Spain's regional elections showing a tight race - poll (updated)
28/05/2023 19:27
(Adds exit polls data at voting close, changes dateline to May
28)
By Belén Carreño and Jessica Jones
MADRID, May 28 (Reuters) - Spain's Socialists may have
lost power in the key regions of Valencia and Aragon in Sunday’s
local elections, according to a poll by state broadcaster TVE,
showing electoral vulnerability ahead of end-of-year general
election.
Final figures will be released later on Sunday and tight
numbers show that some of the other ten regions, most of them
currently run by the governing Socialist Party (PSOE), and towns
could swing with a narrow margin.
The poll predicts gains for the conservative People's Party
(PP), which if replicated later in the year could unseat the
current left-wing coalition.
But the PP will likely have to rely on the far-right Vox to
form governments in Valencia and Aragon, in a possible precursor
to a right-wing coalition government after the general election.
The poll showed few clear majorities, except in the region
of Madrid, where regional president Isabel Diaz Ayuso of the PP
likely won re-election with an absolute majority.
If confirmed, the defeat for the socialists in the Valencia
region, with a population of almost five million, would
represent a major setback for the PSOE.
Over 35 million people were eligible to vote and the turnout
as of 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) was 51.48%, higher than the 49.93% at
the same time in 2019's local elections, despite rain and bad
weather.
Campaigning had been marked by several controversies, from
allegations of voter fraud in small towns to an unprecedented
case of kidnapping.
The elections also mark the beginning of a return to a
two-party system dominated by the PSOE and PP after a decade of
greater involvement for smaller parties such as the left-wing
Podemos, the government's junior partner, and centrist
Ciudadanos.
(Reporting by Jessica Jones and Belen Carreno; Writing by
Jessica Jones; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
((jessica.jones@thomsonreuters.com;))