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Ayuso urges Spaniards not to vote by mail, citing 'adulterations'

The Madrid president and Vox leader Santiago Abascal have raised concerns about the integrity of postal voting.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
La presidenta madrileña, Isabel Díaz Ayuso Javier Lizon / EFE

What this story says

  • Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, has asked Spaniards not to vote by mail in the general elections on November 29, citing possible "adulterations".
  • Ayuso expects her party to gain up to seven seats in the Community of Madrid, with three attributed to regularisations.
  • Vox leader Santiago Abascal has also warned of the risk of elections being "manipulated" and called for "free, clean and violence-free" elections.
  • The Spanish government has accused Ayuso of making "Trumpist" claims and the PP of questioning democracy.

Who covered it

Left 8%(1)Centre 30%(4)Right 62%(8)

Percentages are shares of the 13 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 11 of the 24 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

42/100

Craft

57/100

Hype

68/100

24 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 1 of the 13 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, has urged Spaniards not to vote by mail in the general elections scheduled for November 29. She cited concerns about potential "adulterations" in the postal voting process. Ayuso also anticipates an increase of up to seven seats for her party in the Community of Madrid, attributing three of these gains to regularisations.

Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, has echoed these sentiments, warning of the risk of elections being "manipulated". He called for "free, clean and violence-free" elections and encouraged voters to cast their ballots in person. Some reports indicate that the Spanish government has labelled Ayuso's claims as "Trumpist" and accused the PP of undermining democracy.

Disagreement on electoral system integrity

While Ayuso and Abascal have raised doubts about the integrity of postal voting, other reports suggest the Spanish electoral system has proven reliable in past elections. Catalunyapress reports that the Spanish electoral system "proves in each call that it works".

What the coverage left out

None of the left, centre, or right-rated reports mention the specific figure of three seats gained due to regularisations that was reported by La Vanguardia.

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 5 Oct 2026, 21:45, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

1 rated outlet

  • La Vanguardia, the sole left-rated report, focused on Ayuso's call not to vote by mail due to "adulterations" and her expectation of gaining seats in Madrid. The report detailed Ayuso's assertion that the upcoming campaign would be "the dirtiest and most excessive" and that the PSOE is "kidnapped by the rot". It also mentioned her framing of the election as a battle between "communism or freedom" and her criticism of the government's actions.

Centre

4 rated outlets

  • Centre-rated reports highlighted Ayuso's request for Spaniards not to vote by mail, often framing it as a warning of a "scam" or "electoral fraud". Cadena SER quoted Aimar Bretos stating, "Spain Does Not Deserve Ayuso, an Autonomous President, to Imply that There Will Be Electoral Fraud". ElNacional.cat noted Ayuso was "already in campaign mode" and warned of a "scam", while Marca mentioned she "raised doubts about the process of post-election and the preparation of the electoral roll."

Right

8 rated outlets

  • Right-rated reports led with the warnings from both Ayuso and Santiago Abascal regarding potential election "manipulation" and "adulterations". ESdiario stated that Ayuso and Abascal "Agree to Issue the Same Warning and Appeal to a Sanchez 'Capable of Everything'". La Razón reported Abascal asking not to vote by mail because "I Absolutely Don't Trust Anything Pedro Sánchez Can Do". EL ESPAÑOL noted Abascal alerted to the risk of "Manipulation" and asked not to vote by mail, while OKDIARIO highlighted Ayuso's alert of the ‘Pucherazo’.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Ayuso urges Spaniards not to vote by mail, citing 'adulterations'?
Of the 13 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 8% are rated left, 30% are rated centre, 62% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 24. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Ayuso urges Spaniards not to vote by mail, citing 'adulterations' left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 13 rated outlets on this story, 8% are rated left, 30% are rated centre, 62% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Ayuso urges Spaniards not to vote by mail, citing 'adulterations' biased?
Ayuso urges Spaniards not to vote by mail, citing 'adulterations' is one event reported by 24 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Ayuso urges Spaniards not to vote by mail, citing 'adulterations'?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Ayuso urges Spaniards not to vote by mail, citing 'adulterations'?
24 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
Why is Isabel Díaz Ayuso asking people not to vote by mail?
Isabel Díaz Ayuso has asked Spaniards not to vote by mail in the general elections on November 29, citing concerns about possible "adulterations" in the process. She also suggested the upcoming campaign would be the "dirtiest and most excessive".
What are Santiago Abascal's concerns about the election?
Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, has warned of the risk of elections being "manipulated" and has called for "free, clean and violence-free" elections. He has also encouraged Spaniards to vote in person and expressed distrust in anything Pedro Sánchez might do regarding the vote.
What is Ayuso's expectation for her party in Madrid?
Ayuso expects her party to gain up to seven seats in the Community of Madrid in the upcoming general elections. She stated that three of these anticipated gains are due to regularisations.

Read it at the source

24 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

1

Centre

4

Right

8

Not rated

11
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How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

Ayuso on postal votes | MediaBias News