A few days before 23J, the Spanish will have to go to the polls to choose the next candidate for La Moncloa coinciding with the summer holidays. As a novelty, the Central Electoral Board has exempted citizens who had a contracted trip before the announcement of the electoral call from being part of the electoral table.

The day chosen to celebrate the general elections in Spain was July 23, coinciding with the beginning of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU. This preview of the electoral process provides for an increase in voting by mail among citizens who will be away from their usual address.

As a result of the electoral process in July, many voters wonder why the general elections are held during the month preferred by citizens to go on vacation. Next, we tell you what it is due to.

The reason why the elections are held on July 23

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, brought forward the general elections in Spain to July 23, after the electoral defeat of the PSOE on 28-M. Therefore, the advancement of the elections has as a precedent the victory of the Popular Party in the majority of the Autonomous Communities and in the big cities in the last municipal and autonomous elections.

The deadline for the celebration of this electoral process in Spain was December 10, 2023. With the advance of the elections, Sánchez has assumed “the results” of 28-M in which the PP took control of seven of the 12 communities where there were elections.

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These electoral results clarify the disappearance of Ciudadanos and the collapse of Podemos, which has ceased to have representation in Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, the Canary Islands, Valencia and Cantabria.

“I have made this decision in view of the results of the regional and municipal elections. Many socialist presidents and mayors with impeccable management are going to be displaced, even despite seeing their support increase. These institutions will be governed by the PP and Vox,” said the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, in a brief appearance at La Moncloa.

Have elections ever been held in summer?

The electoral appointment with the polls during the summer has already taken place on two occasions. In this sense, these events have taken place during two electoral processes in democracy.

The first general elections in Spain that were held in the summer were in 1986. On this occasion, the general elections were held on June 22 and in these elections the PSOE won with almost nine million votes.

The next time general elections were held in Spain during the summer was in 2016. The celebration of this electoral process took place on June 26 and was due to the fact that after the Cortes did not invest any candidate, they proceeded to call a new appointment with the polls.

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On this occasion, the winner of these general elections was the PP with Mariano Rajoy as candidate for the presidency of the Government, who surpassed the leader of the socialists, Pedro Sánchez. Almost two years after this event, Pedro Sánchez came to power after a motion of no confidence against the leader of the popular.

After the dissolution of the Cortes Generales, voters will decide on July 23 the next president of Spain.