What is at stake in the regional and municipal elections this Sunday?

First modification: 05/28/2023 – 17:03

Spain votes this Sunday, May 28 in elections that mark the possible political scenario that the country would take, facing the general elections at the end of the year.

It is an acute battle at the polls in which the most local authorities are at stake, with the election of mayors of towns and cities, to the regional ones, with the voting in twelve communities of the country: Aragón, Asturias, Canary Islands, Islas The Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, the Community of Madrid, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, La Rioja, Navarra and the Region of Murcia- and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

But this appointment goes much further, since they will mark political preferences in the electoral map of 2023. Once these elections are concluded, the race will begin towards the national votes, scheduled for next December, for which reason the different political groups seek to obtain their best positions to face the upcoming and final elections.

The campaign has been marked by various controversies, from allegations of electoral fraud in small towns to an unprecedented express kidnapping case, that of Vanessa Romero, a councilor for the Macarena City Council, which occurred last February.

35 million people are enabled to participate. The polls opened at 8:00 a.m. local time and are scheduled to close at 8:00 p.m.

Beginning of a return to a two-party system between the PSOE and the PP?

In these elections the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) defends nine of the twelve communities where it governs and aspires to maintain its leadership ahead of the general elections.

But both polls and political experts in the country have pointed out that these are close elections in many areas, with few clear majorities, except in the Community of Madrid, where the regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, of the PP, could win the re-election with an absolute majority.

In addition, the polls predict gains for the conservative Popular Party (PP), which if replicated in the following national votes, could unseat the current left-wing coalition.

That is why experts point out that the votes on May 28 may mark the beginning of a return to a two-party system dominated by the PSOE and the PP after a decade of greater participation by smaller parties such as the leftist Podemos, the junior partner of the government, and the centrist Ciudadanos.

“The reading that the political parties are doing is that the December battle will define what happens now (…) Losing these territories would be a change of cycle. That is why Sánchez is selling his initiatives now and not in the general elections” , stressed Lluis Orriols, professor of political science at the Carlos III University.

And it is that in the campaign for the regional and municipal elections, the head of the Spanish Government has participated in rallies throughout the country in which he has promised from cinema tickets for two euros for the elderly to affordable housing for young people and money for mitigate the effects of a long-term drought.

A whole boost that shows that the political leaders are preparing their political chess for the national votes as of this Sunday’s elections, in which it will be decided whether the socialist party will lead the Government or not.

But the scenario for the PP would not be easy either, even if it gains in the electorate’s preference on May 28, since the extreme right, with the political party VOX, has shown a significant rise in recent years.

In fact, the polls indicate that the PP will probably have to depend on Vox to form governments in several regions, a possible precedent for the eventual participation of the extreme right in the future government coalition.

With Reuters and local media