electionstracker

Spain 1996 general election

What was the result of the 1996 general election in Spain?

People's Party won 156 of 350 seats with 39.2% of the vote. 77.4% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Spain
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : People's Party won 156 of 350 seats with 39.2% of the vote; 77.4% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 0.9 points on 1993.

  • People's Party 156 +15 seats 39.2% +4.1 points
  • Spanish Socialist Workers' Party 141 −18 seats 38.0% −1.1 points
  • Communist Party / United Left 21 +3 seats 10.6% +1.0 points
  • Convergence and Union 16 −1 seat 4.6% −0.3 points
  • Basque Nationalist Party 5 0 seats 1.3% 0.0 points
  • Canarian Coalition 4 0 seats 0.9% 0.0 points
  • Galician Nationalist Bloc 2 0.9%
  • Batasuna 2 0 seats 0.7% −0.1 points
  • Republican Left of Catalonia 1 0 seats 0.7% −0.1 points
  • Eusko Alkartasuna 1 0 seats 0.5% −0.1 points
  • Valencian Union 1 0 seats 0.4% −0.1 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Spain 1993 general election, party by party.

176 of 350 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 39.2%

    Share of the vote won by People's Party

    People's Party won 156 of 350 seats. A majority needs 176.

  2. +15 seats

    Seats gained by People's Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1993. Spanish Socialist Workers' Party lost 18 seats.

  3. 77.4%

    Voter turnout

    Up 0.9 points on 1993.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
People's Party156+1539.2+4.19,716,006
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party141−1838.0−1.19,425,678
Communist Party / United Left21+310.6+1.02,639,774
Convergence and Union16−14.6−0.31,151,633
Basque Nationalist Party501.30.0318,951
Canarian Coalition400.90.0220,418
Galician Nationalist Bloc20.9220,147
Batasuna200.7−0.1181,304
Republican Left of Catalonia100.7−0.1167,641
Andalusian Party00.5134,800
Eusko Alkartasuna100.5−0.1115,861
Valencian Union100.4−0.191,575

± is the change against the Spain 1993 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • People's Party 9,716,006
  • Spanish Socialist Workers' Party 9,425,678
  • Communist Party / United Left 2,639,774
  • Convergence and Union 1,151,633
  • Basque Nationalist Party 318,951
  • Canarian Coalition 220,418
  • Galician Nationalist Bloc 220,147
  • Batasuna 181,304
  • Republican Left of Catalonia 167,641
  • Andalusian Party 134,800
  • Eusko Alkartasuna 115,861
  • Valencian Union 91,575

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

77.4% of the 32,531,833 registered voters cast a ballot (25,172,058 ballots), up 0.9 points on 1993. 24,802,931 of them were valid votes. The highest turnout since 1982 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • People's Party39.2% of votes44.6% of seats
  • Spanish Socialist Workers' Party38.0% of votes40.3% of seats
  • Communist Party / United Left10.6% of votes6.0% of seats
  • Convergence and Union4.6% of votes4.6% of seats
  • Basque Nationalist Party1.3% of votes1.4% of seats
  • Canarian Coalition0.9% of votes1.1% of seats
  • Galician Nationalist Bloc0.9% of votes0.6% of seats
  • Batasuna0.7% of votes0.6% of seats
  • Republican Left of Catalonia0.7% of votes0.3% of seats
  • Eusko Alkartasuna0.5% of votes0.3% of seats
  • Valencian Union0.4% of votes0.3% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 5.3 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.2 by votes and 2.7 by seats; People's Party led Spanish Socialist Workers' Party by 1.2 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of