1986 Spanish general election

1986 Spanish general election

← 1982 22 June 1986 1989 →

All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 208 (of 254) seats in the Senate
176[a] seats needed for a majority in the Congress of Deputies
Opinion polls
Registered29,117,613 Green arrow up8.5%
Turnout20,524,858 (70.5%)
Red arrow down9.5 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Felipe González Manuel Fraga Adolfo Suárez
Party PSOE AP–PDP–PL CDS
Leader since 28 September 1979 9 October 1976 29 July 1982
Leader's seat Madrid Madrid Madrid
Last election 202 seats, 48.1% 107 seats, 26.4%[b] 2 seats, 2.9%
Seats won 184 105 19
Seat change Red arrow down18 Red arrow down2 Green arrow up17
Popular vote 8,901,718 5,247,677 1,861,912
Percentage 44.1% 26.0% 9.2%
Swing Red arrow down4.0 pp Red arrow down0.4 pp Green arrow up6.3 pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Miquel Roca Gerardo Iglesias Iñaki Anasagasti
Party PRDCiUCG[c] IU EAJ/PNV
Leader since 4 July 1982 10 December 1982 1986
Leader's seat Barcelona Madrid Biscay
Last election 12 seats, 3.7%[d] 4 seats, 4.2%[e] 8 seats, 1.9%
Seats won 19 7 6
Seat change Green arrow up7 Green arrow up3 Red arrow down2
Popular vote 1,288,768 935,504 309,610
Percentage 6.4% 4.6% 1.5%
Swing Green arrow up2.7 pp Green arrow up0.4 pp Red arrow down0.4 pp

Map of Spain showcasing seat distribution by Congress of Deputies constituency
Map of Spain showcasing winning party's strength by constituency
Map of Spain showcasing winning party's strength by autonomous community

Prime Minister before election

Felipe González
PSOE

Prime Minister after election

Felipe González
PSOE

The 1986 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 22 June 1986, to elect the 3rd Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 254 seats in the Senate.

The election was held after the referendum on Spanish membership in NATO in March 1986 had resulted in a surprising win for the 'In' camp headed by Prime Minister Felipe González. Reinforced from the referendum result, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) sought to take advantage of the favorable political situation. The election resulted in the PSOE winning a second consecutive—albeit diminished—majority with 184 out of 350 seats. Its immediate competitor, Manuel Fraga's People's Coalition, an electoral alliance formed by People's Alliance (AP), the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Party (PL), remained stagnant with a similar result to the one obtained in 1982 by the AP–PDP coalition. The disappointing election result caused the Coalition to break apart shortly afterwards.

Former PM Adolfo Suárez's Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) came out in third place with nearly 1.9 million votes, 9.2% of the share and 19 seats. The Communist Party of Spain (PCE) contested the election within the newborn left-wing United Left (IU) coalition, slightly improving on the PCE's result in 1982 with 4.6% and 7 seats and holding its own against the Communists' Unity Board (MUC), Santiago Carrillo's split party founded after him being expelled from the PCE, which won no seats.

Two future prime ministers (José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy) were first elected as deputies at this election.
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