The PSOE will have at least 11 ministers on its lists and Frente Amplio opts for profiles external to the government.

For the PSOE (or any national party) to ratify and present its candidacies before general elections, there is no "parliamentary procedure" in the strict sense, but rather a combination of internal party steps and compliance with the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG) before the Electoral Boards. Parliament only comes into play afterwards, when the Chambers are constituted. Practically, the process can be divided into four phases: internal decision, formal approval of lists, presentation before the Boards, and proclamation or correction.

1. Political decision and internal party instruction

Before any formal act, the PSOE leadership must make two basic decisions:

• Constituencies in which it presents: in general elections, voting is by provinces for the Congress and by provinces/communities for the Senate. The PSOE decides in which it presents candidacies (usually in all Spanish constituencies).
• Political selection criteria: weight of territorial leaders, renewal, parity, presence of independents, etc. The Federal Executive, regional and provincial leaderships usually intervene here, and in some cases primaries or other participatory mechanisms provided in their statutes.

All this is ordered through internal instructions (circulars, agreements of the Executive Commission, federal or regional committees) that set deadlines and procedures to propose and close candidacies in each constituency.

2. Organic approval of the lists

Each party regulates in its statutes and internal regulations how its electoral lists are approved, but the usual scheme is:

• Proposal from territorial structures: local groups, provincial or regional committees submit candidacy proposals for the Congress and Senate, adjusted to the LOREG requirements (number of names, substitutes, parity, etc.).
• Review and harmonization at the federal leadership: the national leadership checks overall coherence (internal balances, profiles, compatibilities) and may introduce changes.
• Ratification by the competent body: usually the highest body between congresses (for example, a Federal Committee) or the Federal Executive formally approves the candidacies. That agreement is the "internal ratification" that is then transferred to the electoral registry.

From a legal-electoral point of view, what matters is that the party has designated general and candidacy representatives, who act before the Electoral Boards on behalf of the party and certify that those lists are officially approved.

3. Presentation of candidacies before the Electoral Boards

Once the general elections are called, the legal calendar set by the LOREG begins. Simplified:

• Between the 15th and 20th day after the call, parties must present their candidacies for the Congress and Senate before the Provincial Electoral Boards (and, if applicable, the Central Electoral Board for certain matters).
• The presentation is made by the candidacy representatives designated by the party, providing:
  • Complete list of main and substitute candidates, with the order of placement.
  • Name, initials, and, if applicable, symbol of the party or coalition.
  • Acceptance of the included persons, when appropriate.
  • Additional documentation if the candidacy is not from a party/coalition with sufficient presence (endorsements, etc.).
• The lists must respect the parity and balanced composition requirements established by electoral regulations for Congress candidacies and, if applicable, for autonomic designation candidacies.

4. Review by the Electoral Boards, corrections, and proclamation

Once the lists are received within the deadline, the Electoral Boards carry out several checks:

• Formal control: they verify that the candidacy is presented in time and form, that the documentation is complete, that legal requirements of parity, number of candidates and substitutes, etc., have been met.
• Provisional publication: the candidacies are published in the Official Bulletin of the province (and, if applicable, in the BOE) so that claims can be made.
• Correction period: if the Board detects defects (for example, a missing document, an un-replaced resignation, a parity breach), it grants a brief correction period. The PSOE, through its representatives, can:
  • Provide the missing documentation.
  • Reorder the list or replace candidates to meet legal requirements.
• Proclamation of candidacies: once defects are corrected or claims resolved, the Boards proclaim the valid candidacies on the date set by the LOREG and publish them officially. From that moment, the lists are closed, except for the limited cases of substitution.

5. Subsequent effects: from lists to parliamentary groups

After the elections and the count, the seats obtained by the PSOE lists in each constituency determine their parliamentary groups. Once the Congress and Senate are constituted, the party must, within a few days, communicate the constitution of its groups to the Chambers' Boards, meeting the minimum seat number requirements and avoiding duplications.

In summary: to "ratify" its candidacies, the PSOE needs to close its lists through the internal bodies provided in its statutes and then strictly comply with the deadlines and formal requirements of the LOREG before the Electoral Boards, which review, allow corrections, and finally proclaim the candidacies with which the party will run in the elections.

Under the current legal framework, the figure of the minister is mainly configured in the Spanish Constitution and in Law 50/1997, of November 27, on the Government, complemented by Law 40/2015, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector and Law 3/2015, regulating the exercise of high office. From these norms, the minister is defined as a member of the Government and head of a ministerial department, with political and administrative management competencies and responsibility before the General Courts.

1. Appointment, dismissal, and requirements

According to article 12 of Law 50/1997, ministers are appointed and dismissed by the King at the proposal of the President of the Government. The appointment implies dismissal from any public position previously held, and the dismissal of a minister without portfolio entails the extinction of that body.

Article 11 of Law 50/1997 requires to be a member of the Government:

• To be Spanish and of legal age.
• To enjoy active and passive suffrage rights.
• Not to be disqualified from public employment or office by a final sentence.
• To meet the suitability requirements provided in Law 3/2015 on high officials.

A recent reform adds that, in the appointment of vice-presidencies and ministries, a balanced presence of women and men must be guaranteed, so that each sex represents at least 40 % overall.

2. Basic competencies of the minister

The core functions are set out in article 4 of Law 50/1997. As heads of their departments, ministers have competence and responsibility in the specific sphere of their action and exercise, among others, the following functions:

• Develop the Government's action in their scope, according to the agreements of the Council of Ministers or the guidelines of the President of the Government. This politically translates the Government's collective decisions into concrete sectoral policies.
• Exercise regulatory power in matters pertaining to their department, issuing regulations and other general provisions within the framework of the law.
• Exercise the competencies assigned by laws and the Government's organization and functioning rules, as well as any other provision assigning them specific functions.
• Endorse, if applicable, the acts of the King in matters of their competence, fulfilling the constitutional requirement of ministerial endorsement.

The Law also foresees the existence of ministers without portfolio, to whom specific governmental functions are assigned by royal decree, as well as the corresponding administrative structure and material and personal means.

3. Political and administrative management of the ministry

In the architecture of the General State Administration (Law 40/2015), ministers are superior bodies who exercise the direction of the department, above secretaries of state, undersecretaries, and other management bodies. According to article 20 of Law 50/1997, they can delegate competencies to secretaries of state, undersecretaries, government delegates, and other management bodies, except in expressly non-delegable matters (constitutional competencies, appointment and dismissal of high officials, etc.).

This position attributes to them:

• Plan and direct the public policies of their ministry's area.
• Direct the administrative activity necessary to execute them, through instructions and orders.
• Manage human, material, and budgetary resources of the department within the legal framework.

4. Role in the Council of Ministers and relations with the Cortes

Ministers are members of the Council of Ministers, a collegiate body to which Law 50/1997 attributes key competencies: approving bills and sending them to the Cortes, approving the General State Budget project, approving royal decree-laws and royal legislative decrees, approving regulations, declaring states of alarm and exception, etc. Each minister participates in the deliberation and adoption of these agreements and is politically responsible for them jointly.

The relationship with the General Courts is governed by the Government's political responsibility. Article 29 of Law 50/1997 establishes that all acts and omissions of the Government are subject to political control by the Cortes, exercised through mechanisms such as questions, interpellations, investigative commissions, motions, and, if applicable, the motion of censure or the vote of confidence directed at the Government as a whole.

5. Legal responsibility and incompatibility regime

Ministers are high officials subject to Law 3/2015, which sets rules on suitability, exclusive dedication, conflicts of interest, declarations of assets and activities, and sanctioning regime, reinforcing transparency and integrity in the exercise of the office.

Additionally, article 14 of Law 50/1997 provides that Government members:

• Cannot exercise other representative functions other than parliamentary mandate, nor other public functions unrelated to their office.
• Cannot engage in professional or commercial activity while serving as ministers.
• Are subject to the incompatibility regime of high officials of the General State Administration.

Finally, the acts, inactivity, and de facto actions of the Government are challengeable before the contentious-administrative jurisdiction, and governmental action may also be subject to control before the Constitutional Court under the terms of its organic law, completing the framework of legal responsibility of ministers.

In Spanish general elections, the requirements for a person to be on an electoral list (for the Congress of Deputies or the Senate) are mainly set by the Constitution and the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG). It is important to distinguish between having the right to vote (active suffrage) and having the right to be elected (passive suffrage), because not all who can vote can necessarily be candidates.

Difference between electoral census and passive suffrage

Being registered in the electoral census and having active suffrage means being able to participate in elections by casting a vote. The census is formed by those who meet the general requirements (age and nationality, mainly) and are not deprived of suffrage rights by a judicial resolution.

Passive suffrage is the right to be elected. To be a candidate, it is not enough to be on the census: one must also meet specific eligibility conditions and not incur causes of ineligibility or incompatibility provided in the LOREG and the Constitution.

General eligibility conditions

The basic traits any candidate for general elections must have are:

• Spanish nationality: only Spaniards can be deputies or senators in the General Courts.
• Legal age: having reached 18 years of age on the election date to be eligible.
• Full exercise of political rights: not suspended or deprived of suffrage rights (active or passive) by a final judicial sentence, nor subject to a special disqualification preventing election to public office.

Causes of ineligibility and incompatibilities

Besides positive requirements, the LOREG establishes categories of persons who cannot be candidates (ineligible) while holding certain offices or situations. Among the most relevant, generally:

• High officials of the constitutional and ordinary jurisdiction (members of the Constitutional Court, the General Council of the Judiciary, active magistrates and judges, unless they move to the administrative situation the electoral law provides).
• Certain State and autonomous community officials with executive or control functions (e.g., Ombudsman and deputies, high officials of equivalent autonomous bodies, certain members of electoral boards, etc.).
• Members of the Armed Forces and Security Forces in active service, unless they move to the situation that the LOREG admits to run.
• Persons sentenced to disqualification from public employment or office or special disqualification for passive suffrage, while the sentence lasts.

To these ineligibilities are added incompatibilities that arise once the seat is obtained. Certain offices are incompatible with that of deputy or senator; in those cases, if the person is elected, they must choose between keeping the incompatible office or the seat. In practice, many of these offices also act as origin ineligibilities, because the LOREG requires cessation or change of situation before the proclamation of candidacies.

Acceptance of the candidacy and form of presentation

The right to be elected is not exercised individually, but through integration into a candidacy. For this:

• Each person must expressly accept their candidacy, usually by signing the list presentation documents, according to the LOREG.
• It is not allowed for someone to be included without their consent; acceptance is a requirement for the candidacy to be valid.
• No one can appear simultaneously on more than one candidacy of the same election type, so that the same person is not on different lists competing in the same election.

Parties, coalitions, and groups of electors

Lists for the Congress and Senate can only be presented by:

• Legally registered political parties.
• Federations and coalitions of parties.
• Groups of electors, which are candidacies promoted ad hoc by citizens.

Candidates on those lists must meet the same personal requirements (eligibility, not being subject to ineligibility or original incompatibility), regardless of the type of entity presenting the candidacy. The difference lies in the requirements the list itself must meet:

• Parties, federations, and coalitions present candidacies in the constituencies where they decide to run, respecting the maximum number of main and substitute candidates set by the LOREG for each chamber.
• Groups of electors must also collect a minimum number of citizen signatures from the constituency to present a list; this is a requirement of the collective entity, not of each individual candidate.

Constituencies and double candidacy

In general elections:

• The Congress is elected by provincial constituencies through closed and blocked lists; each candidacy presents a number of candidates according to the province's seats.
• The Senate combines party lists and more personal candidacies in each constituency, but candidates are still integrated into candidacies presented by legitimate entities (parties, coalitions, or groups of electors).

The LOREG generally prevents the same person from appearing on several competing candidacies in the same process and chamber. If for any reason a person is elected to incompatible offices, they are obliged to choose only one, renouncing the others.

In summary, to be on the lists of Spanish general elections one must be a Spanish adult, with full political rights, not affected by the causes of ineligibility or incompatibility set out in the Constitution and the LOREG, and expressly accept the candidacy within a valid list presented by a party, federation, coalition, or group of electors in the corresponding constituency.