Briefing
Alberto Núñez Feijóo presented the election programme «La Reconstrucción Nacional» of the Partido Popular The main points are wide-ranging criminal and institutional changes: the party wants to reintroduce the offence of sedición into the Código Penal, criminalise the offence of convocatoria de referéndum ilegal again and toughen the rules on malversación towards the version in force before the 2022 reform. Feijóo justified the proposals as aiming to “repair the state” and “regenerate” democracy. The presentation took place two weeks before the parliamentary election on 29 November 2026.
Another key point is restricting pardons: the Partido Popular says that, if in government, it would rule out pardons (indultos) for people convicted of corruption, terrorism or serious attacks on Spain’s territorial integrity. In parallel, the party is calling for limits on special jurisdiction (aforamientos), the legal arrangement under which certain public officials can be prosecuted only before higher courts. It also proposes setting the term of the Fiscal General del Estado at five years, which the party says would strengthen political neutrality and accountability.
The party did not present a specific legislative package at the launch; however, the programme contains numerous measures that would require parliamentary majorities if it won the election. Observers point out that reinstating sedición and toughening malversación would be expected to trigger fierce constitutional debate, and that questions of proportionality and fundamental-rights safeguards remain open.
Feijóo presented the measures as a response to changes made in recent years, particularly the Sánchez government’s legal reforms since 2022. The presentation marks the start of the final phase of the election campaign; whether the Partido Popular can actually implement the planned changes through legislation will depend on the distribution of seats after the vote and any coalition agreements.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).