Regional Election Win Gives Major Boost To Conservative PP

The conservative People's Party (PP) won an historic victory in the Andalusia regional election that took place on 19 June, in what will be a major boost to the centre-right ahead of next year's national legislative election. The PP under the leadership of popular regional president Juan Manuel Moreno won an overall majority, taking 58 of 109 seats.

• This election result marks the first time since the end of the Franco regime and the first democratic regional election in 1982 that the centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) has not been the largest party in Spain's most populous autonomous community. The PSOE saw its seat total fall from 33 to 30, its lowest on record. The other parties of the left also struggled or tread water. The populist Por Andalucia, a leftist alliance involving Podemos, Mas Pais, the United Left and others held onto its five seats. The left-wing regionalist Adelante Andalusia won just two seats, down from 12 previously.
• Winning 58 seats marks a gain of 32 for the PP, which before the election governed in coalition alongside the centrist liberal Citizens. Continuing a sustained collapse in fortunes nationwide, Citizens lost all 21 of its regional deputies and exits the Andalusian parliament.
• There had been speculation that if the PP fell short of a majority that it could be forced into a coalition with the right-wing populist Vox (which gained two seats to hold 14 in total) in order to govern. However, the PP's outperformance in the election makes this a moot point.
• The result will be viewed as an endorsement of Moreno at the regional level, but also new PP party head Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The former Galician regional president has sought to portray himself as a serious, moderate, unflashy leader, starkly different from his exuberant, outspoken predecessor Pablo Casado.
• National polling shows the PP and PM Pedro Sanchez's PSOE battling for first place ahead of the next election, due by Dec 2023 at the latest. While the PP was able to garner a majority in the former socialist stronghold of Andalusia, at the national level polls show they would likely prove reliant on Vox should current polling be reflected in election results.

Source: Electoral Board of Andalusia, MNI