Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist party suffered a historic defeat Sunday in regional elections in Andalucía, marking another major setback for Spain’s embattled left-wing government and further cementing the political right’s growing influence in one of the country’s largest and once most reliable socialist strongholds.
The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), which governed Andalucía continuously from 1982 until 2018, recorded its worst-ever result in the southern region, securing just 22.7% of the vote, according to Spanish public broadcaster RTVE.
The dismal performance is projected to leave the PSOE with only 28 seats in Andalucía’s 109-seat regional parliament — continuing a steep decline from 47 seats in 2015, 33 in 2018 and 30 in 2022.
The campaign was led by María Jesús Montero, Spain’s former finance minister and one of Sánchez’s closest political allies. Both Montero and the prime minister have faced mounting scrutiny in recent months over corruption allegations that have negatively impacted the Socialist government nationally and regionally.
Following the election results, Montero acknowledged the scale of the defeat.
“We take note,” she said after the results were announced.
“The citizens place us in the opposition, and from there we are going to exercise,” she added.
The collapse in support for the Socialists follows a series of political crises that have weakened Sánchez’s government nationally.
In addition to corruption scandals, voter frustration has intensified following January’s deadly high-speed rail crash near Adamuz in Córdoba province. Although investigations remain ongoing, many voters have directed anger toward the national government in Madrid, which oversees Spain’s rail infrastructure and train operations.
The election also became the first major public test of Sánchez’s standing following a diplomatic clash with President Donald Trump over American military operations involving Iran.
Sánchez faced backlash after refusing to allow American forces to use Spanish military bases during Operation Epic Fury targeting Iran. Trump subsequently threatened trade penalties against Spain, while speculation swirled about possible fallout within NATO if tensions between Washington and Madrid continued escalating.
Despite the Socialist collapse, the center-right People’s Party (PP), which currently governs Andalucía, also saw its support decline slightly. The PP’s vote share fell from 43.1% in 2022 to 41.6% in Sunday’s election.
That decline is expected to reduce the party’s parliamentary representation from 58 seats to 53 — just short of the 55 needed for an outright governing majority.
As a result, the PP will likely need support from the nationalist-populist VOX party to maintain control of the regional government.
VOX emerged as one of the election’s biggest beneficiaries and was the only major national party to even slightly improve its vote share compared to the previous regional election, rising from 13.5% in 2022 to 13.8% on Sunday.
The result suggests modest growth in influence in Spanish politics as public concern over illegal immigration, crime and national identity continues reshaping the country’s political landscape.
Juanma Moreno Bonilla, the leader of Andalucía’s PP government, indicated after the election that his party could potentially work with VOX to form a governing arrangement.
Such a coalition could also serve as a preview for future national-level cooperation between the Spanish right and populist conservatives ahead of Spain’s next general election.
VOX has increasingly positioned itself as one of the fiercest opponents of Sánchez’s immigration policies, particularly a controversial migrant amnesty proposal that could legalize the status of more than one million migrants in the coming months.
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