Do we like them?

Do we like Alberto Núñez Feijóo?

Our score: 4 out of 10. Mixed on harm: he vowed to repeal the trans law, yet backed a Galician LGBTI law and now says he will keep approved LGBTI rights.

Feijóo was born in September 1961 in a small town in Ourense, Galicia, studied law at Santiago de Compostela and became a civil servant. He worked his way through the Galician health service, then national health roles in Madrid, and ran Correos, Spain's postal service, from 2000 to 2003. He became Galician president in 2009, won four straight absolute majorities, and took over the national Partido Popular in 2022 with 98.35 percent of the vote.

His messiest chapter is a photo of him relaxing on a yacht with Marcial Dorado, who was later convicted of drug trafficking. Feijóo said he met Dorado through other people when Dorado had no conviction, and cut contact after learning from the press of pending smuggling cases. He acknowledged the photo was a mistake and apologised for it, then accused the opposition of hypocrisy.

On the harm check, the trans law is the big one. In a 2023 radio interview he said he would repeal it, said it was easier to change legal gender than to get a driving licence, and called it “an attack against children, against parental custody and common sense”. elDiario.es called one of his claims about the law a hoax, and pointed out that as Galician president he had backed a 2014 LGBTI law that guarantees trans healthcare and is still in force.

The Vox question is the other worry. In June 2026 on El Hormiguero he went from saying “No quiero gobernar con nadie” to admitting he could lead a coalition with Vox if the seats demand it. He also said he would keep LGBTI rights as approved and would not stop women who want an abortion, and that he would reform euthanasia. Whether that reads as a firm line or a promise that depends on a partner is up to you.

The recent stuff is campaign noise. On 5 October he said the election was called out of fear over corruption cases touching the PSOE, and said Pedro Sánchez deserved “el mayor de los castigos”. That is ordinary hard-nosed opposition rhetoric, and it tells us little about how he treats people.

On the good side, he is a long-serving technocrat with health-service and postal-service experience, and he pushed an LGBTI law through in Galicia. Critics point to austerity-driven cuts in Galicia and pro-privatisation positions on public services, including health. We couldn't open pieces on his migration stance or the Valencia floods testimony, so those are left out rather than guessed at.