Analysis AN01. Published on 7 October 2026. Theme: Congress in data. Lens: Spain over time.
Fifteen years in Congress: from an absolute majority to decrees that fall
We have analysed every roll-call vote in the plenary since 2012. With an absolute majority, the PP won them all; the PSOE has gone from winning 99% in 2021 to 76% in 2026, and this parliament accounts for 13 of the 16 decree-laws struck down since 2011.
Congress votes thousands of times in each parliament: laws, amendments, decrees, motions. Each roll-call vote is recorded with every deputy's vote. With that data, which Congress has published openly since the parliament that began in 2011, you can see how the way of governing has changed. So that they do not outweigh everything else, we leave out the budget votes, which in some years run to thousands of amendments.
From steamroller to shifting alliances
Between 2012 and 2015, with an absolute majority, the PP won every vote in the plenary: whatever it voted for passed. In the next parliament, now in a minority, it won 82% in 2016, 73% in 2017 and 58% in the first months of 2018, until the motion of no confidence in June.
The PSOE, in coalition and with outside support, won between 97% and 99% of the votes each year between 2020 and 2023. In this parliament the figure has fallen every year: 88% in 2024, 84% in 2025 and 76% so far in 2026.
With an absolute majority, the PP won every vote from 2012 to 2015; the PSOE has gone from 99% in 2021 to 76% in 2026
Share of votes in which the prime minister's party voted the same way as the final result, by year
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The decrees that fall
A decree-law needs Congress to validate it within a month. Since 2011, 16 have been struck down. None between 2011 and 2015, with 71 decrees validated; 2 in the 2016 to 2019 parliament and 1 in the 2019 to 2023 parliament, which voted on 96. In the one now ending, 13 of 56 have been struck down, counting the two rental decrees of 2 October 2026.
Of the 16 decree-laws Congress has struck down since 2011, 13 are from this parliament
Royal decree-laws struck down by Congress in each parliament
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PP and PSOE: less agreement than at any time since 2015
PP and PSOE voted the same way in 30% of the votes in 2013 and 2014, the lowest in the series, and in 61% of those in 2016, the highest, a year of caretaker government and repeat elections. Since 2024 they have agreed in around 38% to 39% of each year's votes: the lowest level since 2015.
PP and PSOE have voted the same way in between 30% (2013) and 61% (2016) of each year's votes
Share of roll-call votes in the plenary in which PP and PSOE voted the same way, by year (excluding budgets)
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Who each government votes with
With an absolute majority, the PP did not need partners, and no group voted with it in more than 36% of the votes (UPyD was the one that did most; the PSOE, 34%). In a minority, between 2016 and 2018, its main support was Ciudadanos (66%), followed by the PSOE (51%) and the PNV (47%).
From 2020 to 2023 the PSOE's closest match was Unidas Podemos, its coalition partner (86%), followed by the PNV (57%) and EH Bildu (52%). In this parliament, Sumar has voted with the PSOE in 83% of the votes, and the PNV and Coalición Canaria in 75%. In this parliament the Mixed Group is split by party; the «Mixto (otros)» column groups the few Mixed Group deputies who do not belong to Podemos, BNG, CC, UPN or Compromís, and it is not comparable with a party.
Under PSOE governments, the PP voted the same way as the PSOE in 45% of the votes from 2018 to 2019, in 51% from 2020 to 2023 and in 39% in this parliament, the lowest of the three.
Who each government has voted with
Share of votes in which each party voted the same way as the governing party, by parliament (excluding budgets)
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What this data does not say
- Every vote carries the same weight: a motion with no legal effect counts the same as a law. The figures show trends, not the importance of what was voted on.
- Winning a vote is not the same as passing a law: a party that votes no to something that fails also wins.
- The Mixed and Plural groups bring together different parties; outside this parliament they count as a single group.
- The 2016 and 2019 parliaments were very short and have hardly any votes.
All the data can be explored by parliament, type of vote and party in Congress in data.