Andalucíans to vote in election seen as gauge of Spain’s wider political change

Voters in the southern Spanish region of Andalucía will cast their ballots in an election this weekend that is likely to deliver an absolute majority to the conservative People’s party (PP) and inflict another debilitating defeat on Pedro Sánchez’s embattled socialists in what was previously one of their proudest strongholds. Sunday’s election in Spain’s most populous region – the last big poll before next year’s general election – will serve as a barometer of wider electoral opinion and could also reveal whether the popularity of the far-right Vox party is beginning to peak. The PP, which has governed the former socialist bastion for the past seven years, is seeking to frame the election as a referendum on Sánchez, the country’s prime minister, whose inner circle, party and administration are facing an array of corruption allegations . According to the polls, the incumbent PP regional president, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, is on course to almost replicate his result at the last election in 2022, when the conservatives won 58 of the seats in the 109-seat regional parliament. Meanwhile, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE), which ruled Andalucía from 1982 to 2019, looks set for its worst-ever results, dropping from 30 seats to 28. Vox, which entered mainstream Spanish politics in the 2018 Andalucían regional election, is forecast to pick up another seat or two to add to the 14 it won four years ago. …