- Property Registrar.
- Vice-Chairman of the Governing Council of Alianza Popular [People's Alliance] in Galicia.
- Chairman of the Local and Provincial Council of Alianza Popular [People's Alliance] in Pontevedra.
- Member of the Permanent Committee of Alianza Popular [People's Alliance].
- Member of the Regional Parliament of Galicia in 1981.
- Director-General for Institutional Relations of the Regional Government of Galicia.
- President of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra (1983-1986).
- Vice-President of the Regional Government of Galicia (1986-1987).
- Deputy General Secretary of the Partido Popular [People's Party] (1990-2003).
- Minister for the Public Administration Services (1996-1999).
- Minister for Education and Culture (1999-2000).
- First Vice-President of the Government and Minister for Home Affairs (2001-2002).
- First Vice-President of the Government, Government Spokesperson and Minister for the Presidency (2002-2003).
- Member of the National Executive Committee of the Partido Popular [People''s Party] since 1989.
- Candidate for the Presidency of the Government in the 2004 and 2008 general elections.
- Trustee of the Foundation for Social Studies and Analysis (FAES).
- Member of Parliament since the 3rd Legislature.
- General Secretary of the Partido Popular [People's Party] between September 2003 and October 2004.
- President of the Partido Popular [People's Party], elected at the 15th National Party Conference of the Partido Popular in October 2004.
- Vice-President of the International Democratic Union (IDU). July 2005.
- Vice-President of the Centrist Democrat International (CDI). January 2006.
- President of the Partido Popular [People's Party], elected at the 16th National Party Conference of the Partido Popular in Valencia in June 2008.
- President of the Government of Spain since 21 December 2011 (Official State Gazette 21 December).
- Re-elected President of the Government on 29 October, sworn in as President of the Government by the King of Spain (Official State Gazette 31 October). Until June 2018.