The democratic quality ranking punishes the PSOE for scandals with a failing grade and leaves the far-right Vox at the bottom of the list

The PSOE has just received another blow in a full week of political wear and tear. The fifth ranking of democratic quality of parties, prepared by the association +Democracia, drops the socialists from a pass to a fail after the latest internal and judicial scandals. Pedro Sánchez's party goes from 5.4 in the previous report to 3.6, with particularly harsh drops in internal organization, members' rights, ethical codes, and election of officials.

The report comes at a delicate moment for Ferraz. The conviction of José Luis Ábalos, the investigations into Santos Cerdán, and the management of internal harassment complaints have weighed on the socialists' evaluation. +Democracia points to a gap between the party's written rules and its actual functioning, with more difficult primaries, greater weight of the leaderships, and internal mechanisms that do not always respond quickly when complaints or alerts appear.

The PSOE's failure does not cover up the situation of the rest of the major state parties. The Partido Popular (PP) remains at 2.9 and fails again in five of the six categories analyzed. Its worst data is in transparency, where it obtains 1.3, the lowest score in the entire report in that section. The far-right Vox is directly in the last place of the ranking with 1.7 and fails in all categories, with special punishment for its lack of internal democracy, the concentration of power, and the expulsion of critical voices.

At the top are smaller state-level or territorially established formations. Compromís leads the ranking with 8.3, followed by Comunes with 8.2 and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya with 7.7. Also passing are EH Bildu, Podemos, Izquierda Unida, PNV, PSC, Chunta Aragonesista, Junts, UPN, and Coalición Canaria. The average score of the 17 parties analyzed is 5.7.

+Democracia examines six blocks: internal organization, members' rights, territorial autonomy, transparency, ethical codes, and election of public and organic officials. The association also proposes ten recommendations to the parties, including limiting terms, opening election processes, strengthening complaint channels, better protecting members, and separating ethical committees from executive directorates. The diagnosis comes with political parties among the main citizen concerns in CIS surveys, along with corruption and the functioning of the Government.