Jordi Wild, waiting for Sánchez: Feijóo, Abascal, and Colau accept their interviews for the 29N

The electoral reform related to electoral debates and interviews expired on October 6, 2026. Therefore, as of October 20, 2026, it is no longer under parliamentary processing nor has it become law. There is also an important clarification: the identified bill regulates electoral debates in the media, but it should not be described as a specific law on interviews or debates on digital media.

What initiative it is and its status

It is the Organic Bill modifying Organic Law 5/1985, of June 19, on the General Electoral Regime, promoted by the Government and processed in the Congress of Deputies.

Its text was published in the Official Bulletin of the Cortes on July 24, 2025. The publication agreement, dated July 22, opened a period of fifteen working days to submit amendments, which initially ended on September 17, 2025.

The parliamentary outcome was its expiration on October 6, 2026, linked to the dissolution of the Cortes. The official reference associated with that closure can be consulted in the Official State Gazette (BOE) of the dissolution. This means that its parliamentary course ended: it was not simply suspended or pending continuation in the next legislature. To resume that reform, a new initiative would be necessary.

What changes it proposed

The bill aimed to modify article 66 of the electoral legislation. Its main measures regarding debates were as follows:

• Public media: they had to hold at least one debate among the competing political parties during the electoral campaign.
• Attendance: it was proposed to be mandatory, except for justified cause assessed by the competent electoral board. Organizers had to inform about the unjustified nature of absences.
• Participation: the organization had to especially consider the results of the last equivalent elections and the presence of significant political groups.
• Private media: retained the decision to organize debates. If they held them, they had to respect the principles established by electoral legislation.

These measures were proposals of the bill, not new obligations that have come into force. Its parliamentary publication did not equate to its definitive approval.

The clarification about digital media

The published text distinguishes between public media, private broadcasters, and private televisions. In particular, it mentions the principles of proportionality and informational neutrality applicable to electoral debates and interviews organized by private televisions. It does not allow stating that any digital newspaper, streaming platform, or social media channel was subject, by that sole fact, to all those obligations.

It should also not be confused with the Bill modifying various legal provisions for the improvement of democratic governance in digital services and regulation of the media. This other bill also expired on October 6, 2026, but its name does not prove that it was the specific reform of electoral debates.

What framework remains relevant

The expiration does not eliminate existing electoral rules. The general reference remains the General Electoral Regime Law, along with the Instruction 4/2011 of the Central Electoral Board, modified by Instruction 1/2015. In short, the identified reform ended without approval; its content should not be used as if it were current legislation to organize a digital debate.

The President of the Government can direct and coordinate the Executive's communication and explain its decisions during an electoral process, but cannot use institutional media to favor a candidacy. He does not have special authorization to do propaganda from his position: he must separate his institutional activity from his intervention as a political leader or candidate.

Direction competencies, not unlimited authorization

His directing role allows setting the general lines of government communication and coordinating ministries. However, the planning and execution of institutional campaigns are distributed among different bodies: the Advertising and Institutional Communication Commission prepares the annual plan based on ministerial proposals and the Council of Ministers approves it. Therefore, presidential direction should not be confused with a personal competence to authorize any campaign.

This distribution is stated in articles 11 and 12 of Law 29/2005. Inclusion of a campaign in the annual plan does not allow its dissemination if it violates electoral restrictions.

What communication can be maintained

The specific rule of article 10 of that law is to refrain from carrying out institutional campaigns during the electoral period, with two exceptions:

• Legally provided electoral information: registration in the census and communications about the voting date, how to vote, and the requirements and procedures for postal voting. The authority corresponds to the competent public powers that have called the process, not personally to the president by the mere fact of being so.
• Essential information: campaigns necessary to safeguard public interest or guarantee the functioning of public services, for example, health or safety notices. They must be limited to the necessary information, without presenting the action as an electoral merit of the Government.

Article 50.1 of the LOREG requires that information about voting does not influence the orientation of the vote and is disseminated in free spaces of public media. Instruction 2/2011 of the Central Electoral Board specifies that these campaigns also cannot aim to encourage participation.

What is prohibited

Restrictions apply from the publication of the call until the day of voting, not only during the fifteen days of the campaign. The president cannot:

• Organize or finance, directly or indirectly, institutional acts that highlight governmental achievements or use images and expressions similar to those of a candidacy.
• Hold inaugurations of works, public services, or their projects, regardless of the name of the act. The works and services can enter into operation.
• Turn official appearances or institutional channels into instruments for vote solicitation, partisan promotion, or electoral disqualification of opponents.

Additionally, article 4 of Law 29/2005 prohibits campaigns aimed at highlighting management achievements also outside the electoral period.

Appearances and electoral control

The president can continue appearing and communicating government decisions. The obligation is to maintain neutrality: answering journalistic questions does not turn an official act into a space free of restrictions. His partisan participation must be carried out through separate channels, subject to campaign rules.

The competent electoral boards control these limits and can order the removal of content and initiate sanctioning procedures. They do not authorize each institutional act beforehand: they intervene through consultations, complaints, claims, and appeals. In short, the president retains the capacity to inform and coordinate, but not to transform State resources into electoral propaganda.

A podcast can organize electoral interviews, but not all are subject to the same obligations as a radio or television. The key is to distinguish its legal nature and keep journalistic information and electoral propaganda separate. In the consulted regulations, there is no general prior electoral authorization for a private podcast to interview candidates.

1. Determine what type of service it provides

The name "podcast" does not decide the legal regime. Its ownership, editorial responsibility, economic activity, and distribution matter: audio on demand, radio broadcasting, or video. The Audiovisual Law 13/2022 contemplates on-demand sound services, but not all personal content is automatically subject to all its obligations.

Audiovisual and electoral regulation are different matters: fitting into the former does not prove, by itself, that all television electoral rules must apply to the podcast. No specific doctrine has been found that indiscriminately equates any independent podcast with a broadcaster.

2. Pluralism, selection, and duration

Article 66 of the LOREG differentiates three situations during the electoral period, from the publication of the call until voting:

• Public media: pluralism, equality, proportionality, and informational neutrality. They must present their coverage plans to the competent Electoral Board.
• Private radios: pluralism and equality.
• Private televisions: additionally, proportionality and neutrality in interviews, debates, and campaign information.

There is no general obligation to interview all candidacies or grant them identical minutes. For private televisions, Instruction 4/2011, whose consolidated text was published by Instruction 1/2015, requires particular attention to the results of the last equivalent elections. The obligation to compensate a debate restricted to the two most voted candidacies should not automatically be transferred to any individual podcast interview.

3. Avoid turning the interview into covert advertising

It is advisable to maintain editorial control over questions, editing, and publication. If a candidacy pays or conditions the episode, it must be analyzed as possible electoral advertising, not simply labeled as an interview. Article 60 prohibits contracting electoral advertising in public media and private televisions; identifying sponsorship does not remedy a prohibited contract.

Additionally, article 50.5 limits campaigning by legal entities other than electoral formations, safeguarding freedom of expression and information. It should also be avoided to use institutional financing or resources to electorally favor the interviewee, according to article 50.2.

4. Calendar, polls, and corrections

• Propaganda: article 53 prohibits certain electoral insertions from the call until the start of the campaign, and propaganda once it has ended. A journalistic interview is not automatically propaganda; its content and conditions are decisive.
• Polls: article 69 requires technical information and identification of those responsible and prohibits publishing, disseminating, or reproducing polls during the five days prior to voting.
• Correction: article 68 allows candidates and leaders to claim it against harmful inaccurate facts.

The Internet is not an exception: Instruction 4/2007 extends campaign restrictions to electronic media.

5. Recommended protocol

Document criteria for selection, invitations, refusals, conditions, and promotion of each episode. These are preventive measures, not a universal obligation to offer identical interviews. If article 156 of the audiovisual law applies, keep contents for six months. Before closing the series, determine the service regime and expressly separate editorial interviews, sponsorships, and political advertising.