With a campaign against strict anti-pandemic restrictions and attacks on central government socialists, center-right candidate Isabel Diaz Ayuso, 42, has been re-elected to government in Madrid – Spain’s richest region – , shows polls.
His People’s Party (PP), which has controlled Madrid for 26 years, has more than doubled its participation in the assembly, from 30 to 62 to 65 seats, according to forecasts – 69 are needed for the majority.
Ayuso said during the campaign that he prefers to rule without coalitions, but even for a minority government he would have to negotiate with the far-right Vox party, which is expected to take 12 to 14 seats, also depending on the ballot box.
It will not be able to count on its former coalition partner, Ciudadanos, which, according to the GAD3 poll, did not obtain the 5% of the vote necessary to occupy seats in the Assembly.
Vox has already supported the previous coalition, but without participation in the government. Ayuso’s statements that an approach to the acronym anti-immigration “was not the end of the world” inflamed opponents, who accused her of sympathy for fascism.
The undisputed result of the conservative candidate in the Spanish capital must project her as one of the main national political forces. In the campaign, in addition to fighting bar and restaurant closures, she has pledged to cut taxes and support small business owners.
Main targets of the conservative attacks during the campaign, the left parties did not guarantee sufficient support to challenge a PP government.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s socialist PSOE lost seats in the Madrid Assembly: out of the current 37, it should have a maximum of 28, according to polls. Its potential left-wing ally Somos has dropped from 7 to 11 seats.
In the progressive pole, the main winner has been Más Madrid, an environmentalist and feminist platform, which has gained popularity in the last two months and can go from 20 to 24 seats.