breaking latest news – Sunday’s vote in Spain for the Psoe, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Party, which has lost practically all the places that count in administrative elections, such as the Valencian Community, Extremadura and Seville, and managed to score a very good result only in Castilla-La Mancha, where Emiliano Garcia-Page retains an absolute majority.
And so came thesurprise announcement by the premier Spanish, who summoned the early elections for 23 July.
In a televised speech, Sanchez said he had communicated to the head of state, King Felipe VI, his decision to “dissolve Parliament and proceed with the calling of general elections for Sunday, July 23”.
© Javier Soriano / Afp
Isabel Diaz Ayuso celebrates with Jose Luis Martinez Almeida
The defeat was strong and unexpected for the PSOE, which in these elections aspired to preserve and even increase the grip on the territory achieved in 2019, despite the fact that the polls gave very close results between the right and left blocs.
And instead the PP knocked out the PSOEwhich in these elections lost six of the nine regional governments it led (Valencia Community, Extremadura, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and La Rioja) and 15 of the 22 provincial capitals.
We will not let them down!
VOX is not going to give away the confidence and values of the Spanish. pic.twitter.com/485HZYOcq7
— VOX (@vox_es) May 29, 2023
Considered a survey for the end-of-year political elections, the consultations are an excellent encouragement for the People’s Party. “We have achieved a clear victory and Spain has taken the first steps towards a new political era,” exulted leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo.
One right “tsunami”. it has hit “all the regions of Spain”, confirmed Javier Lamban, the socialist leader of Aragon who lost his seat to the PP. “We are facing an undeniable right-wing wave in Spain led by PP and Vox,” agreed Miguel Angel Revilla, who also lost his post as head of the Cantabrian regional government.
Thank you, thank you very much to the 7 million people who have given us their trust.
We have given #The first step to open a new political cycle in Spain. pic.twitter.com/3PgbBL9ITq
— Alberto Núñez Feijóo (@NunezFeijoo) May 28, 2023
However, it is also true that the People’s Party will be able to govern in the six conquered regions only with the support of the extreme right by Vox, which also came out as a winner, which is a big headache for Feijoo.
Vox, third party in Parliament, hopes to become a indispensable partner for the PP, both at the regional level and ultimately at the national level. However, the situation is different in Madrid, where the candidates of the PP Isabel Diaz Ayuso and José Luis Marti’nez-Almeida will govern the Community and the city with an absolute majority, and Vox has remained dry-mouthed while Màs Madrid and the PSOE have struggled and Podemos and Cs have disappeared from the map.
The right and the extreme right have even more power today. We have put all our enthusiasm and courage but our results are bad. Now it’s time to get to work because even if we sometimes go backwards, this political force will always be at the service of the people.
— Ione Belarra (@ionebelarra) May 28, 2023
Ayuso achieved his goal of ruling without depending on Vox and won with a comfortable absolute majority71 seats and over 47% of the vote, 6 seats more than those obtained in the May 2021 elections.
Almeida, albeit tighter, also obtained the absolute majority with 29 directors, 44.5% of the votes, also freeing himself from dependence on Vox.
One of the most significant defeats for the PSOE in the regional elections was that of the Valencian Community, where the PP recovered the hegemony it had between 1995 and 2015, returning to be the first political force against a PSOE that he failed to reach a majority enough to re-edit the government.
In La Rioja, the only autonomous community that the PSOE considered lost, the PP obtained an absolute majority. On the other hand, with the loss of the governments of Extremadura and Aragon, the PSOE also loses two of its exponents with the greatest media impact: Guillermo Fernàndez Vara and Javier Lambàn, who is also one of the most critical of the government says Pedro Sanchez.
The other socialist ‘baron’ critical of the government is the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano Garcia-Page, the only one who obtained a good result, reconfirming his absolute majority.