Spain’s Socialists take hit

Spain’s Socialists take hit in Andalusia vote as far right wins seats

PM’s party comes in first, but could lose its grip on power if other parties team up against it.

By DIEGO TORRES

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party took a beating Sunday in an election in Andalusia that saw the far right win seats in one of the country’s regional parliaments for the first time in decades.

The Socialists (PSOE) — which have ruled the southern region uninterrupted for 36 years — came in first but could lose their grip on power if parties on the right team up against them.

The results spell difficulties ahead for Sánchez, who will face local, regional and European ballots next May — and who is also expected to call a snap general election sometime next year.

With over 99 percent of the ballots counted, the PSOE won 33 seats out of 109 — down 14 from the last election in 2015. The far-right Vox party won 12 seats.

Vox’s success marks the first time a far-right party has won seats in either the national parliament or one of the country’s regional chambers since 1982. Until Sunday, Spain had been spared the right-wing populist surge found elsewhere in Europe. Many analysts say Vox’s performance in Andalusia could pave the way for further growth at the national level.

The conservative Popular Party came in second with 26 seats — a loss of seven seats from 2015 — while the liberal Ciudadanos gained 12 additional seats, winning 21 in total.

Overall, left-leaning parties won about 44 percent of the vote — down from 57 percent in 2015 — and 50 seats, while right-leaning parties won about 50 percent of the vote and 59 seats.

Juanma Moreno — the local leader of the Popular Party — said as the results came in that he would try to replace the Socialists’ incumbent regional leader, Susana Díaz, which would require parliamentary support from Ciudadanos and the far-right Vox.

“We know today that Andalusia has voted for change and therefore it will have change,” Moreno told reporters. “Forty years of Socialist hegemony in Andalusia has ended tonight.”

Yet Ciudadanos — which came in third place — called on other parties to support their own local candidate for the regional presidency. Díaz said the far right should be blocked from entering government — and she should stay in power.

“I call on all political forces to rein in the extreme right,” Díaz said, blaming poor turnout for the loss of votes on the left. About 59 percent of voters cast their ballots, 3 percentage points lower than the 2015 turnout.

The results also set the stage for potential political impasse in trying to form a government, which will also have an impact at the national level. The two major parties on the left don’t have enough support for a majority, while a coalition made up of Ciudadanos, the PP and the far right is unprecedented.