1996 Spanish government formation

Attempts to form a government in Spain followed the Spanish general election of 3 March 1996, which failed to deliver an overall majority for any political party. As a result, the previous cabinet headed by Felipe González was forced to remain in a caretaker capacity for 62 days until the next government could be sworn in.

The election failed to provide a majority for either the People's Party (PP) or a prospective left-wing bloc comprising the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and United Left (IU). As a result, regionalist and nationalist political forces such as Convergence and Union (CiU), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Canarian Coalition (CC) were left as kingmakers in negotiations. The PSOE's electoral overperformance compared to expectations had triggered speculation on whether incumbent prime minister Felipe González would be able to cling on to government instead of PP leader José María Aznar, an hypothesis that the former tried to cast off as he let the party with the most seats make its attempt at investiture, without ruling out "other possibilities" in the event of a failure.

After weeks of negotiations, the PP was able to reach confidence and supply agreements with CiU, the PNV and CC, ensuring Aznar's election as prime minister of a minority cabinet on 4 May 1996 and ending almost 14 years of uninterrupted Socialist governments under González. Aznar's agreement with CiU leader and president of the Government of Catalonia Jordi Pujol came to be known as the "Majestic Pact", under which Aznar agreed to the development of regional financing—which had already started during González's tenure—in addition to the transfer of new powers to Catalonia in various matters. The significance of such accord came to endure the 1996–2000 period, with critics blaming it for starting political dynamics that culminated in the 2017–2018 Spanish constitutional crisis.