Polls open in Andalusia as Spanish right-wing parties expected to dominate

By Alyssa McMurtry

MURCIA, Spain (AA) – Polls opened in the Spanish region of Andalusia on Sunday, where right-wing parties are expected to dominate.

The incumbent Popular Party (PP) has a comfortable lead, but the most pressing question is whether it will win enough votes to form a majority government.

If the PP falls short, polls suggest it will have to rely on the far-right party Vox for support.

After Spain’s last regional elections in Castile and Leon, Vox entered its first-ever governing coalition with the Popular Party, and is hoping for a similar result in Andalusia.

Vox, under the regional leader Macarena Olona, has campaigned on fighting illegal immigration, lowering taxes, changing the sex education curriculum in schools, family values, patriotism, and ending corruption.

The more moderate PP leader, Juan Manuel Moreno, has stated his desire to avoid making pacts with Vox, though that will largely be determined by voters.

Meanwhile, polls suggest that Andalusia’s left-wing parties will suffer from historically poor results.

Before the last regional elections, Andalusia was a left-wing stronghold. The Socialist Party governed straight from 1978 until January 2019.

Much of the Socialist’s defeat in the last elections was tied to widespread corruption.

However, a historic loss on Sunday could bode poorly for Spain’s national left-wing government, which is blamed by the right for inflation, worse-than-expected economic growth, and exacerbating political divisions.