Spain’s conservative party holds strong after nail-biter elections in Galicia

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - The Popular Party won another absolute majority in Spain’s Galicia region in elections Sunday, defeating hopes that the left could end 15 straight years of conservative rule.

Winning 40 seats in the 75-seat parliament, Alfonso Rueda was reelected to lead the conservative stronghold in northwestern Spain.

The results were particularly dismal for the parties in Spain’s coalition government -- the Socialist Party and Sumar.

The Socialists won just nine out of the 75 available seats – down from 14 in 2020.

The far-left party Sumar, headed by Spain’s Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz, who is from Galicia and who campaigned energetically in the region, failed to win a single seat.

Instead, the main opposition will remain the left-wing Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), another party with regional interests in Spain’s broad tapestry of political colors. It won 25 seats.

The far-right Vox Party and far-left Podemos party also failed to win enough votes to enter the regional government.

The national leader of Spain’s Popular Party, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, who is also from Galicia and was formerly the region’s president, celebrated Sunday’s victory with his team.

The conservative head of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, also posted his congratulations on X, describing the results as “a triumph of moderation and balance,” adding that these results will “soon arrive to all of Spain” under Feijoo’s leadership.

In Spain's last general elections in July, Feijoo was the most voted-for candidate. However, he fell far short of winning an absolute majority and was unable to muster the support needed to form a government in Spain’s highly fractured Parliament.

The leader of the left-wing Catalan nationalist party ERC, Gabriel Rufian, said he was “inspired” by BNG’s “extraordinary result.”

“BNG moved from fighting for its survival to competing to govern in Galicia,” he posted on X.

While the BNG fights for Galician regional interests and aims for self-determination, the party does not prioritize securing Galician independence.