parties and
alliances 		Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Gov. Ref.
Vote % Seats
PP
List
 Alfonso Fernández Mañueco Conservatism
Christian democracy 		35.5% 33
PSOE
List
 Carlos Martínez Social democracy 30.7% 30
Vox
List
 Carlos Pollán Right-wing populism
Ultranationalism
National conservatism 		18.9% 14
UPL
List
 Alicia Gallego Leonesism
Regionalism
Autonomism 		4.4% 3
XAV
List
 Pedro Pascual Regionalism 0.9% 1
SY
List
 Ángel Ceña Localism
Ruralism 		0.7% 1

Notes

  1. ^ UPL does not field candidates outside of León (13 seats), Salamanca (10 seats) and Zamora (7 seats) and therefore cannot obtain a majority in parliament.
  2. ^ XAV does not field candidates outside of Ávila (7 seats) and Valladolid (15 seats) and therefore cannot obtain a majority in parliament.
  3. ^ SY does not field candidates outside of Soria (5 seats) and therefore cannot obtain a majority in parliament.
  4. ^ This seat allocation has been manually calculated by applying the electoral rules set out in the law, on the basis of the latest official population figures provided by the Spanish government as of 2026. As such, it should be deemed as a provisional, non-binding estimation. The definitive allocation will be determined by the election decree at the time of the parliament's dissolution.[11]

References

  1. ^ Hernández-Morales, Aitor (15 March 2026). "Sánchez's Socialists defy the polls to finish strong second in regional vote". Politico. Retrieved 15 March 2026.
  2. ^ "Abascal deja clara su intención de entrar en los tres gobiernos autonómicos y emplaza al PP a "negociar medida a medida"". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. 16 March 2026. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  3. ^ Camazón, Alba (17 March 2026). "¿Qué pasa tras las elecciones de Castilla y León?: plazos de constitución de Cortes y otras fechas importantes". elDiario.es (in Spanish). Valladolid. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  4. ^ "Martínez acusa al PP de la "falta de entendimiento" en Castilla y León: "El acuerdo de investidura no es posible"" (in Spanish). RTVE. 17 March 2026. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  5. ^ Statute (2007), arts. 20 & 24.
  6. ^ a b c Statute (2007), art. 21.
  7. ^ LECyL (1987), art. 2.
  8. ^ LOREG (1985), arts. 2–3.
  9. ^ LECyL (1987), arts. 18–20.
  10. ^ Gallagher, Michael (30 July 2012). "Effective threshold in electoral systems". Dublin: Trinity College Dublin. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  11. ^ Real Decreto 1117/2025, de 3 de diciembre, por el que se declaran oficiales las cifras de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal referidas al 1 de enero de 2025 (Royal Decree 1117/2025). Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 3 December 2025. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  12. ^ LECyL (1987), arts. 21 & 26.
  13. ^ LOREG (1985), arts. 46 & 48.
  14. ^ a b LECyL (1987), art. 16.
  15. ^ LOREG (1985), art. 42.
  16. ^ Statute (2007), arts. 21, 27 & 37.
  17. ^ Statute (2007), art. 26.
  18. ^ LECyL (1987), arts. 25–26.
  19. ^ LOREG (1985), art. 44.
  20. ^ LOREG (1985), art. 44 bis.

Bibliography

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