On 2 November, IBERIFIER activated its Rapid Response System (RRS) of the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation for the election, and announced it publicly in a statement. The RRS will remain active until 6 December.
In its first week of activity, IBERIFIER sent no notifications to the platforms that have signed the Code.
The week in brief
As the IBERIFIER fact-check repository shows, disinformation in Spain this week continued the trend that began on 28 October with false claims about the train crash at Urda (Toledo), which killed 69 people. The crash has major political implications and has been central to the statements of candidates from the different parties. Its weight in the pre-election context is visible in the resignation of Transport Minister Óscar Puente, who announced it on 3 November at the end of his last appearance before the Standing Committee of the Congress of Deputies, where he had gone to explain the causes of the accident. He also said he would not stand in the election. His name had been published in the Official State Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE) as head of the Socialist Party (PSOE) list for Valladolid. Candidates have resigned after their lists were proclaimed before, but this case drew the attention of many citizens, and most of the election-related false claims detected last week grew out of it.
Other false content was also widely shared in Spain, including claims about the US midterm elections and about a building in Ukraine where civilians and soldiers were allegedly held and tortured. These items have no bearing on the pre-election context or on voting decisions, so they are not covered here.
A resignation, and confusion over how to vote
Óscar Puente’s resignation was accepted and Ana Redondo now heads the list, but his name will still appear at the top of the PSOE ballots in Valladolid, since ballots are not reprinted once the lists have been proclaimed. Under the electoral law, the next candidates on the list fill the vacancy. The situation left many voters unsure about how these rules work.
Two false claims filled the gap. On X, users said that candidacies cannot be modified once they are submitted, and that Puente would therefore remain at the head of the list. The fact-checkers pointed out that the law lets the next candidates fill a vacancy after proclamation, and that his resignation had been accepted. A second message told voters to cross out Puente’s name on the ballot or their vote would not be valid. This was rejected as well, on the basis of article 96, which voids ballots with altered or crossed-out names: in that reading, crossing out the name would spoil the vote. On 5 November the provincial electoral board took the opposite view and ruled that a ballot with Puente’s name crossed out remains valid. Voters may therefore cross it out, although nothing requires them to. Both messages could have consequences for the support the PSOE receives in the province of Valladolid.
The claims are tied to one province and one party, but the same wording could be adapted to any other list.
A poll that never existed, and an empty hall
Two AI-generated images circulated on 5 November. One imitated a newspaper front page carrying a poll; the other showed a supposed party rally in an empty hall.
On 5 November, a supposed front page of El País circulated, dated that day, with the headline “Puente’s resignation sends the PSOE up to an absolute majority” and a poll projecting a landslide for the PSOE. The newspaper’s archive has no such page; the real front page that day was about the US midterm elections. An analysis with OpenAI’s Verify tool indicated that the image had been made with OpenAI tools. The image puts a poll, a newspaper brand and a news event into a single picture, and it hooks onto the news of the day. El País is a widely known name whose credibility is questioned above all by voters who support right-wing parties, which makes it easy to borrow for a false claim.
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