- 1Valladolid's electoral board ruled Thursday that Óscar Puente's name stays on the PSOE ballot for the November 29 vote.
- 2The board rejected the PSOE's request to remove his name, renumber candidates and print new ballots.
- 3Ballots with Puente's name crossed out must be counted as valid, the board ordered.
- 4Equality Minister Ana Redondo will now lead the PSOE list in the province, according to El País.
- 5The board cited its doctrine that ballots cannot be modified after candidacies are proclaimed.
The Óscar Puente ballot in Valladolid will keep his name on it. The provincial electoral board ruled Thursday that the former transport minister stays on the Socialist Party (PSOE) list for the November 29 vote, even though he has stepped down as its lead candidate, according to El País and elDiario.es.
The ruling shows how Spanish electoral rules limit last-minute changes to ballots once candidacies are proclaimed. It also tells voters in Valladolid that crossing out the name will not invalidate their vote.
The board did, however, say that polling stations must treat as valid any ballot on which a voter has crossed out the name of a candidate who has resigned. That covers Puente.
What the PSOE asked for and what it got
According to the reports, Puente's resignation came as a surprise on Tuesday. The PSOE then asked the Valladolid board to modify the ballot: delete his name, renumber the remaining candidates in their existing order and print new ballots. elDiario.es, citing a ruling seen by the EFE news agency, says the party made the request on Wednesday and wanted to avoid confusing voters.
The board said it considers Puente's resignation as having been communicated. It rejected the reprint, though. El País reports that no new ballots will be needed. The list, which Puente was due to head, will now be led by Equality Minister Ana Redondo.
The legal reasoning
The board relied on what it calls the doctrine of the unmodifiability of ballots once candidacies have been proclaimed. In Spain, proclamation takes place with publication in the official gazette, the BOE, according to elDiario.es. El País says the board's precedents go back to 1977 for candidates who resign after proclamation. elDiario.es cites precedents from 1986 and 1996.
El País adds that the board said no new ballot is needed regardless of how much time passes between proclamation and the resignation.
The PSOE had also raised the possibility that leaving Puente on the ballot could lead some voters to cross him out in good faith. elDiario.es reports that the board accepted this concern and justified its order by saying the strike-through is meant to bring the ballot into line with the actual candidacy at the time of voting.
What the ruling means for voters
In practice, a Valladolid voter will see a name on the Socialist ballot that no longer belongs to the lead candidate. The board's answer is to tolerate a correction by hand rather than redo the printing. The sources do not say whether the PSOE plans any further step in response to the ruling.
Source
El PaísSource
elDiario.esReported from 2 published sources (El País, elDiario.es). Facts, figures and quotes come only from those sources. Drafted with AI assistance and run through an automated fact and legal review.
Maria Torres reports on geopolitics, multipolarity, and Latin American resistance to Western hegemony. Her work highlights global South perspectives, imperialist interventions, and emerging alliances that challenge U.S.-centric worldviews. Torres offers rare insight into narratives often suppressed in global discourse.
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