Spanish election coverage uses several different kinds of names: permanent political parties, electoral coalitions, constituency lists and the labels chosen by pollsters. They are not interchangeable. Keeping them separate is especially important when comparing surveys conducted before the final candidate lists are settled.
The national polling labels
Votendi’s initial 40dB. series reports PP, PSOE, Vox, Sumar, Podemos and SALF separately. PP stands for Partido Popular; PSOE for Partido Socialista Obrero Español; and SALF for Se Acabó La Fiesta. The series preserves “Sumar” as the survey’s own label. It does not treat that estimate as a verified measure of every 2026 list involving Movimiento Sumar.
The “Other + blank” category combines several kinds of responses. It is not a party and must not be assigned to one regional list. A party missing from a published table has not necessarily received zero support.
What the official lists say
The BOE publication of 28 October 2026 records submitted Congress and Senate candidacies. This is a record of submitted lists, not a claim that every list has completed all subsequent proclamation and appeal stages.
The document includes lists named Frente Amplio and separate Podemos lists. It also identifies Movimiento Sumar among the affiliations of candidates in some lists. These observations do not establish a single, uniform national coalition that can be substituted for every earlier “Sumar” poll response. The full ballot name, chamber and constituency must remain attached to each electoral list.
Regional parties need their own identities
Catalan entries include Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) and Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC-PSOE). Basque entries include Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea–Partido Nacionalista Vasco (EAJ-PNV) and Euskal Herria Bildu. Bloque Nacionalista Galego (BNG) appears in Galician constituencies.
These names should remain distinct in the database. A national poll’s grouping convention is a property of that survey; it does not erase the legal or organisational identity of the parties being grouped.
Coalition arrangements can differ by chamber
The submitted lists provide concrete reasons not to infer alliances from a national polling table. The Navarra entries include Unión del Pueblo Navarro en coalición con Partido Popular (UPN-PP). Canary Islands entries use combinations involving Coalición Canaria and Municipalistas Primero Canarias. Senate entries include EH Bildu–ERC or ERC–EH Bildu labels, depending on the constituency. None of these examples authorises automatically merging all related Congress polling series.
How Votendi handles these differences
Each poll keeps its original labels and source. Where a label can be matched safely to an existing party, the poll links to that entity. A coalition or hypothetical joint-list scenario requires a separate record and a verified explanation of its scope. Hypothetical combined-left scenarios are not mixed into the ordinary six-party 40dB. series.
Regional vote estimates and seat projections also answer different questions. A small nationwide percentage can be compatible with representation where support is geographically concentrated. Conversely, adding national percentages together does not establish a constituency-level seat allocation or a governing agreement.
For an example of the source notes and preserved labels, see the 40dB. Congress survey conducted on 7–8 October. The official Senate election directory links to coalition and candidacy documents.
Checked on 29 October 2026. This guide explains identity and mapping; it is not an exhaustive list of candidates or a prediction of coalition agreements.
Continue with the Spain election hub and polling tracker and the 2026 election guide.
The published database now includes three 40dB. surveys and three Sigma Dos surveys. In the later Sigma Dos records, Frente Amplio and Compromís are preserved as separate poll labels; neither is silently merged into the earlier Sumar series. See the 22 October Sigma Dos fieldwork record.
