Spanish Socialist Party suffers losses in regional polls

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Spanish Socialist Party suffers losses in regional polls

The PP supporters wave flags as they gather outside the party headquarters in Madrid to celebrate the polls result on May 28, 2023 after the local and regional elections held in Spain. Spain's ruling Socialists suffered heavy losses to opposition conservatives in Sunday's local election, with around 95 percent 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 rest likely going 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 boost for Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the new leader of the PP, ahead of the elections at the end of the year, said Ignacio Jurado, professor of political science at the Carlos III University.

The gains for the PP suggest the conservatives could unseat the current left-wing coalition led by the Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol PSOE if they replicate the performance in national elections by December.

In Madrid, the numbers showed few clear majorities, except in the Madrid region where regional president Isabel Diaz Ayuso of the PP was set to win the re-election with an absolute majority.

The right-wing bloc expands but not significantly in votes. That shift is enough to shift the centre of gravity from the left to the right, Jurado said.

The main setbacks for the socialists were losses in the areas of Valencia, Aragon and Balearic Island, and in one of the most significant socialist fiefdoms, the southwestern Spanish region of Extremadura.

The tsunami that has swept through all the Spanish regions today has also swept through us, said Javier Lamban, the outgoing socialist president of Aragon.

PSOE have few chances of retaining power in the Canary Islands.

PSOE spokeswoman Pilar Alegria said the results were not what we hoped for. In big cities like Valencia and Seville, where mayors were also elected, the PP votes in favor of the PP, which also won an absolute majority in the city of Madrid.

On May 28, 2023, journalistic outlets work outside the Spanish Socialist Party PSOE headquarters in Madrid, after local and regional elections held in Spain. PHOTO AFP Barcelona was an outlier among big cities, with a pro-independence party winning the most votes by such a narrow margin that it will need an agreement with the Socialists to unseat the current mayor, far-left Ada Colau.

The campaign had been marked by multiple scandals, including allegations of voter fraud in small towns and an unprecedented case of kidnapping.

The polls show a return to a two-party system dominated by the PSOE and PP after a decade of greater involvement by smaller parties like the left-wing Podemos and centrist Ciudadanos, who appeared largely to have lost their seats to the PP.