Pedro Sánchez, received with boos upon his arrival at the parade of October 12

As of today (October 12, 2026) the early call for general elections on November 29, 2026 is already fully formalized and underway. The Cortes Generales are dissolved by Royal Decree 806/2026, of October 5, published in the BOE on October 6, 2026, and the electoral procedure is in the phase of preparing candidacies and initial deadlines (such as postal voting), even before the official start of the campaign.

1. Current situation of the call

According to Royal Decree 806/2026, the Government has dissolved the Congress of Deputies and the Senate elected on July 23, 2023, and has called elections to both Chambers for Sunday, November 29, 2026. The decree, signed by the King and the President of the Government, came into force the same day it was published in the BOE (October 6, 2026).

Since that moment:

• The ordinary mandate of deputies and senators has ended, except for the members of the Permanent Deputation, which remains in office to validate or repeal royal decree-laws and assume the powers provided for in states of alarm, exception, and siege.
• Spain is in an electoral period: restrictions on inauguration acts and institutional propaganda apply, electoral deadlines are activated, and the processing of candidacies begins.

2. Basic legal framework of dissolution and call

The procedure is mainly based on:

• Article 115 of the Spanish Constitution: the President of the Government may propose the dissolution of the Congress, the Senate, or the Cortes Generales, after deliberation by the Council of Ministers and under his responsibility. The dissolution is formalized by royal decree signed by the King and countersigned by the President himself.
• Article 68.6 of the Constitution: elections to the Congress must be held between 30 and 60 days after the call, and the Cortes must convene within 25 days following the vote.
• Organic Law 5/1985, of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG), in particular:
  • Article 42: sets a general period of 54 days between the call and the vote in case of early dissolution.
  • Article 51: regulates the electoral campaign, which begins on the thirty-eighth day after the call, lasts 15 days, and ends at midnight on the day immediately before the vote.
  • Articles 167 and following: detailed regulation of the call, presentation of candidacies, and other milestones of the process.
• Organic Law 2/2016: regulates an abbreviated procedure (47 days) for the special case of automatic dissolution due to investiture failure (art. 99.5 CE); this is not the current case, which responds to a political decision of early dissolution.

3. Specific deadlines for the November 29, 2026 elections

Royal Decree 806/2026 and the official notes from the Congress and the Senate specify how these general deadlines apply in this call:

• Dissolution and call: the royal decree is signed on October 5, 2026 and published in the BOE on October 6. That day is considered the call date.
• Interval call–vote: the elections will be held on Sunday, November 29, 2026, that is, 54 days after the publication of the decree, exactly within the framework of art. 42 LOREG.
• Electoral campaign: will last 15 days. The decree sets that:
  • The campaign begins at 00:00 on Friday, November 13.
  • It ends at 24:00 on Friday, November 27.
• Reflection day: Saturday, November 28, the day immediately before the vote, with no campaign acts or electoral propaganda.
• Constitution of the new Cortes: Royal Decree 806/2026 establishes that the Congress and Senate resulting from the November 29 elections will convene on December 23, 2026, at 10:00 a.m., within the maximum period of 25 days set by article 68.6 CE. That constitutive session will formally open the XVI Legislature.

4. Summary

In summary, the "early call" is no longer a mere announcement: it is in the executive phase after the publication in the BOE of Royal Decree 806/2026. The Cortes are dissolved, the Permanent Deputation functions, and the country advances according to the legal calendar leading to the polls on November 29 and the constitution of the new Chambers on December 23, in accordance with the Constitution and LOREG.

The President of the Government in Spain is the highest authority of the executive power and, together with the Council of Ministers, directs the country's domestic and foreign policy. His figure is mainly regulated by the 1978 Constitution and development laws (Government Law and protocol rules), while the Royal Family embodies the Head of State through the King. Both institutions coordinate and complement each other, especially in the institutional projection of Spain inside and outside its borders.

Constitutional functions of the President of the Government

The main functions of the President of the Government derive mainly from articles 97 to 100 of the Constitution, as well as other scattered references:

• Direction of Government action: the president determines the general political guidelines and coordinates the work of the ministers. He is the decision center of the executive power, with the capacity to set priorities and guide normative and budgetary action.
• Responsibility before the Congress: he is politically responsible only before the Congress of Deputies. His appointment requires the confidence of the Chamber through investiture, and he can be dismissed by a constructive vote of no confidence or by losing a vote of confidence.
• Appointment and dismissal of ministers: once invested, he proposes to the King the appointment and dismissal of ministers. The Constitution formally attributes the act to the King, but always at the president's proposal, who defines the Government's composition.
• Direction of domestic and foreign policy: the Government directs domestic and foreign policy, the civil and military Administration, and the defense of the State. In practice, the president concentrates the coordination of foreign policy (summits, relations with the EU, major decisions in defense and security).
• Promotion of legislative activity: he leads the Government's initiative in bills, royal decree-laws, and royal legislative decrees. Although formally these are acts of the Council of Ministers, the orientation and priority of these initiatives politically depend on the president.
• Dissolution of the Cortes and call for elections: he can propose to the King the dissolution of the Congress, the Senate, or the Cortes Generales and the call for general elections, within constitutional limits (not during an ongoing vote of no confidence, respecting minimum deadlines, etc.).
• Relationship with the King in Government formation: after elections, the King, after consulting parliamentary groups, proposes a candidate for the Presidency of the Government. However, investiture only occurs if the Congress grants its confidence.
• Responsibility in states of crisis: in states of alarm, exception, and siege, it is the Government (under the president's leadership) who proposes, declares, or requests parliamentary authorization, as the case may be.

Institutional relationship with the Royal Family in official acts

The relationship between the President of the Government and the Royal Family in official acts is based on two ideas: the King is Head of State and symbol of Spain's unity and permanence, while the President of the Government is Head of the Executive and responsible for political direction. This is reflected in precedence, the roles each plays, and their co-presence in numerous ceremonies.

• Precedence and representation: in state acts (national holidays, state visits, opening of legislatures, etc.), the King occupies the first protocol position, generally followed by the President of the Government. The King "represents" the State symbolically; the president expresses the political and governmental position.
• Acts presided over by the King: in ceremonies such as the National Day parade, the Military Easter, the solemn opening of the Cortes, or the oath of high officials (including the President of the Government), the Royal Family, especially the King, presides over the act. The president attends in a prominent place, intervenes when appropriate (speeches, official greetings), and always appears as the highest governmental authority.
• Acts presided over by the President of the Government: in Council of Ministers meetings, government summits, sectoral conferences, and other strictly executive acts, the president presides without the Royal Family's presence. The King does not participate in Government decisions, which are the exclusive responsibility of the president and his ministers.
• Coordination in foreign policy: in state visits abroad or those received in Spain, the state dimension (headed by the King) is usually combined with the governmental one (President of the Government). For example, the King may hold a gala dinner with the visiting head of state, while the president holds the political meeting and appears in joint press conferences.
• Neutrality of the King and responsibility of the president: the King must remain neutral in political debate, so his speeches are carefully prepared and, although institutionally coordinated with the Government, the political responsibility for decisions and orientations corresponds to the president and his cabinet.

In summary, the constitutional framework places the President of the Government as the center of political decision and democratic responsibility, while the Royal Family, led by the King, embodies the continuity and symbolic representation of the State. In official acts, this duality translates into a joint but differentiated presence: the King as a State figure and the president as responsible for the country's political direction.

Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón is a Spanish economist and politician, born in Madrid on February 29, 1972. His public career combines a solid background in economics, international and academic experience, and a political career that has led him to the General Secretariat of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the Presidency of the Government of Spain, a position he has held since June 2018. He belongs to the PSOE, which he joined in 1993, and has been its secretary general since 2017 (he had already held the position between 2014 and 2016).

Education and early professional steps

Sánchez holds a degree in Economic and Business Sciences and specialized in European economics: he completed a master's degree in European Union Economics at the Free University of Brussels and an advanced studies program in economic and monetary integration at the Ortega y Gasset University Institute. Later, he obtained a doctorate in Economics and Business from the Camilo José Cela University.

Before becoming a well-known figure in national politics, he developed an activity clearly linked to the European and international field. He worked as an advisor in the European Parliament and was part of the cabinet of the United Nations High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which gave him experience in European policies and international crisis management. In parallel, he worked as an economics professor at Camilo José Cela University and maintained an academic career linked to economic analysis and public policies.

Beginnings and consolidation in Spanish politics

Affiliated with the PSOE since 1993, his first significant leap into institutional politics came at the municipal level. Between 2004 and 2009 he was a councilor of the Madrid City Council. In those years he also took on responsibilities in the local public business sector as a general counselor of Caja Madrid and member of the bodies of municipal housing and urban promotion companies, which brought him closer to the management of urban and housing policies.

His national projection was consolidated as a deputy in the Congress for Madrid. He has been a deputy in several legislatures, with some interruptions, always within the Socialist Parliamentary Group. This parliamentary trajectory served as a platform for him to run for the leadership of the PSOE.

Leadership of the PSOE

In July 2014 he won the membership consultation and was proclaimed secretary general of the PSOE, becoming the socialist candidate for the Presidency of the Government in the 2015 and 2016 general elections. During this first cycle at the head of the party, he also served as president of the Socialist Group in the Congress and leader of the opposition.

The severe internal crisis of the PSOE led to his resignation as secretary general in October 2016, after losing the majority support of the party's bodies. However, far from retiring, Sánchez ran again in the internal primaries and in May 2017 recovered the General Secretariat, defeating Susana Díaz and Patxi López. Since then, he has continuously led the party and has been the main reference of Spanish socialism in all subsequent general electoral events.

President of the Government and socialist leader

The central milestone of his career came in June 2018, when he led the motion of no confidence against Mariano Rajoy, motivated by the Gürtel case ruling. The motion succeeded, and Sánchez became the first Spanish President of the Government to access the position through this constitutional mechanism. Since then, he has been re-invested president in January 2020 and November 2023, leading different parliamentary majority formulas and agreements with other forces.

Electorally, since 2014 he has been the PSOE candidate for the Presidency in five general elections (2015, 2016, the two calls in 2019, and 2023). Under his leadership, the party has experienced historic lows in representation but also its highest vote count in 2023, and has governed through complex majorities and coalitions. In addition to presiding over the Executive, he remains a deputy for Madrid in the current legislature, integrated into the Socialist Parliamentary Group.

In summary, Pedro Sánchez is the central leader of the PSOE, a party he has belonged to since the 1990s, and his professional and political trajectory combines economic, academic, municipal, parliamentary, and high-level government experience, culminating in a presidency marked by the 2018 motion of no confidence and successive parliamentary re-elections.