Madrid, March 12, 2026 (AFP)
Spain's scandal-hit governing Socialists and the conservative opposition will seek to fend off an ascendant far right in a regional vote on Sunday that could be an indicator for national elections due next year.
Regions wield significant powers in key areas such as health and education in Spain's decentralised political system, making the results in Castile and Leon keenly scrutinised.
A third regional electoral debacle in a row could await Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after resounding defeats in Extremadura and Aragon in recent months.
The vote will also be Sanchez's first electoral test since he broke with Western allies by denying the United States use of Spanish bases for strikes on Iran and openly denounced the war.
The popularity of his party has taken a battering on a backdrop of sexual harassment scandals and corruption investigations affecting his wife, brother and former Socialist heavyweights.
The right-wing Popular Party (PP) won in Extremadura and Aragon but fell short of a majority, forcing it to reach out to the far-right Vox to continue governing in those regions.
The PP has governed for almost four decades in Castile and Leon, a vast and heavily agricultural region to the northwest of Madrid marked by depopulation.
But in 2022, Vox entered a regional government for the first time since Spain's return to democracy in the 1970s after forming a coalition with the PP there.
The alliance fell apart in 2024 due to disagreements between the parties' national leadership.
Polling suggests Vox could gain seats to consolidate its position as the third party in Castile and Leon, with the Socialists second and the PP winning but far from a majority.
The PP has already expressed a willingness to work again with Vox, a scenario that could repeat itself at a general election due in 2027.
"The only red line is with socialism in Castile and Leon, because they cannot be trusted," the region's PP leader Alfonso Fernandez Manueco told El Pais daily.
Sanchez said the PP and Vox were trying to demobilise progressive voters, calling their strategy "quite clear" in an interview with online newspaper elDiario.es.

Sumber : AFP