Spains conservatives win big in southern Andalusia election

Spain’s traditional conservatives scored a huge win in southern Andalusia on Sunday, claiming an absolute majority in the legislature that will save it from needing the support of the far-right to govern the nation’s most populous region.

With 95% of the votes counted, the Popular Party headed by Juanma Moreno will keep his regional presidency of Andalusia’s government by securing 57 seats in the regional parliament, two more than the 55 needed for the absolute majority. That was up from just 26 seats won in 2018 when Moreno came to power via a coalition that ended over three-decades of Socialist rule.

The commanding victory will ensure that Moreno does not have to rely on the far-right Vox party, which had said it would support Moreno if it were given a share of the government.

Moreno led a right-center coalition government for the previous four years after right-wing parties ended the Socialists’ 36-year hold of Andalusia.

The Socialists of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was unable to rebound and slipped from 33 seats in 2018 to 31.

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More than 6,600,000 people had the right to vote in the election, which the Popular Party hopes will be a signal of what is to come in national elections that will have to be held before the end of 2023.

Sánchez will now be under even more pressure after his government has struggled to deal with the impact of rampant inflation that is threatening to damper an economic recovery from the pandemic.

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Vox had hoped to become a determinant force in the region where it won its first representation in a legislative body, but it could only grow its 12 seats from 2018 to 14 now.

The center-right Citizens party, which had been the junior member of Moreno’s government, continued its demise as a political force in Spain after failing to win a single seat four years after grabbing 21.