The president of the People’s Party of Mallorca and candidate to the Consell, Llorenç Galmes, in the course of the monitoring of the election day on the headquarters of the PP of Palma de Mallorca, on May 28, 2023.
Europa Press News | Europa Press | Getty Images
Spain’s ruling Socialists suffered heavy losses to opposition conservatives in Sunday’s local election, with around 95% of the votes counted, showing their electoral vulnerability ahead of an end-of-year general election.
Only three of the 12 regions holding elections will retain Socialist dominance by very narrow margins, with the remainder likely go to the conservative People’s Party, albeit with coalitions or informal support agreements with the far-right Vox party.
“The map changes completely and is a lift for Alberto Nuñez Feijoo – the brand new leader of the PP – ahead of the elections at the top of the 12 months,” said Ignacio Jurado, professor of political science on the Carlos III University.
The gains for the People’s Party (PP) indicate the conservatives could unseat the present left-wing coalition led by the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) in the event that they replicate the performance in national elections by December.
The numbers showed few clear majorities, except within the Madrid region where regional president Isabel Diaz Ayuso of the PP looked set to win re-election with an absolute majority.
“In votes the right-wing bloc expands but not dramatically. But that swing is sufficient to shift the centre of gravity from the left to the suitable,” Jurado said.
The foremost setbacks for the Socialists got here from losses within the Valencia, Aragon and Balearic Island regions, in addition to in one of the vital necessary Socialist fiefdoms, the southwestern Spanish region of Extremadura.
“The tsunami that has swept through all of the Spanish regions today has also swept through us,” Javier Lamban, the outgoing Socialist president of Aragon, told a press conference where he admitted defeat.
Leadership within the Canary Islands will probably be decided by pacts but PSOE have few probabilities of retaining power.
PSOE spokesperson Pilar Alegria told a press conference that the outcomes weren’t “what we hoped for.”
In big cities akin to Valencia and Seville, where mayors were also elected, the count turned in favour of the PP, which also won an absolute majority in the town of Madrid.
Barcelona was an outlier amongst big cities, with a pro-independence party winning probably the most votes by such a narrow margin that it is going to need an agreement with the Socialists to unseat the present mayor, far-left Ada Colau.
Campaigning had been marked by several controversies, from allegations of voter fraud in small towns to an unprecedented case of kidnapping.
The counting showed a return to a two-party system dominated by the PSOE and PP after a decade of greater involvement by smaller parties akin to the left-wing Podemos and centrist Ciudadanos, which appeared largely to have lost its seats to the PP.
