Spain's far right could help oust Socialists in largest region

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December 3, 2018 2:58 AM

The result in Andalusia was a blow to Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Socialist prime minister, who has been in office since June and could now be forced into a snap general election next year.

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MADRID — Spain’s governing Socialist party suffered an unexpected election setback Sunday as right-wing parties won enough votes to oust the Socialists from power in the nation’s largest region for the first time since the country returned to democracy.

The Socialists won just 33 of the 109 seats in the regional parliament, according to provisional results released late Sunday, with 94 percent of the votes counted. It was the party’s worst result in Andalusia since 1982, when the region held its first election after Spain adopted a new constitution.

The biggest change for Spain’s political landscape Sunday was the emergence of Vox, a far-right party that had never previously made any significant election inroads. The party won 12 seats, according to the provisional results.

That could make Vox a kingmaker in the formation of a right-wing coalition government in the region. The bloc would comprise the Popular Party, which secured 26 seats, and the Ciudadanos party, which won 21.

The Socialist leader in Andalusia, Susana Díaz, on Sunday night urged the right-leaning parties not to allow Spain to become the latest European country in which a far-right party takes a front-line role in politics.

“There’s a clear regress of the left in Andalusia, but the most worrying change is the entrance of a far-right party,” she said.

Polls had predicted that Díaz and her Socialist party would win enough seats to remain in office, even if she was expected to fall short of a majority.

The party’s surprising setback in Andalusia also lowers the odds that Sánchez will be able to stay in office in Madrid, where his grip on power was already tenuous. The Socialists hold only a quarter of the seats in Parliament.

Before the expected coalition negotiations in Andalusia, neither the Popular Party nor Ciudadanos on Sunday ruled out joining forces with Vox to oust the Socialists.

The New York Times

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