2011 Spanish General Election

Spanish general election, 2011

← 2008 20 November 2011 2015 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 (of 266) seats in the Senate 176 seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Opinion polls
Registered	35,779,491 2.0%
Turnout	24,666,441 (68.9%) 4.9 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Mariano Rajoy Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida Party PP PSOE CiU Leader since 2 September 2003 9 July 2011 24 January 2004 Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Barcelona Last election 154 seats, 40.1% 169 seats, 43.9% 10 seats, 3.0% Seats won 186 110 16 Seat change 32 59 6 Popular vote 10,866,566 7,003,511 1,015,691 Percentage 44.6% 28.8% 4.2% Swing 4.5 pp 15.1 pp 1.2 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Cayo Lara Iñaki Antigüedad Rosa Díez Party IU–LV Amaiur UPyD Leader since 14 December 2008 11 October 2011 26 September 2007 Leader's seat Madrid Biscay Madrid Last election 2 seats, 3.9% 0 seats, 0.3% 1 seats, 1.2% Seats won 11 7 5 Seat change 9 7 4 Popular vote 1,686,040 334,498 1,143,225 Percentage 6.9% 1.4% 4.7% Swing 3.0 pp 1.1 pp 3.5 pp
Constituency results map for the Congress of Deputies
Prime Minister before election José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero PSOE Elected Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy PP

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
PSOE

Mariano Rajoy
PP

The 2011 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 20 November 2011, to elect the 10th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Senate. An election had not been due until 8 April 2012 at latest, but a call by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for a snap election five months ahead of schedule was announced on 29 July 2011. Zapatero would not be seeking a third term in office, and with political pressure mounting, a deteriorating economic situation and his political project exhausted, an early election was perceived as the only way out.

The election campaign was dominated by the effects of an ongoing financial crisis, high unemployment, a large public deficit and a soaring risk premium. Opinion polls had shown consistent leads for the opposition People's Party (PP) over the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), whose popularity had plummeted after Zapatero's U-turns in economic policy had forced him to adopt tough spending cuts and austerity measures. Massive anti-austerity protests had taken place in May 2011 under the form of the 15-M Movement, and in the local and regional elections held a few days later popular support for the PSOE fell dramatically. On 21 October, the armed organization ETA announced a permanent cessation of armed activity, turning the 2011 election into the first since the Spanish transition to democracy without ETA attacks.