Spain's Political Calendar Revealed
Sánchez Announces 2026 Budget Presentation and Non-Concurrent 2027 General Elections
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Pedro Sánchez made his electoral roadmap official on Thursday. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels after the European Council, Spain's Prime Minister said: "We will present the budgets in 2026 and there will be elections in 2027." He added that those elections will not coincide with the municipal and regional votes scheduled for May 2027, according to El Periódico.
The announcement puts an end, for now, to months of speculation about a possible snap election. Spain has been running on a rolled-over 2023 budget for nearly three years. Sánchez is betting that a new budget proposal can stabilize his minority government through 2027, according to Diario de Mallorca.
Sánchez Rules Out a 'Super-Sunday' Election Merger
By separating the national election from the May 2027 local and regional votes, Sánchez avoids what analysts call a "Super-Sunday" — a single day where national and local races run together. That scenario could hurt his coalition partners, who fear that national polarization would drown out local issues. The PNV, a key coalition partner, had explicitly demanded this separation, according to El Periódico de Aragón.
This leaves two realistic windows for a national election: early 2027, likely February or March, if the budget fails in parliament; or a full-term completion in July 2027 if the budget passes. Sánchez framed the choice as straightforward. "Legislatures, when the right does not govern, are also four years," he said, according to La Opinión de Murcia.
A Budget Race Against the Clock Begins Now
Finance Minister Arcadi España published a ministerial order in the BOE on June 5, formally starting the 2027 budget drafting process. He has promised that the accounts will feature "the largest public investment in housing in democratic history." The macroeconomic framework underpinning the budget is set to be presented on June 29, according to El Correo Web.
Spain's economy gives the government some room to work with. GDP growth is projected at 2.2% for 2026. The deficit fell to 2.2% in 2025. But public debt still stands at 100.7% of GDP, and inflation is estimated at 3.1% for the year. The government must also convince skeptical partners — the PNV's spokesperson Idoia Sagastizabal called the 2027 budget announcement a "lure" and demanded "calendars and results," according to Información.
Judicial Storm Clouds the Government's Path Forward
The budget push comes amid serious political turbulence. On May 27, the UCO — Spain's military police financial crime unit — spent 12 hours searching PSOE headquarters in Madrid as part of the so-called "Leire 10" case. Days earlier, police found a safe in former President Zapatero's office containing 103 pieces of jewelry valued at €1,323,915, according to Diario Córdoba.
Zapatero says the jewels were "travel gifts and family inheritances." But the cases are giving the opposition ammunition. PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo is demanding immediate elections, calling the situation "untenable." Polls from June 2026 put the PP at 34.2% and the PSOE at 26.4%, with the right-wing bloc of PP and Vox combined at around 49.8% of the vote, according to La Provincia.
Partners Skeptical But Not Yet Ready to Pull the Plug
Sánchez's government depends on a fragile web of support from parties including Junts, ERC, and the PNV. None are enthusiastic about the 2027 budget plan. ERC's Pilar Vallugera called the announcement a "pre-campaign act." The PNV wants new regional financing arrangements, not social spending promises, according to El Día.
Still, none of these partners have formally withdrawn their support. Pulling the plug would trigger exactly the national election they want to avoid merging with local votes. That gives Sánchez a narrow but real window. If he can get a budget draft to parliament by autumn 2026, the vote on whether to pass it — or collapse the government — will fall to his partners, according to La Opinión de Zamora.
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