Four-hour permits for voting and campaign leave for candidates

Personnel serving the Galician autonomous Administration will have up to four hours of paid leave on November 29 to exercise the right to vote in the general elections for the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. This is established by the Order of November 5, 2026, from the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration, published in the Official Gazette of Galicia number 217 this Thursday, November 12, in section III, with the reference CVE-DOG: 8vabocs2-63v2-1jg0-5mb4-wpzf8vmfik14. The regulation, signed by Minister Miguel Corgos López-Prado, also regulates leave for those appointed to polling stations or acting as proxies, as well as the exemption from service during the campaign for public employees running as candidates.

The order is developed under Royal Decree 806/2026, of October 5, on the dissolution of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate and the calling of elections, published in BOE number 248, of October 6, which sets the date for the polls for November 29, 2026. The regulatory authorization is based on articles 28, 76, and 78 of Organic Law 5/1985, of June 19, on the general electoral regime; article 13 of Royal Decree 605/1999, of April 16, on the complementary regulation of electoral processes; and article 14 of Law 2/2015, of April 29, on public employment in Galicia.

According to the published text, the objective is to “adopt the appropriate measures to facilitate the exercise of the rights and duties of the personnel” of the Administration of the Autonomous Community. The regulation covers personnel of the general Administration and those of the instrumental public entities of the autonomous public sector, whose employment relationships are governed by the civil service and labor regime of the Xunta.

Four hours to vote or to manage postal voting

The first section of the order outlines two distinct cases of paid leave:

• Personnel who do not have their weekly rest on election day will be entitled to up to four free hours to vote, provided that their work shift coincides, for at least four hours, with the time the polling stations remain open.
• When work is performed on a reduced schedule, the corresponding proportional reduction of the leave will be applied.
• Anyone who anticipates that on November 29 they will not be in the locality where they are registered to vote, or that they will be unable to exercise their suffrage that day, will have up to four hours during their working hours to personally submit the request for certification proving registration in the census and to send the postal vote.

This second case refers to article 72 of Organic Law 5/1985, which regulates the issuance of the certification of registration in the electoral census.

Leave for polling stations, scrutineers, and proxies

The second section regulates situations arising from direct participation in the electoral process. Personnel appointed as polling station president or member, as well as those who prove their status as an auditor, are entitled to full-day paid leave on voting day if they do not have their weekly rest on that date, and to a five-hour reduction of their workday on the immediately following day, that is, November 30. Those who prove their status as a proxy are entitled to paid leave during the voting day, also conditional on not enjoying their weekly rest on that day.

The accreditation of these conditions shall be carried out by providing the corresponding documentary justification to the personnel directorate or head of personnel of each department.

Service exemption during the electoral campaign

The third section opens the door to exemption from attendance at the workplace for personnel running as candidates in the elections of November 29. The exemption, which requires a prior request from the interested person, covers the entire electoral campaign: from 00:00 hours on Friday, November 13, 2026, until 24:00 hours on Friday, November 27, 2026.

The competence to grant this leave corresponds to the general technical secretariat of each department or the corresponding governing body of the respective instrumental public entity. The subjective scope is limited to the personnel of the general Administration and the instrumental public entities listed in letter a) of article 45 of Law 16/2010, of December 17, on the organization and functioning of the general Administration and the autonomous public sector of Galicia.

Justifications before personnel heads

The fourth section obliges the personnel directorates or heads of personnel of the departments where the affected persons serve to require the justifications issued by the polling stations proving that they effectively exercised their right to vote. The final provision sets the entry into force on the same day of publication in the Diario Oficial de Galicia, therefore the regulation has been in application since this Thursday, November 12, one day before the start of the campaign.

The order affects all personnel of the Xunta and the autonomous public sector, who must adjust their shifts and request the corresponding permits in the two weeks prior to the electoral date. Furthermore, it establishes the labor framework of the campaign for public employees competing as candidates, by guaranteeing them exemption from service from Friday the 13th to Friday the 27th of November.

Fuente: Diario Oficial de Galicia, núm. 217, 12 de novembro de 2026, sección III, páx. 56732-56734 (referencia oficial: CVE-DOG: 8vabocs2-63v2-1jg0-5mb4-wpzf8vmfik14).