Sánchez’s PSOE has insisted on cordon sanitaire not only with the far-right Vox, but even with the right-wing PP, with which it has refused to agree anything, while explaining the benefits of granting amnesty to the perpetrators of the attempted coup in Catalonia, of negotiating with the heirs of ETA, and with the populists of Podemos. Something that is incomprehensible to the vast majority of the electorate, even on the left, so yesterday the PP won in seven of the 12 communities in dispute and will be able to govern in nine, with the support of Vox, as well as in Ceuta and Melilla.
Feijoó’s party has recovered six of the 10 autonomous regions governed until now by the socialists: the Valencian Community, Aragón, Extremadura, La Rioja, the Balearic Islands and Cantabria. The PSOE thus loses practically all the territorial power it conquered in 2019 and only ensures that it remains in charge of Castile-La Mancha, Asturias and Navarre.
In the municipal elections, the PP – with seven million votes, 800,000 more than the PSOE – also won clearly and conquered 29 provincial capitals, snatching from the PSOE the mayorships of Seville, Murcia, Valladolid, Castellón and Palma. The PP also won in Valencia and swept to absolute majorities in Madrid, Cádiz, Granada and Málaga.
The polls sweep Podemos and Yolanda Díaz’s partners: the ‘purple’ party disappears from Madrid and Valencia and cedes five of its six governments.
As the Spanish press points out, if the defeat comes in so many places and affects profiles as different as Puig (Valencian Community) or Fernández Vara (Extremadura), there is only one explanation: Spain has had enough of this PSOE. An assessment that is ratified by the fact that Emiliano García Page, the socialist leader who has publicly reproached Sánchez for his policies, has managed to retain the government in the region of Castilla La Mancha by the slimmest of margins.
The Spanish press has commented on the PP’s absolute majorities in the Madrid regional and city councils, on the rise of ETA’s heirs in Vitoria and Guipuzcoa, and on the almost triple tie that will force a pact for the government of the city of Barcelona, but the big headlines are unequivocal:
“Resounding victory for the PP… The PP snatches almost all the regional power and the big cities from the PSOE” headlines the pro-Sánchez daily El País.
“The debacle of the left”, headlines the pro-PDP daily Público.
“Feijoó consummates the tidal wave… Spain punishes Sánchez’s way of governing and Feijoó promotes change” “The PP sweeps the board and the punishment of Sánchez wipes the PSOE off the map” headlines El Mundo. “Sanchismo sinks the PSOE in Spain”, headlines Expansión. “Sánchez drags the PSOE into the debacle” explains ABC…. “Spain has had enough of Sánchez”.
