The region of Andalusia, the most populous region in Spain, famous for its Mediterranean beaches and historic cities like Seville, Granada, and Cordoba, has been governed by the socialists for almost forty years, until 2019.
Polls suggest that the Popular Party (PP, right-wing), which won the elections in Andalusia in 2019, will once again defeat the socialists. Questions remain about whether the current right-wing regional president Juan Manuel Moreno, running for re-election, will maintain his current majority in the Andalusian parliament, which has 109 seats.
Winning an absolute majority would allow him to do without the support of the far-right Vox party. Otherwise, Vox would become a kingmaker, as was the case in recent regional elections in Madrid (December), Aragon (February), and Castile and Leon (March), three regions where the PP prevailed but did not gain an absolute majority.
After the resounding defeats suffered by the socialists in these three regions, another electoral setback in Andalusia would be particularly painful for Pedro Sanchez, especially since socialist candidate Maria Jesus Montero was the number 2 in his government until the end of March.
The turnout at 2:00 pm (12:00 GMT) was 37.2%, three percentage points higher than the last elections in 2022, when the socialists had their worst result in Andalusia. Maria Jesus Montero urged the Andalusians to go to the polls before they close at 8:00 pm. The socialists fear that low turnout could harm them.
Meanwhile, right-wing regional president Juan Manuel Moreno emphasized the national importance of this election in a region with almost nine million inhabitants, nearly 18% of the country’s total population. “What happens in Andalusia clearly has repercussions on other things,” he said.
