Politics · Spain · 10 hrs ago
Margarita Robles named second on PSOE list for Madrid
Pedro Sánchez has put Defence Minister Margarita Robles second on the PSOE’s list for Madrid in Spain’s 29 November general election.
Sánchez will lead the list, while Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska will be fifth.
Robles held the same second place in 2016, and Félix Bolaños will again be third.
The choice follows a dispute between Robles and Grande-Marlaska over whether Spain’s intelligence service warned of the Ceuta border crisis, when large numbers of migrants arrived from Morocco.
Robles said the service had warned of the risk; released documents later backed her account.
The choice gives the PSOE a moderate-facing figure in Madrid, where the party hopes to narrow the gap with the right.
The party’s Madrid list has been approved by its regional executive and will be part of the 29 November election.
Margarita Robles will be second on the PSOE’s Madrid list for Spain’s 29 November general election, behind party leader Pedro Sánchez.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska will be fifth, while Félix Bolaños will take third place.
The move gives Robles the same position she held on the Madrid list in 2016.
The articles link her selection to her dispute with Marlaska over whether Spain’s intelligence service warned of the Ceuta border crisis.
Sources differ on the number of people involved in the July influx, citing more than 70,000 or about 80,000.
- Who
- Margarita Robles, Spain’s defence minister, will be second on the PSOE’s Madrid list, headed by Pedro Sánchez.
- What
- The PSOE has selected its candidates for the Madrid list for the general election.
- When
- The election is scheduled for 29 November 2026.
- Where
- Madrid, Spain.
- Why
- The articles say the choice reinforces Robles after the Ceuta dispute and may appeal to moderate voters.
Margarita Robles
Fernando Grande-Marlaska
Ceuta warnings
Margarita Robles
Robles said the CNI had warned of the risk of a crisis.
Fernando Grande-Marlaska
Marlaska maintained that there had been no warnings about the scale of what would happen.
Robles held the second position on the PSOE’s Madrid list for the general election.
A large influx of people from Morocco reached Ceuta; the articles give differing estimates of its scale.
Reports on the CNI were declassified, and El Mundo says they confirmed Robles’s account of prior warnings.
The PSOE’s Madrid list was approved, with Robles in second place and Marlaska in fifth.
The general election is scheduled to take place.
- Robles’s list position
- Second on the PSOE’s Madrid list
- Sánchez’s list position
- First on the PSOE’s Madrid list
- Bolaños’s list position
- Third
- Marlaska’s list position
- Fifth
- Election date
- 29 November 2026
- Ceuta influx estimate
- More than 70,000 according to El Mundo; about 80,000 according to EL PAÍS and 20minutos
4 sources
Margarita Robles será la número 2 del PSOE por Madrid y Marlaska deja Cádiz y será el 5º en la capital
Sánchez aúpa a Robles a número dos del PSOE en Madrid por delante de Marlaska tras la crisis de Ceuta
Margarita Robles será la número dos de Sánchez en la lista del PSOE y Antonio Hernando encabezará el Senado
Margarita Robles será la ‘número dos’ de Pedro Sánchez en las listas del PSOE
What people are saying
they are not Spanish, they are extremely Spanish
conviction of the State