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Holding another full national election would have been a logistical and financial nightmare for a post as insignificant as the Deputy Prime Minister, a post which some had not even known of until Pedro Sanchez assumed the role of Acting Prime Minister in the health absence of Former Prime Minister Augustina Torres. 240-25 senators and 301-49 deputies (upper and lower houses respectively) voted in favor of holding a special session of the Cortes Generales to have the elected politicians vote on the new Interim Deputy Prime Minister, who will serve until the May 2028 national elections.

Senate President Meritxell Batet affirmed before the Spanish Senate on Wednesday:

”. . . This vote will not be a vote by the people. Instead, it serves as a prime, justifiable and proper alternative to a nationwide vote. There are those who claim this vote will be compromised by the internal interests of politicians. I assure this Cortes, this nation, that this will not be the case. The Cortes Generales will uphold and maintain the pillars of democracy and self-determination which it is built upon.”

Indeed, minor populist parties like the Liberal Populist Front of Spain (LPF) - a newly established right-wing populist party - staged demonstrations outside the Cortes Generales to protest the move, but much of Spain already agreed that the move was logistically and financially better compared to holding what many saw as an unnecessary election for an insignificant post - a post now more insignificant when the Cortes passed a resolution weakening the power of the Deputy Prime Minister substantially to prevent the crimes committed under Sanchez's term as Deputy Prime Minister.

With the method of voting set, the Cortes Generales directed the subordinate Senate Committee on the Office of Prime Minister to whitelist at least four (4) candidates for Interim Deputy Prime Minister. No prerequisites were set except for that they had to be serving political office within the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, may it be as a Senator, Deputy, party president or a Deputy Minister. After three surprising days of discussion, Santiago Abascal (Vox), Augustina Torres (Cs), Nadia Calvino (Independent), and Mertixell Batet (PS) were listed as the four candidates for Interim Deputy Prime Minister. Batet almost immediately dropped out of the race when she refused the candidacy on the grounds that she had 'a party to reform, a people to lead'.

Santiago Abascal is the candidate for the right-leaning nationalist Vox party. Representing a platform of intense patriotism and support of national defense budget increases, as well as establishing Equatorial Guinea as the 'strategic and economic center of East Africa', Abascal has secured himself a strong early lead in national online polls and in anonymous polls held in Madrid with the members of the Cortes Generales voting. All politicians voting have sworn under oath to vote as an Independent politician rather than simply voting for their party's candidate.

Augustina Torres is the candidate for the centrist progressive Ciudadanos (Cs) party and previously served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain from 2024 to 2026, when she resigned due to growing international pressure following the outbreak of hostilities with the Republic of Maghreb. While Torres is currently not serving in any political office, she aligned underneath one of the prerequisites which was being a party president. She is running on a platform of progressive politics and more or less supporting conservative ideals such as the minimalization of extensive spending on defense and foreign investments, which gave her appeal to the conservative politicians.

Nadia Calvino is an independent candidate who is currently serving as the Minister of Finance, the position officially directly subordinate to the Deputy Prime Minister, placing whoever holds that Finance Ministry post as the second in the line of succession for the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain. One of the more outspoken conservative Spaniards serving in the Spanish Government, she ran on a platform of cutting government spending and increasing profitability from Spanish exports and future foreign relations, an expected stance from a known economist.

With the race heating up and Abascal leading in early polls, the Vox party has all but collapsed and split into Moderates and Radicals, with both sides pushing for Abascal to endorse their side and install their representatives in party leadership positions. As of now, Abascal unofficially is aligned with the Radicals, who advocate the same policy of national empowerment and military strengthening, but the Vox party leader remains sympathetic for the Moderates, who could serve as his key to securing conservative and centrist politicians during the vote.

When Santiago Abascal was interviewed on his confidence in his potential victory, he stated:

”. . . I'm fairly confident. For years Spain has been on the wrong track. A track which led and will lead us to accumulate tens of billions of dollars worth of national debt and endless responsibilities across the world as we continue to entangle our great nation in foreign engagements. The weakness of this government and its apparent mistrust in its own country must be changed, and I believe that I can bring that change to the table and make Spain strong again.”

Credit to Nonador