Six months before the legislative elections, the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez suffered a crushing defeat in municipal and regional elections on Sunday in Spain, which does not bode well for its continuation in power at the end of the year.
The leader of the Popular Party (PP), the main right-wing opposition party, Alberto Núñez Fijo, announced immediately A new political cycle.
sequel after announcement
PP did on Sunday “giant step” On the way to lead Alberto Núñez Figo to the post of Prime Minister at the end of the year, the head of the Government of Andalusia added Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, the leader of the party.
But in addition to the People’s Party, the other big winner is the far-right Vox, already the third political force in Parliament, which has doubled its result by more than 1.5 million votes in municipal elections (7.19%) in four years. And it achieved an amazing boost in several regional parliaments.
All opinion polls announced the victory of the right in these dual municipal and regional elections, but no one expected Pedro Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party to suffer such losses.
“right of tide”
The outgoing head of the government of Cantabria (northern Spain), Miguel Ángel Rivela, leader of a small regional party allied with the Socialists, spoke of “right tide”both PP and Vox, while the President of the Socialist Government of Aragon, Javier Lampan, went so far as to invoke “tsunami” who was taken away ” the wall “ set up by the Socialists. They both got hit.
sequel after announcement
“The result is not what we expected.”The Socialist Party spokeswoman, Pilar Alegria, commented calmly, looking defeated.
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The People’s Party, which made these local and regional elections a national referendum on Pedro Sánchez’s policy, achieved practically all its goals.
It first received the largest number of votes in municipal elections, more than 7 million (31.5%), or more than 2 million votes in four years, against less than 6.3 million (28, 1%) for the PSOE. (PSOE) by Mr. Sanchez.
Above all, according to the public television TVE and the daily newspaper El País, the PP occupied no less than six of the ten regions that have so far been (directly or within a coalition) led by the PSOE: the Community of Valencia (East), the fourth in the countries in terms of population, Aragon (center), Extremadura (west), the Balearic Islands (east), Cantabria and Rioja (north).
Vox referee support
But the other side of the coin is that in most of these areas it will need the support of Vox to govern, and this far-right party is already looking like a difficult and cumbersome partner to the People’s Party, while this party is trying to project a subdued image.
sequel after announcement
The two parties have already been ruling since last year in one district.
The Socialist Party also lost to the People’s Party the Municipal Council of Seville, the largest city in Andalusia (south) and its main municipal stronghold, as well as the stronghold of Valencia. It is not guaranteed that Barcelona will win, as its candidate reached second place only after the separatist.
General rehearsal before the legislative elections
Sunday’s elections included 8,131 municipalities, or 35.5 million voters, as well as the councils of 12 of the country’s 17 autonomous regions. About 18.3 million voters were affected by this second vote.
This double ballot was a general rehearsal before the legislative elections, the exact date of which was not known.
sequel after announcement
Pedro Sanchez’s name did not appear on any ballots on Sunday, nor did Alberto Nunez Figo’s.
But what was at stake was so important to the two men, who were heavily involved in the campaign, that they made this election a true first round before legislative elections at the end of the year.
Pedro Sánchez cracked down on his government’s record, especially in the economic sphere.
But Alberto Núñez Fijo was also playing big, because it was the first election in which he participated as president of the People’s Party.
Not only did the People’s Party retain the two regions it controlled (Madrid and Murcia), but it won an absolute majority in both of them. Just like the town hall in the capital.
