I went out of my way to vote communist in the local elections in Spain just to find out that there were no communist parties.

Pretty much the only parties who present themselves to any elections are PCPE and PCTE, and even then they are usually absent in many towns and small cities due to their small size, as it was this case. The rest either practice absenteeism or are part of a coalition with bigger parties that stomp over them (it is actually only one, but it is the one).