2026 Aragonese regional election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Registered1,036,331 Increase 1.7%
Turnout674,570 (65.1%)
Decrease 1.4 pp
2026 Aragonese regional election

 2023
8 February 2026
Next 

All 67 seats in the Cortes of Aragon
34 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered1,036,331 Increase 1.7%
Turnout674,570 (65.1%)
Decrease 1.4 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Jorge Azcón Pilar Alegría Alejandro Nolasco
Party PP PSOE Vox
Leader since 19 December 2021 27 January 2025 23 December 2022
Leader's seat Zaragoza Zaragoza Teruel
Last election 28 seats, 35.5% 23 seats, 29.6% 7 seats, 11.2%
Seats won 26 18 14
Seat change Decrease 2 Decrease 5 Increase 7
Popular vote 228,388 162,925 119,281
Percentage 34.2% 24.4% 17.8%
Swing Decrease 1.3 pp Decrease 5.2 pp Increase 6.6 pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Jorge Pueyo Tomás Guitarte Marta Abengochea
Party CHA Existe IUMS
Leader since 3 January 2026 28 January 2023 29 November 2025
Leader's seat Zaragoza Teruel Zaragoza
Last election 3 seats, 5.3%[a] 3 seats, 5.0% 1 seat, 3.1%
Seats won 6 2 1
Seat change Increase 3 Decrease 1 Steady 0
Popular vote 65,118 23,616 19,832
Percentage 9.7% 3.5% 3.0%
Swing Increase 4.4 pp Decrease 1.5 pp Decrease 0.1 pp

Constituency results map for the Cortes of Aragon

President before election

Jorge Azcón
PP

Elected President

Jorge Azcón
PP

A regional election was held in Aragon on 8 February 2026 to elect the 12th Cortes of the autonomous community. All 67 seats in the Cortes were up for election. This marked the first time that an Aragonese president exercised the legal prerogative to call a snap election.

The 2023 election had seen a coalition between the People's Party (PP) and the far-right Vox party being formed under the presidency of Jorge Azcón. This cabinet lasted until July 2024, when a strategic movement from Vox's national leadership saw the party exiting the government and leaving Azcón in a minority.[1] Discrepancies between PP and Vox during the negotiations of the 2026 budget and Azcón's aim to capitalize on the perceived weakness of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)—with the farewell and later death of former president Javier Lambán and his succession by Spanish government spokesperson and education minister, Pilar Alegría—resulted in a snap election being called for February 2026, in a similar move to regional colleague María Guardiola in Extremadura, and one month in advance of a scheduled regional election in Castile and León.

In an attempt to expand its parliamentary majority, the PP attempted to turn the election into a referendum on the tenure of the prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, in a region which was traditionally seen as "Spain's Ohio" for its role as a bellwether.[2] The campaign's start was shaken by the Adamuz train derailments, which prompted all political parties but Vox to postpone their election events as a gesture of mourning. While the PP emerged as the largest political party, its result—underperforming expectations by actually losing support compared to 2023—placed it in a more dependant position to Vox (which doubled its parliamentary representation) than it was before the election,[3] in what was widely seen as a failure in Azcón's early election gamble.[4][5] The PSOE's decline predicted by opinion polls was confirmed, albeit short of falling below its worst historical result of 2015, whereas the left-wing Chunta Aragonesista capitalized on the losses of United Left and especially Podemos, the latter of which was shut out of parliament.[6] The regionalist Aragonese Party was left without representation for the first time since the first democratic election in the region in 1983.[7]

Date

Under the 2007 Statute of Autonomy, the Cortes of Aragon was the unicameral legislature of the homonymous autonomous community, having legislative power in devolved matters, as well as the ability to grant or withdraw confidence from a regional president.[8] The electoral and procedural rules were supplemented by national law provisions.[9]

The term of the Cortes of Aragon expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. The election decree was required to be issued no later than 25 days before the scheduled expiration date of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of Aragon (BOA), with election day taking place 54 days after the decree's publication.[10] The previous election was held on 28 May 2023, which meant that the chamber's term would have expired on 28 May 2027. The election decree was required to be published in the BOA no later than 4 May 2027, setting the latest possible date for election day on 27 June 2027.

The regional president had the prerogative to dissolve the Cortes of Aragon at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year after a previous one.[11] In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the Cortes's reconvening, the chamber was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called.[12]

Speculation emerged in September 2025 that the national leadership of the PP was planning to advance the elections in Aragon and Extremadura (and possibly the Balearic Islands) to make them take place near or concurrently with the Castilian-Leonese election scheduled for early 2026, in an electoral "Super Sunday".[13][14][15] While the alleged justification would be the regional governments' failure to approve their 2026 budgets, the true motive was attributed to PP plans—not without risk—to turn the simultaneous election call into a referendum on the national government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.[16][17] Regional president Jorge Azcón ruled out any plans of a joint election call with other regions,[18][19] with his government allegedly focused on avoiding an election.[20][21] Tensions between PP and Vox remained high,[22] and a controversy over the dismissal of a Vox parliamentary advisor for online hate speech prompted the breakup of budget negotiations on 21 October.[23][24][25] Vox was reportedly willing to take public blame for forcing early elections in Aragon and Extremadura.[26][27] Azcón's government rejected an immediate election call following the announcement of a snap Extremaduran election for 21 December 2025,[28][29][30] but this was attributed to him having his own timetable—unlike in Extremadura, budgetary procedures had not yet begun in Aragon[31][32]—rather than a lack of willingness for a 2026 election.[33][34][35] Throughout November 2025, Azcón hinted at a failure in budget negotiations leading to an early parliamentary dissolution,[36][37] with a possible election date being considered for February 2026, so as to prevent a simultaneous call with Castile and León in March.[38][39] February was hinted at as the most likely month for a snap election,[40][41][42] with various Spanish outlets confirming on 12 December that the dissolution decree would be signed the next Monday for an election to be held on 8 February.[43][44][45]

The Cortes of Aragon was officially dissolved on 16 December 2025 with the publication of the corresponding decree in the BOA, setting election day for 8 February and scheduling for the chamber to reconvene on 3 March.[46]

Electoral system

Voting for the Cortes was based on universal suffrage, comprising all Spanish nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Aragon and with full political rights, provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence.[47]

The Cortes of Aragon had a minimum of 65 and a maximum of 80 seats, with electoral provisions fixing its size at 67. All were elected in three multi-member constituencies—corresponding to the provinces of Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza, each of which was assigned an initial minimum of 14 seats and the remaining 25 distributed in proportion to population (with the seat-to-population ratio in the most populated province not exceeding three times that of the least populated one)—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with a three percent-threshold of valid votes (including blank ballots) in each constituency.[48] The use of this electoral method resulted in a higher effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution.[49]

As a result of the aforementioned allocation, each Cortes constituency was entitled the following seats:[50]

Seats Constituencies
35 Zaragoza
18 Huesca
14 Teruel

The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes.[51]

Outgoing parliament

The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.[52][53]

Parliamentary composition in December 2025
Groups Parties Legislators
Seats Total
People's Parliamentary Group in the Cortes of Aragon PP 28 28
Socialist Parliamentary Group PSOE 23 23
Vox Parliamentary Group Vox 7 7
Aragonese Union Parliamentary Group CHA 3 3
Aragon–Teruel Exists Parliamentary Group TE 3 3
Mixed Parliamentary Group Podemos 1 3
IU 1
PAR 1

Parties and candidates

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list.[54] Amendments in 2024 required a balanced composition of men and women in the electoral lists through the use of a zipper system.[55]

Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which will likely contest the election:

Candidacy Parties and
alliances
Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Gov. Ref.
Vote % Seats
PP
List
Jorge Azcón Conservatism
Christian democracy
35.5% 28 Yes
PSOE Pilar Alegría Social democracy 29.6% 23 No [56]
[57]
[58]
Vox
List
Alejandro Nolasco Right-wing populism
Ultranationalism
National conservatism
11.2% 7 No [59]
CHA Jorge Pueyo Aragonese nationalism
Eco-socialism

5.3%
[a]
3 No [60]
[61]
[62]
Existe
List
Tomás Guitarte Localism
Ruralism
5.0% 3 No [63]
PodemosAV
List
María Goicoechea Left-wing populism
Direct democracy
Democratic socialism
4.0% 1 No [64]
[65]
[66]
[67]
IUMS Marta Abengochea Socialism
Communism
Progressivism
3.1% 1 No [68]
[69]
[70]
PAR
List
Alberto Izquierdo Regionalism
Centrism
2.1% 1 Yes [71]
[72]
[73]
SALF
List
Cristina Falcón Right-wing populism
Anti-establishment
Did not contest No [74]

Campaign

Timetable

The key dates are listed below (all times are CET):[75]

  • 15 December: The election decree is issued with the countersign of the president, after deliberation in the Government.
  • 16 December: Formal dissolution of parliament and start of prohibition period on the inauguration of public works, services or projects.
  • 19 December: Initial constitution of provincial and zone electoral commissions with judicial members.
  • 22 December: Division of constituencies into polling sections and stations.
  • 26 December: Deadline for parties and federations to report on their electoral alliances.
  • 29 December: Deadline for electoral register consultation for the purpose of possible corrections.
  • 5 January: Deadline for parties, federations, alliances, and groupings of electors to present electoral lists.
  • 7 January: Publication of submitted electoral lists in the Official Gazette of Aragon (BOA).
  • 12 January: Official proclamation of validly submitted electoral lists.
  • 13 January: Publication of proclaimed electoral lists in the BOA.
  • 14 January: Deadline for the selection of polling station members by sortition.
  • 22 January: Deadline for the appointment of non-judicial members to provincial and zone electoral commissions.
  • 23 January: Official start of electoral campaigning.[76]
  • 29 January: Deadline to apply for postal voting.
  • 3 February: Start of legal ban on electoral opinion polling publication; deadline for non-resident citizens (electors residing abroad (CERA) and citizens temporarily absent from Spain) to vote by mail.
  • 4 February: Deadline for postal and temporarily absent voting.
  • 5 February: Deadline for CERA voting.
  • 6 February: Last day of electoral campaigning.[76]
  • 7 February: Official election silence ("reflection day").
  • 8 February: Election day (polling stations open at 9 am and close at 8 pm or once voters present in a queue at/outside the polling station at 8 pm have cast their vote); provisional vote counting.
  • 13 February: Start of general vote counting, including CERA votes.
  • 16 February: Deadline for the general vote counting.
  • 25 February: Deadline for the proclamation of elected members.
  • 10 March: Deadline for the reconvening of parliament (date determined by the election decree, which for the 2026 election was set for 3 March).[77]
  • 6 April: Deadline for the publication of definitive election results in the BOA.

Party slogans

Party or alliance Original slogan English translation Ref.
PP « Aragón imparable » "Aragon unstoppable" [78]
PSOE « Por Aragón. Por tus derechos » "For Aragon. For your rights" [79]
Vox « Sentido común » "Common sense" [80]
CHA « A favor de Aragón » "In favour of Aragon" [81]
Existe « Tú decides » "You decide" [82]
PodemosAV « Con rasmia » "With determination" [83]
IUMS « El valor de la gente » "The value of people" [84]
PAR « Aragón, primero » "Aragon first" [85]

Debates

2026 Aragonese regional election debates
Date Organisers Moderator(s)     P  Present[b]    S  Surrogate[c]    NI  Not invited   I  Invited    A  Absent invitee 
PP PSOE Vox CHA Existe Podemos IUMS PAR Audience Ref.
26 January Aragón TV Ana Laiglesia P
Azcón
P
Alegría
NI NI NI NI NI NI 25.8%
(112,000)[d]
[86]
[87]
29 January RTVE Xabier Fortes P
Azcón
P
Alegría
P
Nolasco
P
Pueyo
P
Guitarte
P
Goicoechea
P
Abengochea
P
Izquierdo
18.1%
(79,000)
[88]
[89]
2 February Aragón TV Ana Laiglesia P
Azcón
P
Alegría
P
Nolasco
P
Pueyo
P
Guitarte
P
Goicoechea
P
Abengochea
P
Izquierdo
18.7%
(72,000)
[86]
[90]
4 February El Periódico de Aragón Laura Carnicero
Sergio H. Valgañón
P
Azcón
P
Alegría
P
Nolasco
P
Pueyo
P
Guitarte
P
Goicoechea
P
Abengochea
P
Izquierdo
[91]
Opinion polls
Candidate viewed as "performing best" or "most convincing" in each debate
Debate Polling firm/Commissioner Sample PP PSOE Vox CHA Existe Pod. IUMS PAR Tie None Question
29 January Heraldo de Aragón[92] 2,100 41.5 23.9 7.0 11.4 1.6 1.5 7.3 5.8

Opinion polls

The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll.

Graphical summary

Local regression trend line of poll results from 28 May 2023 to the present day, with each line corresponding to a political party.

Voting intention estimates

The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 34 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Cortes of Aragon.

Color key:

  Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Victory preferences

The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.

Victory likelihood

The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a regional election taking place.

Preferred President

The table below lists opinion polling on leader preferences to become president of the Government of Aragon.

All candidates
Azcón vs. Alegría

Predicted President

The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood for each leader to become president.

Voter turnout

The table below shows registered voter turnout on election day, without including non-resident citizens.

Province Time
11:00 14:00 18:00 20:00
2026 2023 2026 +/– 2023 2026 +/– 2023 2026 +/–
Huesca 10.44% 39.61% 37.73% −1.88 53.45% 52.86% −0.59 68.80% 64.81% −3.99
Teruel 10.78% 42.89% 39.78% −3.11 59.14% 55.49% −3.65 74.59% 67.59% −7.00
Zaragoza 10.96% 40.99% 41.80% +0.81 54.41% 57.19% +2.78 69.64% 68.20% −1.44
Total 10.85% 40.96% 40.91% −0.05 54.73% 56.29% +1.56 70.01% 67.57% −2.44
Sources[96][97]

Results

Overall

Summary of the 8 February 2026 Cortes of Aragon election results
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Total +/−
People's Party (PP) 228,38834.17−1.34 26−2
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 162,92524.38−5.17 18−5
Vox (Vox) 119,28117.85+6.60 14+7
Aragonese Union (CHA)1 65,1189.74+4.47 6+3
Exists Coalition (Existe) 23,6163.53−1.43 2−1
United LeftUnite Movement (IU–MS) 19,8322.97−0.16 1±0
The Party is Over (SALF) 18,2562.73New 0±0
Aragonese Party (PAR) 8,3291.25−0.84 0−1
We CanGreen Alliance (Podemos–AV) 6,4780.97−3.05 0−1
Blank Seats to Leave Empty Seats (EB) 4,2380.63+0.20 0±0
Animalist Party with the Environment (PACMA) 2,7420.41−0.09 0±0
For a Fairer World (M+J) 5350.08New 0±0
Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (PCTE) 5180.08−0.05 0±0
Aragonese Coalition (Coalición Aragonesa)2 5000.07−0.12 0±0
Lower Cinca Between Everyone (ETXSBC) 2280.03−0.05 0±0
Blank ballots 7,3151.09−0.53
Total 668,299 67±0
Valid votes 668,29999.07+0.30
Invalid votes 6,2710.93−0.30
Votes cast / turnout 674,57065.09−1.45
Abstentions 361,76134.91+1.45
Registered voters 1,036,331
Sources[98]
Footnotes:
  • 1 Aragonese Union results are compared to the combined totals of Aragonese Union and Greens Equo in the 2023 election.
  • 2 Aragonese Coalition results are compared to the Federation of Independents of Aragon totals in the 2023 election.
Popular vote
PP
34.17%
PSOE
24.38%
Vox
17.85%
CHA
9.74%
Existe
3.53%
IUMS
2.97%
SALF
2.73%
PAR
1.25%
Others
2.28%
Blank ballots
1.09%
Seats
PP
38.81%
PSOE
26.87%
Vox
20.90%
CHA
8.96%
Existe
2.99%
IUMS
1.49%

Distribution by constituency

Constituency PP PSOE Vox CHA Existe IUMS
% S % S % S % S % S % S
Huesca 32.7 7 26.9 5 18.7 4 9.8 2 2.2 2.6
Teruel 28.7 5 23.7 4 20.3 3 3.9 12.9 2 1.8
Zaragoza 35.2 14 23.9 9 17.3 7 10.5 4 2.5 3.2 1
Total 34.2 26 24.4 18 17.8 14 9.7 6 3.5 2 3.0 1
Sources[98]

Aftermath

Government formation

Investiture
Nomination of Jorge Azcón (PP)
Ballot → 29 April 2026
Required majority → 34 out of 67 check
Yes
  • PP (26)
  • Vox (13)
39 / 67
No
27 / 67
Abstentions
0 / 67
Absentees
1 / 67
Sources[52][99]

Notes

References

Bibliography

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI