Elections on November 29? This would be the date if Sánchez brings forward the general elections.

The validation of a royal decree-law is the mechanism by which the Congress decides, within a very short period, whether to keep in force or repeal a regulation issued by the Government with the force of law. The procedure is mainly regulated by Article 86 of the Constitution and Article 151 of the Rules of the Congress of Deputies, complemented by general rules on debates, urgency, and the role of the Permanent Deputation.

1. Approval of the royal decree-law and submission to Congress

• Approval in the Council of Ministers: the Government approves the royal decree-law for reasons of extraordinary and urgent necessity.
• Promulgation and publication: the text is promulgated by the King and published in the "Official State Gazette" (BOE). From that moment it comes into force under the terms established by the regulation itself.
• Submission to Congress: the Government must immediately submit the royal decree-law to the Congress of Deputies to be debated and voted on for its validation or repeal.

2. Deadline and competent body

• Maximum deadline: according to the Constitution and Article 151 of the Rules of the Congress, the debate and vote on validation or repeal must take place before thirty days have passed since the promulgation of the royal decree-law.
• Deciding body:
  • Generally, the Plenary of the Congress holds the debate and vote.
  • If the Congress is dissolved or between legislatures, the Permanent Deputation assumes the powers of the Congress regarding royal decree-laws and can debate, vote on them, and even agree on their further processing as bills.
• Inclusion in the agenda: the rules allow the royal decree-law to be included in the Plenary agenda as soon as it has been published in the BOE, without waiting for the thirty-day period to expire.

3. Development of the parliamentary debate

• Initial intervention by the Government: a member of the Government presents to the Chamber the reasons that justified the approval of the royal decree-law and the urgency of the measures adopted.
• Debate with the groups: the rules indicate that the debate is conducted according to the rules established for totality debates:
  • Turns of parliamentary groups to state their position, with times adjusted to the general debate rules.
  • Possibility of replies and counter-replies under the terms set by the Presidency of the Congress.

4. Vote on validation or repeal

• Type of vote: once the debate is concluded, a single vote is held on the decree-law as a whole.
• Meaning of the votes (Art. 151 of the Rules):
  • Affirmative votes are understood as favorable to the validation of the royal decree-law.
  • Negative votes are understood as favorable to its repeal.
• Required majority: the general rule for Plenary decisions on ordinary legislation applies: a simple majority of votes cast (more votes in favor than against), excluding abstentions.
• Publication of the agreement: both the validation and repeal agreements are published in the BOE by resolution of the Congress.

5. Possible processing as a bill

• Question from the Presidency: if the decree-law is validated, the Presidency of the Congress asks in the same session if any parliamentary group wishes the text to be processed as a bill.
• Decision of the Chamber:
  • If one or more groups request it, the Chamber must decide by vote whether to accept that processing.
  • If the Congress agrees, the decree-law is transformed into a bill and subjected to the legislative procedure.
• Urgency procedure: the Rules impose that, in this case, the bill is processed by urgency procedure, which means halving the duration of parliamentary deadlines (Articles 93 and 94 of the Rules).
• Limits on amendments: when a validated decree-law is processed as a bill, total return amendments are not allowed, that is, amendments that seek to return the entire text to the Government; the debate focuses on partial amendments to the articles.
• Role of the Permanent Deputation: for royal decree-laws issued between legislatures, the Permanent Deputation, besides validating or repealing them, can also agree on their processing as bills by the urgency procedure.

In summary, every royal decree-law must be examined by the Congress (or the Permanent Deputation) within a maximum period of thirty days from its promulgation, in a specific debate that concludes with a vote on validation or repeal, and, if applicable, with the decision to open a full parliamentary processing as a bill, but accelerated and without the possibility of block rejection through total return amendments.

In the Spanish constitutional system, the President of the Government has a central role in the dissolution of the Cortes Generales, but does not act sovereignly: his power is one of initiative and proposal, subject to constitutional limits and the intervention of the King through a decree. The basic rules are in the 1978 Constitution, especially in Articles 115, 99, and 116.

1. Main power: propose dissolution to the King

The key power of the President of the Government is to propose to the King the dissolution of the Congress, the Senate, or both Chambers. This proposal is formalized in a Royal Decree of dissolution that:

• Must be agreed upon in the Council of Ministers (i.e., it is not a purely personal act of the president).
• Is signed by the King and countersigned by the President of the Government, who thus assumes the political and legal responsibility of the act.
• Simultaneously includes the call for general elections for the dissolved Chambers.

Therefore, the president's power does not consist of directly "dissolving" the Chambers, but in initiating and assuming responsibility for the decree of dissolution and electoral call signed by the King.

2. Material and temporal limits on the power of dissolution

The Constitution subjects this power to several limits, which also restrict the president's margin of decision:

• Prohibition during a state of exception or siege: while a state of exception or siege is declared (Art. 116 CE), the Cortes cannot be dissolved. If they were already dissolved when declared, the Permanent Deputation assumes essential parliamentary functions. Therefore, the president cannot propose dissolution in that context.
• Prohibition when a motion of censure is underway: while a motion of censure is in progress in the Congress, the president cannot propose dissolution. This aims to prevent using dissolution to avoid a possible parliamentary replacement.
• Minimum period between dissolutions "at the president's initiative": a new dissolution cannot be proposed before one year has passed since the previous dissolution agreed upon at the president's own proposal. This limits strategic and repeated use of dissolution.

3. Dissolution and electoral call: a single decision

The President of the Government not only proposes dissolution but also sets the basic electoral calendar through the content of the Royal Decree. That decree:

• Establishes the date of the elections, within legal deadlines (dissolution-call period and electoral campaign provided in the organic electoral legislation).
• Determines the date of constitution of the new Chambers (first Plenary of the new legislature), within the time frame set by the Constitution.
• Interrupts the current ordinary session period, with the Chambers dissolved and only the Permanent Deputations remaining.

Thus, the president's power is articulated as a comprehensive political decision: dissolve, call elections, and open a new legislature.

4. Dissolution of the Congress, the Senate, or both Chambers

The Constitution contemplates that the president can propose the dissolution of the Congress, the Senate, or both Chambers. In practice, the general rule has been the simultaneous dissolution of Congress and Senate for holding joint general elections.

However, the constitutional text theoretically allows non-simultaneous dissolutions, which would give the president an additional political instrument (for example, renewing only one Chamber). Although legally open, this possibility is highly conditioned by political practice and the design of the electoral system.

5. Automatic dissolution due to failed investiture (Art. 99.5 CE)

Besides the "optional" dissolution the president can propose, there is a case of automatic dissolution linked to investiture:

• If two months pass from the first investiture vote without any candidate obtaining the confidence of the Congress, the Crown dissolves both Chambers and calls new elections.

In this case, dissolution does not depend on a free decision of the president already in office (who may be acting in a caretaker capacity), but on a constitutional automatic mandate. The president's role here is very limited; the initiative corresponds to the King in compliance with that provision, without presidential proposal.

6. Relation with session periods and political responsibility

Dissolution can be agreed at any time within the indicated limits, regardless of whether the Chambers are in ordinary period (February-June, September-December) or extraordinary period. Once dissolution occurs:

• The Chambers cease their ordinary functions and only the Permanent Deputations act.
• The Government enters caretaker status from the holding of elections until the investiture of a new president.
• The decision to dissolve may generate political responsibility for the president, who must explain it to public opinion and, if applicable, to the new Cortes.

In summary, the President of the Government has a key power of initiative in the dissolution of the Cortes, but that power is balanced by the formal intervention of the King, explicit limits, and automatic mechanisms such as dissolution due to failed investiture, which seek to balance institutional stability and political responsiveness.

The Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG) does not decide when early elections can be held (this is mainly set by the Constitution), but it does regulate quite precisely how the call must be made once the decision to dissolve the Cortes Generales has been adopted. From the LOREG and its coordination with the Constitution, the main formal, competence, and temporal requirements can be identified.

1. Who calls and in what form

According to the LOREG (articles on election calls, within the title dedicated to elections to the Cortes Generales):

• The call for elections to the Congress, the Senate, or both Chambers jointly is made by Royal Decree.
• This Royal Decree is issued, as a general rule, at the proposal of the President of the Government, under his exclusive responsibility and after deliberation by the Council of Ministers.
• The Royal Decree always includes the date of the elections and, in cases of early dissolution, must expressly contain the dissolution of the affected Chamber or Chambers and the call for new elections.
• The Decree is signed by the King and countersigned:
  • Normally, by the President of the Government, who proposes it.
  • In the special case provided in Article 99.5 of the Constitution (automatic dissolution due to failed investiture), the LOREG establishes that the President of the Congress of Deputies countersigns the decree of dissolution and call for new elections.

Thus, the LOREG specifies the legal form (Royal Decree) and who assumes political responsibility for the call act, in coordination with what the Constitution provides.

2. Publication in the BOE and entry into force

The LOREG also sets strict rules on publicity and effectiveness of the dissolution and call decree:

• In cases of elections to the Cortes Generales where the President of the Government exercises his power of early dissolution, the call decrees are published the day after their issuance in the "Official State Gazette".
• They come into force on the same day of their publication.
• The decree must specify the exact date of the elections, which must be held on the fifty-fourth day after the call.

These rules apply both to early and ordinary elections, but in the case of early elections they are especially relevant because they determine in a closed manner the period between the decision to dissolve and election day.

3. Temporal and material limits: main role of the Constitution

The limits on when the President of the Government can propose early dissolution of the Cortes are mainly set in the Constitution and coordinated with the LOREG:

• The Constitution establishes that a new dissolution cannot be agreed before one year has passed since the previous one.
• Dissolution cannot be decreed when a motion of censure is pending and until it is voted on.
• There is also automatic dissolution due to failed investiture (Art. 99.5 CE): if two months pass from the first investiture vote without any candidate obtaining the confidence of the Congress, the King dissolves both Chambers and calls new elections, and this is where the LOREG provides for the countersignature of the President of the Congress in the decree.

The LOREG does not reproduce all these limits in detail but expressly refers to the Constitution (for example, Article 99.5) and is built on that framework: it assumes that the decision to dissolve must respect those constitutional conditions and limits itself to organizing the call and electoral deadlines from the moment the dissolution has already been decided according to the Constitution.

4. Electoral deadlines derived from the LOREG

Once the Royal Decree of dissolution and call is published, the LOREG activates the entire electoral calendar:

• From the call (day 0) to election day (day 54), deadlines for submission of candidacies, proclamation, electoral campaign, postal voting, etc., are chained.
• The mandate of the dissolved Chambers ends with dissolution and that of the new ones begins with their constitution, following the general rules of the LOREG.

In summary, the LOREG establishes that early general elections are always called by Royal Decree, signed by the King and, depending on the case, countersigned by the President of the Government or the President of the Congress; it requires immediate publication in the BOE, sets that the vote takes place on the 54th day after the call, and organizes the entire subsequent electoral calendar, while the material and temporal limits on the decision to dissolve derive mainly from the Constitution.