PP and Vox agree joint Senate lists in 23 provinces ahead of the 29 November election

In brief

• The PP and Vox agreed on joint Senate candidacies in 23 Spanish provinces ahead of the 29 November general election.
• Vox will not stand in six provinces and the PP will withdraw in three, while Vox fields a single candidate in 14 more.
• The PP will also list figures close to Vox on its own Senate slates, aimed at blocking a left-wing coalition.

A coordinated right-wing push in the Senate

The conservative Partido Popular and the far-right Vox announced on Monday a joint arrangement for Senate lists covering 23 provinces. The two parties will not compete against each other in those territories, a shift from the campaign for the last general election, when the PP kept its distance from Vox (La derecha pacta sus candidaturas en el Senado: el PP se retira en Gipuzkoa, Girona y Tarragona y Vox en otras seis provincias – EL PAÍS). Vox will stand down in six provinces, among them the Canary Islands, Cádiz, Valencia, Castellón and the Balearic Islands, while the PP will withdraw in Gipuzkoa, Girona and Tarragona (Claves del acuerdo entre el PP y Vox para las listas del Senado: ¿dónde cede Abascal?, ¿en qué provincias se retira Feijóo? – EL PAÍS). In another 14 circumscriptions, Vox will present only one candidate, according to the agreement.

Independent names on PP lists

The PP has also agreed to include figures close to Vox on its own Senate slates. Among them are regional lawmakers and a former press chief linked to the Vox leadership, reportedly at the request of Santiago Abascal's party (Vox impone al PP candidatos “independientes” al Senado muy vinculados a los ultras: de la exjefa de prensa de Ortega-Smith a un ‘exconseller’ de Mazón – EL PAÍS). The arrangement is designed to keep seats in the right-wing bloc where Vox would have struggled to win representation on its own (Pacto PP-Vox para amarrar la mayoría de la derecha en el Senado – Expansión).

Party reactions

Miguel Tellado, the PP's secretary general, described the deal as good news for the party and for an alternation of power with Pedro Sánchez, saying its goal was to protect the centre-right majority in the Senate. Ignacio Garriga, Vox's secretary general, called the agreement useful and said that, although the two parties differ widely, they share the goal of removing Sánchez from government.

Stakes for the Senate majority

Alberto Núñez Feijóo has been seeking not only to keep the Senate majority the PP held in the outgoing legislature but to reach three-fifths of the chamber. That threshold matters for appointments such as Constitutional Court magistrates (PP y Vox apuran “sobre la bocina” la negociación de la fórmula para hacerse con el control del Senado – EL PAÍS). The negotiations ran until the last hours before list submission closed at 23.59 on Monday.