Motions of no confidence in Spain

Article 113 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the Regulations of the Congress of Deputies establish the mode of operation of the motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister of Spain. It must be proposed by at least one-tenth of the members of the Congress of Deputies (currently 35), and it must include a candidate for the presidency of the Government of Spain.

After the presentation of the motion of no confidence, the Board of Congress must meet to qualify the motion, within a maximum period of 7 days from the presentation of the motion. Once qualified, a period of two days is opened to present alternative motions, which must also be signed by 35 deputies and include a candidate for the presidency of the Government. The debate on the motion or motions of no confidence in this case cannot begin until after said period has elapsed.

Next, the presidency of Congress calls the session of the motion of no confidence, within a maximum period of 20 days, unless the General State Budgets are being processed simultaneously, in which case said maximum period begins to count at the end of its processing. In the vote of the motion of no confidence, which cannot be held in any case until five days after its presentation, it is necessary to obtain an absolute majority of affirmative votes in the Congress of Deputies in order to succeed.

In Spain, following the German model, the motion of no confidence is constructive. The group that raises the motion of censure in turn proposes a new Prime Minister.^[1] It is also continuist; it does not imply the advancement of the elections but rather the electoral calendar continues unaltered. While the motion of no confidence is pending, the Prime Minister cannot dissolve the Congress of Deputies and call elections,^[2] in order to prevent the Prime Minister from avoiding their parliamentary responsibility by calling the polls. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Prime Minister may waive the motion of censure by resigning. In this case, the Prime Minister may continue as acting Prime Minister in office, without any possibility of being censured, but Congress is empowered to appoint a successor by simple majority at any time.

If the motion of no confidence is adopted, the Government must present its resignation to the King of Spain within 24 hours of its adoption. When the motion of censure is approved, it is understood that the Congress has granted confidence to the proposed candidate and the king must appoint them President of the Government within 15 days of its adoption, provided that the censured Government has already resigned, although it is customary to do so immediately. In the event that the motion of no confidence is not approved, those who have proposed it cannot present another within the same period of sessions.

To date, five motions of no confidence have been held at the national level and another twenty-four at the autonomous level, which are listed below:

Congress of Deputies

Date	Prime Minister			Candidate			Result (required to win)		Ref.
30 May 1980			Adolfo Suárez (UCD)			Felipe González (PSOE)	152–166 (176)	Rejected	[3]
30 Mar 1987			Felipe González (PSOE)			Antonio Hernández Mancha (AP)	67–194 (176)	Rejected	[4]
14 Jun 2017			Mariano Rajoy (PP)			Pablo Iglesias (Podemos)	82–170 (176)	Rejected	[5]
1 Jun 2018			Mariano Rajoy (PP)			Pedro Sánchez (PSOE)	180–169 (176)	Approved	[6]
22 Oct 2020			Pedro Sánchez (PSOE)			Santiago Abascal (Vox)	52–298 (176)	Rejected	[7]
22 Mar 2023			Pedro Sánchez (PSOE)			Ramón Tamames (INDEP) Proposed by Vox	53–201 (175)[a]	Rejected	[8]

Autonomous parliaments

The Balearic Islands and Andalusia are the only Autonomous communities where a motion of no confidence has never been proposed.

Date	Autonomous community	Regional president			Candidate			Result (required to win)		Ref.
1 Oct 1982	Catalonia			Jordi Pujol (CDC)			Josep Benet (PSUC)	21–56 (68)	Rejected	[9]
23 Sep 1987	Galicia			Gerardo Fernández Albor (AP)			Fernando González Laxe (PSdG)	40–29 (36)	Approved	[10]
21 Jun 1989	Community of Madrid			Joaquín Leguina (PSOE)			Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (PP)	48–40 (49)	Rejected	[11]
8 Jan 1990	La Rioja			Joaquín Espert (PP)			José Ignacio Pérez Sáenz (PSOE)	17–13 (17)	Approved	[12]
5 Dec 1990	Cantabria			Juan Hormaechea (UPCA)			Jaime Blanco (PSOE)	26–12 (20)	Approved	[13]
31 Mar 1993	Canary Islands			Jerónimo Saavedra (PSOE)			Manuel Hermoso (CC)	31–23 (31)	Approved	[14]
1 Jul 1993	Cantabria			Juan Hormaechea (UPCA)			Jaime Blanco (PSOE)	18–21 (20)	Rejected	[15]
15 Sep 1993	Aragon			Emilio Eiroa (PAR)			José Marco (PSOE)	34–33 (34)	Approved	[16] [17]
5 Jan 1994	Cantabria			Juan Hormaechea (UPCA)			Jaime Blanco (PSOE)	18–17 (20)	Rejected	[18]
21 Dec 1994	Aragon			José Marco (PSOE)			Emilio Eiroa (PAR)	32–30 (34)	Rejected	[19]
10 Mar 1999	Asturias			Sergio Marqués (URAS)			Ovidio Sánchez (PP)	16–6 (23)	Rejected	[20]
5 Oct 2000	Basque Country			Juan José Ibarretxe (PNV)			Nicolás Redondo (PSE–EE)	32–29 (38)	Rejected	[21]
							Carlos Iturgaiz (PP)	32–29 (38)	Rejected
29 Jan 2001	Galicia			Manuel Fraga (PP)			Xosé Manuel Beiras (BNG)	18–41 (38)	Rejected	[22]
18 Oct 2001	Catalonia			Jordi Pujol (CDC)			Pasqual Maragall (PSC)	55–68 (68)	Rejected	[23]
7 Nov 2001	Canary Islands			Román Rodríguez (CC)			Juan Carlos Alemán (PSOE)	19–39 (31)	Rejected	[24]
12 Dec 2002	Galicia			Manuel Fraga (PP)			Emilio Pérez Touriño (PSdeG)	34–41 (38)	Rejected	[25]
							Xosé Manuel Beiras (BNG)	34–41 (38)	Rejected
Withdrawn 11 Mar 2005	Catalonia			Pasqual Maragall (PSC)			Josep Piqué (PP)	—	Withdrawn	[26]
4 Oct 2006	Valencian Community			Francisco Camps (PP)			Joan Ignasi Pla (PSPV)	35–47 (45)	Rejected	[27]
18 Apr 2013	Navarre			Yolanda Barcina (UPN)			Juan Carlos Longás (Aralar–NaBai)	18–23 (26)	Rejected	[28]
14 May 2014	Extremadura			José Antonio Monago (PP)			Guillermo Fernández Vara (PSOE)	30–32 (33)	Rejected	[29]
Withdrawn 4 Apr 2017	Region of Murcia			Pedro Antonio Sánchez (PP)			Rafael González Tovar (PSOE)	—	Resigned	[30]
8 Jun 2017	Community of Madrid			Cristina Cifuentes (PP)			Lorena Ruiz-Huerta (Podemos)	27–64 (65)	Rejected	[31]
Withdrawn 25 Apr 2018	Community of Madrid			Cristina Cifuentes (PP)			Ángel Gabilondo (PSOE)	—	Resigned	[32]
7 Oct 2019	Catalonia			Quim Torra (JuntsxCat)			Lorena Roldán (Cs)	40–76 (68)	Rejected	[33]
Dismissed 11 Mar 2021	Community of Madrid			Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP)			Mónica García (Más Madrid)	—	Dismissed	[34] [35]
							Ángel Gabilondo (PSOE)	—	Dismissed
18 Mar 2021	Region of Murcia			Fernando López Miras (PP)			Ana Martínez Vidal (Cs)	21–23 (23)	Rejected	[36]
22 Mar 2021	Castile and León			Alfonso Fernández Mañueco (PP)			Luis Tudanca (PSOE)	37–41 (41)	Rejected	[37]

Autonomous cities

Year	Autonomous city		Mayor-president			Candidate		Result	Ref.
1998	Melilla			Ignacio Velázquez Rivera (PP)			Alberto Paz Martínez (PSOE)	Rejected	[38]
							Enrique Palacios Hernández (PIM)	Approved	[39]
1999	Ceuta			Jesús Cayetano Fortes Ramos (PP)			Antonio Sampietro (GIL)	Approved	[40]
2000	Melilla			Mustafa Aberchán (CpM)			Juan José Imbroda (UPM-PP)	Approved	[41]
2001	Ceuta			Antonio Sampietro (GIL)			Juan Jesús Vivas (PP)	Approved	[42]

• Motion of no confidence