Spain's Central Electoral Board (JEC) opened disciplinary proceedings against Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday, October 15, 2026, over a press conference he gave at the Moncloa Palace on October 6 to announce new housing legislation. Parliament's press office confirmed the move, landing just weeks into the campaign for the snap election Sanchez called for November 29.
What triggered the proceedings
The press conference was held at the Palace of Moncloa on October 6, a day after Sanchez announced the November 29 election. It followed a cabinet meeting that approved two royal decree laws on housing — measures Congress had rejected the previous week. The opposition People's Party (PP) filed a complaint arguing Sanchez used government facilities to deliver campaign-style messages, describing the appearance as "a PSOE rally" in which he detailed supposed government achievements, attacked the opposition, and launched campaign-like messages "including the request for a broader parliamentary majority."
The JEC asked for the removal of the statements from institutional channels and required the prime minister to refrain from similar actions during the campaign period. The procedure could bring a fine of 300 to 3,000 euros, though opening proceedings does not yet mean a sanction has been imposed.
The board excluded Sanchez's October 5 statement announcing the dissolution of the Cortes from the file, since the calling decree had not yet taken effect — but it reproached the government for continuing to spread that message through official channels once the electoral process began.
A familiar pattern of fines
This is not the first time the electoral board has penalized Sanchez. In January 2020, the JEC fined him €500 ($560) over a television interview published on the government website. In October 2023, it fined him €2,200 over a Brussels press conference during the July 23 campaign, finding he had praised government achievements and criticized opponents. The board has fined the PP side too: its regional spokesperson Carlos Fernández Carriedo was also fined €2,200 in 2023 over comments at a post-cabinet press conference.
The scrutiny raises questions over institutional neutrality during the campaign — an issue that can fuel political attacks even when cases end only in administrative sanctions. The PP is already treating the proceedings as a win, declaring it a "first victory" for its vigilance over the pre-campaign.
Why Sanchez called the snap election
The cabinet passed two emergency decrees on September 29 aimed at strengthening tenant protections, but Congress rejected both on October 1, with the PP, the far-right Vox, and the conservative Catalan party Junts voting against. The defeat exposed the fragility of a government whose Socialist Workers' Party holds only 121 of the 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies.
The rejection ignited mass protests, with tens of thousands taking to the streets across some 50 Spanish cities, and in Valencia demonstrators clashed with police, who fired rubber bullets and tear gas. Facing a collapsing parliamentary majority, Sanchez announced the snap vote in a televised address, saying: "We need to renew people's support" and calling to "mobilise and win a much larger progressive majority in parliament, one that will allow us to overcome vested interests, deliver new social advances and continue transforming Spain." He also acknowledged mistakes, adding: "I also know that part of that social majority is dissatisfied today."
Polls suggest the gamble is risky. A PP-led coalition with Vox's support is currently the most likely outcome — which would put a far-right party in Spain's central government for the first time since the return of democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
The proceedings will not stop the campaign, but they hand Sanchez's rivals a potent attack line on institutional neutrality as voters make up their minds. For a prime minister betting everything on a November 29 comeback, even an administrative case can become a political weapon.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Unanswered Questions (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0