40th Federal Congress of the PSOE

The 40th Federal Congress of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party was held in Valencia from 15 October to 17 October 2021, to renovate the governing bodies of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and establish the party's main lines of action and strategy for the next leadership term. A primary election to elect the new party secretary-general was initially scheduled for 26 September, but as a result of no opposing candidates running for election, Pedro Sánchez was proclaimed unopposed as party leader on 13 September.^[1][2]

40th Federal Congress of the PSOE

← 2017 15–17 October 2021
1,077 delegates in the 40th Federal Congress of the PSOE Plurality of delegates needed to win
Turnout	1,027 (95.4%)
Candidate Pedro Sánchez Blank ballots Popular vote Cancelled Cancelled Delegate vote Unopposed N/A Executive 975 (94.9%) 52 (5.1%)
Secretary before election Pedro Sánchez Elected Secretary Pedro Sánchez

Timetable

The key dates are listed below (all times are CET):^[3][4]

• 3 July: Official announcement of the congress.
• 1 September: Submission of pre-candidacies and start of endorsement collection period.
• 10 September: End of endorsement collection period.
• 12 September: Proclamation of candidates to the party general secretariat.
• 13 September: Official start of internal information campaign.
• 25 September: Last day of internal information campaign.
• 26 September: Primary election (first round of voting), election of congress delegates and deadline for amendment submission. (cancelled)
• 28 September: Definitive proclamation of the party secretary-general (if elected in primary election).
• 3 October: Primary election (second round of voting). (cancelled)
• 7 October: Definitive proclamation of the party secretary-general (if not previously proclaimed).
• 15–17 October: Federal congress.

Candidates

Candidate		Age	Notable positions	Announced	Eliminated	Ref.
Elected
Candidate elected as secretary-general.
Pedro Sánchez		49	Prime Minister of Spain (since 2018) Secretary-General of the PSOE (2014–2016 and since 2017) Deputy in the Cortes Generales for Madrid (2009–2011, 2013–2016 and since 2019) Leader of the Opposition of Spain (2014–2016 and 2017–2018) City Councillor of Madrid (2004–2009)	1 September 2021	Y Elected	^[5]

Results

Summary of the 26 September–17 October 2021 PSOE congress results

Candidate		Primary		Congress
				Secretary		Executive
		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Pedro Sánchez	Cancelled		Unopposed		975	94.94
Blank ballots				—		52	5.06
Total				—		1,027
Valid votes		Cancelled		—		1,027	100.00
Invalid votes						0	0.00
Votes cast / turnout						1,027	95.36
Abstentions						50	4.64
Registered voters				1,077		1,077
Sources^[6]^[7]

Vote by delegates (Executive) Sánchez   94.94% Blank ballots   5.06%

References

1. "Pedro Sánchez es reelegido secretario general del PSOE sin rival". El Periódico (in Spanish). Madrid. EFE. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
2. "Partido Socialista Obrero Español. Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, P.Socialista de Euskadi E.E., Partido Socialista Popular, PSOE histórico". Historia Electoral.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 March 2023.
3. (PDF). PSOE (in Spanish). 3 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
4. Uría Molero, Ibon (17 February 2018). "15 cambios en el PSOE de Sánchez: las bases ganan poder y Ferraz tendrá la última palabra frente a los barones". 20 minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2022.
5. "Sánchez formaliza su candidatura para seguir al frente del PSOE". Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). Europa Press. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
6. "La nueva Comisión Ejecutiva Federal del PSOE, aprobada con el 95% de los votos". PSOE (in Spanish). 17 October 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
7. Romero, Juanma (18 June 2017). "Sánchez reivindica la socialdemocracia y el legado del PSOE tras un congreso de unidad". El Periódico de España (in Spanish). Valencia. Retrieved 18 March 2022.