Legislative elections were held in Spain on March 3, 1996. The Prime Minister Felipe González of PSOE lost the elections to Partido Popular and their leader José María Aznar.

National summary of votes and seats in the Congress of Deputies

Registered voters:            32,531,833 
Votes cast:                   25,172,058  77.4%

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Party                          Votes      %     Change     Seats
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Basque Nationalist Party         318,951  01.3  (+00.1)      5 
Bloque Nacionalista Galego       220,147  00.9  (+00.4)      2 (+02)
Coalición Canaria                220,418  00.9  ( 00.0)      4 
Convergència i Unió            1,151,633  04.6  (-00.4)     16 (-01)
Esquerra Rep de Catalunya        167,641  00.7  (-00.1)      1 
Eusko Alkartasuna                115,861  00.5               1 (+01)
Herri Batasuna                   181,304  00.7  (-00.2)      2 
Iniciativa per Catalunya         296,985  01.2  ( 00.0)      2 (-01) 
Izquierda Unida                2,639,774  10.6  (+02.2)     19 (+04)
Partido Popular                9,716,006  39.2  (+06.4)    156 (+15)
Partido Socialista (PSOE)      9,425,678  38.0  (-01.1)    141 (-18)
Unió Valenciana                   91,575  00.4  (-00.1)      1 
others                           256,958  01.0               - (-02)
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Total                         24,802,931                   350 
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The lower house consisted of 350 deputies elected on block lists by proportional representation. Each province was entitled to a minimum of 3 deputies, with one deputy each from the African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

Source: Adam Carr's Electoral Archive

See also: Spanish legislative election, 1993 , Spanish legislative election, 2000