For the first time in 40 years, right-wing parties gain majority in large Spanish region
By BEN PERCHIRON
VoiceOfEurope.com
3 December 2018
In a historic election in Andalusia yesterday, the establishment leftist ruling force, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), failed to reach 40 seats for the first time.
More importantly, it has failed to gain a leftist majority since its far left ally, Adelante Andalucía (part of the Unidos Podemos formation), also fared poorly in yesterday’s elections.
In contrast, the centrist and right wing parties received enough votes to gain a majority in the Southern region’s parliament.
Even more astonishing than the breakthrough of the centre-right in a part of Spain that was virtually guaranteed to vote left, is the rise of what the Spanish media call “far right” VOX Party, led by Santiago Abascal, which gained 11% of the votes and 12 seats in the 109-seat Andalusian Parliament.
The centre-right party, Partido Popular (PP), the centrist Ciudadanos and the right wing VOX would total a comfortable majority of 59 seats in the Andalusian government – if they can reach an agreement.
Regardless of that, the far left are simply fuming over this result, as indicated by the leader of the far left formation Unidos Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, where he stated that “we must launch the anti-fascist alarm” on a night where his party lost 3 seats in Parliament and almost 300,000 votes.
Embarassingly, the left wing media outlets were mocked for “crying” over the terrible election results for their favoured party PSOE and the first resounding triumph of the populist VOX Party in Spain.
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