Spain's PACMA excluded from general election ballots in several provinces

The Electoral Board has excluded PACMA (Animalist Party With the Environment) from the ballot in several provinces, including the Balearic Islands, Ourense and Murcia, because its candidatures failed to meet or correctly submit the required signatures. The party, which was the most voted non-parliamentary force in 2023 with approximately 135,000 votes, is left without a ballot option in those territories.

The Animalist Party With the Environment (PACMA) will not be on the Congress ballot in several provinces for the **November 29** general elections. Provincial Electoral Boards did not proclaim its candidatures in the Balearic Islands, Ourense and Murcia, according to local media, due to issues with the endorsements. This is the first time the party has been excluded from a general election since it first ran.

## What are endorsements and why do they disqualify a list

To run in a general election, each candidacy needs to gather a number of voter signatures —the endorsements— which varies by constituency. If the minimum is not reached or the documentation is not in order, the Provincial Electoral Board does not proclaim the list and the party disappears from that province. In the Balearic Islands, the newspaper **Diari de Mallorca** attributes the exclusion to an error in the endorsements; in Murcia, **La Opinión de Murcia** notes that PACMA and Unión Cartaginense did not gather enough. In Ourense, **La Región** confirms that the list was not proclaimed.

## From 135,000 votes to being off the ballot

In the **2023** general elections, PACMA was the most voted non-parliamentary force, with around **135,000 votes**, although it did not win a seat. That result gave it visibility and, above all, access to subsidies for electoral expenses and informational airtime. Being excluded in several provinces reduces that cushion and complicates repeating the figure. The party laments the situation: "Thousands of voters will be left orphaned," and assures they will try to participate in the upcoming regional and municipal elections.

## The practical effect: fewer options on the ballot

In Ourense, voters will have **ten candidacies for Congress** and seven for the Senate, without PACMA. In Murcia, there are also ten ballots for Congress after the fall of PACMA and Unión Cartaginense. Voters who wanted to support the animalist party in these provinces find themselves without that option on the ballot. It is an administrative failure with political consequences: it does not change the distribution of seats on its own, but it does subtract votes and visibility from a formation that aspired to consolidate itself.