Spain

The 350 members of the lower house of the Spanish parliament (Congress of Deputies) are directly elected in a single-tier closed-list proportional representation system, in 50 regional constituencies. The legal threshold is 3% by default, but this is applied per constituency, so a party does not have to reach 3% nationwide. The legal threshold is therefore only relevant in Madrid and Barcelona (38 and 32-seat constituencies). The natural threshold resulting from the size of the constituencies is much more important, with 3-8 members elected in most constituencies, which means that each constituency typically requires (much) more than 3% to win a seat. There are two special single-seat constituencies in the system for Ceuta and Melilla.

Due to the constituency structure and the method of seat allocation (D'Hondt/Jefferson method), the system is biased towards larger parties even above the threshold. The voting is closed-list, meaning voters cannot vote for candidates, only for the (regional) party lists as a whole. 

The minimum age for both active suffrage (the right to vote) and passive suffrage (the right to stand for election) is 18 years.

Voting is not mandatory, postal voting and voting at a foreign mission are possible, but online voting and proxy voting are not. Since 2022, people living abroad do not need to register separately to vote. 

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MEPs from Spain are elected every 5 years (at the same time as in the other EU member states). The entire country forms one constituency, in which 61 MEPs were elected in 2024. Due to "degressive proportionality", Spanish voters have less representatives per capita than the EU average.

The main principle in the election of the Parliament (within the countries) is proportionality: by default, only a proportional system can be used, but beyond this, the member states decide for themselves what type. Spain, unlike most member states, uses a closed-list proportional system. This means that voters can only vote for a party list, not for a candidates. The allocation of seats between parties is done using the D'Hondt (Jefferson) method, therefore the system is slightly biased towards larger parties. There is no legal electoral threshold, which means an natural threshold of about 1.5% is required to obtain a seat.

The minimum age for both active suffrage (the right to vote) and passive suffrage (the right to stand for election) is 18 years. Voting is not compulsory, and voting at embassies as well as postal voting are possible, but online voting or proxy voting are not.

This is the description of the electoral system of Spain as of 09.06.2026 on Electoral Knowledgebase. Sources and further information on this topic:

• 2024 European Parliament elections: National rules (European Parlament)

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