Elections in Andalusia open crisis in Spanish politics

The results of the elections in Andalusia open a crisis in Spanish politics.

The results of the elections in the most populated and extensive autonomous region of the Spanish State, Andalusia, have opened a crisis in Spanish politics.

Against all odds and against what the polls announced, the sum of deputies of the two parties of the conservative right and the irruption of the extreme Franquist right-wing has managed to question the Government of Madrid, led by socialist Pedro Sanchez.

The central government is clearly in a parliamentary minority and requires a constant and complicated negotiation exercise, both with the Catalan and Basque nationalists and with Izquierda Unida-Podemos.

Since the establishment of the new Executive, at the end of last summer, the polls showed a clear increase in the intention to vote in favor of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). Yet, the electoral results in Andalusia have produced the worst historical record of this party in the region since 1979.

The Andalusian PSOE is headed by Susana Diaz, leader on the right of the party always critical of the Secretary General and current President of the Government, who defeated her in the internal primaries.

In what refers to the concrete results in Andalusia, the PSOE lost ten deputies, keeping 33. Adelante Andalusia (the alliance of Izquierda Unida and Podemos) lost 3 deputies, getting a total of 17.

For the conservative right the Popular Party (PP) obtained 26 seats, losing 6 deputies but placing itself in the second position, while the right-wing Ciudadanos grew by more than 100% in votes and went from 9 to 17 deputies.

The surprise of the election day, though, was the irruption in the political-electoral scene of the extreme rightist Francoist [follower of fascist dictator Francisco Franco] who through Vox won 12 deputies.

Electoral mathematics finally left PSOE and IU-Podemos with 50 deputies, while the right and far right parties (PP, Citizens and Vox) got 59, opening a dangerous door to an autonomous government led by an increasingly radical right.

The electoral results in Andalusia not only marked a swift in the regional government - placing the current central executive on red alert - but potentially contains much more strategic consequences for the Spanish State.

The advance of an increasingly extremist and pro-centralisation right in the South and Central regions, accompanied by imperial, dictatorial and uniformed imaginaries clashes directly with the growing claims and sovereignty of the historical nationalities of the North (Catalonia, the Basque Country and its sister province of Navarra).

The political-electoral sociology of the South warns the North that the possibilities of dialogue and agreement with the central power and this deep and reactionary Spain are becoming increasingly difficult and improbable.