Conservatives and populists see victory over left-wing glitches in Spain’s most populous region

Spain’s conservative People’s Party scored big victories in the traditional left-wing elections in Andalusia on Sunday, and populist VOX also scored fewer victories than the party expected.

The People’s Party (PP) has significantly increased the number of seats in the Andalusian Parliament, more than doubled from 26 seats in 2018 to 58 seats, gaining a majority in Spain’s southernmost and most populous region as the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). . ) lost three seats, the first time the party failed to win a regional election.

Andalusia’s regional president, Juan Manuel Moreno, stood in the election with a coalition of fellow liberal Ciudadanos and was backed by VOX, but Ciudadanos is now able to rule alone as he lost all his seats on Sunday, Politico reported.

As for VOX, the party won two parliamentary seats, 14 in total, but less than the twenty seats the party sought, and the majority the NP won would have made the party’s influence difficult. new government.

“We need to examine if mistakes were made during the campaign and how we can improve,” the party said, as reported by a Spanish newspaper. El Mundabout.

“We still need to be more humble. We don’t forget that we not only consolidate our results, our voters, but we continue to grow. Maybe we need to be more ambitious,” a party member told the newspaper.

Meanwhile, VOX president Santiago Abascal commented on the result: “This is not the result I want, but it is a good result for Spain. Vox is far from our big ambitions for Andalusia.”

“This is an unconditional historic defeat for socialism and the extreme left,” Abascal said, adding that the election was “no” to the current left-wing government of the Andalusian people led by PSOE Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

The election outcome for PP and VOX was positive ahead of the national election, which is likely to take place next year. A poll conducted earlier this year suggested that the PP and VOX will form a ruling majority coalition at the national level as VOX seeks to further increase its seats in the national parliament.