Turnout: 66.23%
About this election
The Spanish general election of 10 November 2019 — the fourth in four years — was called after Pedro Sánchez failed to form a government following his April victory. The gamble that a repeat vote would clarify the arithmetic largely failed: the PSOE again finished first but lost ground, the far-right Vox more than doubled its seats to become the third-largest party, and Citizens collapsed. The one lasting consequence was that the shock of the result finally pushed the PSOE and Unidas Podemos into Spain's first national coalition government since the Civil War.
The election again used D'Hondt proportional representation in the 50 provinces plus Ceuta and Melilla, with a 3% provincial threshold. The collapse of Citizens redistributed much of the centre-right vote to the PP and Vox, and the province-based system translated Vox's more concentrated and intense support into a far larger seat haul than its first-time entry in April.
The campaign unfolded amid renewed tension in Catalonia: the Supreme Court had handed down long prison sentences to the Catalan independence leaders in mid-October, triggering mass protests and unrest in Barcelona. Vox, led by Santiago Abascal, made Spanish unity and a hard line on the independence movement its central themes, while the PP under Pablo Casado sought to recover the right-wing voters it had lost in April. Turnout fatigue and disillusionment with the repeated failure to govern hung over the contest.
The PSOE won 28.00% and 120 seats, three fewer than in April. The PP recovered to 20.81% and 89 seats, while Vox surged to 15.08% and 52 seats — the most dramatic far-right advance in modern Spanish history. Unidas Podemos slipped to 12.86% and 35, and Citizens collapsed from 57 seats to just 10 (6.80%), prompting Albert Rivera's resignation. ERC (13), the new left platform Más País (3), JxCat (8), the PNV (6), EH Bildu (5), the CUP (2), the Canarian Coalition (2), Navarra Suma (2), the BNG (1), the Cantabrian regionalists (1) and Teruel Existe (1) completed the chamber. Turnout fell to 66.23%.
This time the deadlock broke quickly. Within days Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias announced a preliminary coalition agreement, and after months of negotiation the PSOE–Unidas Podemos government was invested in January 2020 — narrowly, and only thanks to the abstention of ERC. It was the first formal coalition government of Spain's democratic era and the first to include a party to the left of the Socialists. The government would soon be consumed by the COVID-19 pandemic and would govern, dependent on the votes of regional and nationalist parties, for a full term.
The PSOE again led across most of Spain, but by narrower margins, and Vox's advance was visible everywhere, with the party running second in much of the south and interior. The PP reclaimed ground in the Castiles and the north. ERC narrowly held Catalonia against a resurgent PSC, the PNV led the Basque Country, and the regionalists carried Navarre, Cantabria and the Canaries in their usual coalitions.
Official results from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior (infoelectoral.interior.gob.es). Vote shares are of valid votes; the regional map is coloured by the leading party in each autonomous community.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.