Spain Conservatives Win Local Election as Socialists Retreat

(Bloomberg) -- Spain’s strongest opposition party comfortably won Galicia’s regional election, while Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists lost about a third of its seats in the first electoral test since he sought an amnesty for Catalan separatists.

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The conservative People’s Party took 40 seats in the 75-member legislature on Sunday, retaining control of a region it’s governed since 2009. The left-wing Galician nationalist group BNG came in second with 25 seats, while Sanchez’s Socialist party finished third with nine with 98% of ballots counted.

The poll was the first since July, when the PP came in first in a national election but subsequently failed to form a government. The result will help bolster party leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo’s opposition strategy, which has centered largely around criticizing Sanchez for seeking an amnesty for scores of Catalan separatist activists facing criminal charges for their involvement in a 2017 attempt to declare independence.

The election has personal symbolism for Feijoo, who governed Galicia for 13 years and won the regional presidential election four times. He stepped down in 2022 to move to Madrid to lead the opposition.

Sanchez’s Socialists have struggled for years to gain a solid footing in Galicia and were widely expected to finish third. But the showing was still weak as the party lost five seats compared to the last election in 2020. The BNG gained six.

The result were the worst for the Socialists in Galicia since the return of democracy in the late 70s. They also depend the party’s troubles in regional governments, which are largely ruled by the PP.

Negotiations over the amnesty have dragged on for months and haven’t only angered the right. Many Socialist activists, including former Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, have criticized it, eroding Sanchez’s support.

(Updates with background in sixth paragraph)

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