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Juanma Moreno’s PP comes well ahead with 41.6% of the votes and 53 seats, but loses its historic absolute majority of 2022 and finds itself forced to negotiate with Vox – revealing the growing dependence of the Spanish classic right on its radical partner.
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Behind the conservative victory, the left recorded its worst historical result in Andalusia with 22.7% for the PSOE, while Adelante Andalucía achieved a spectacular breakthrough at 10% on a regionalist and anti-Madrid speech.
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One year before the general elections of 2027, the Andalusian vote constitutes a serious warning for Pedro Sánchez and confirms the balances of a Spain crossed by the tensions between economic growth, crisis of public services and reaffirmation of territorial identities.
The great shift of a historic bastion of the left
For almost forty years, Andalusia embodied the electoral heart of Spanish socialism. Since the return of democracy in 1975, the most populous autonomous community in Spain (8.7 million inhabitants) constituted an almost impregnable bastion of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE).
However, in the space of a few years, the local political landscape has been profoundly transformed, particularly after the conservatives came to power in 2018. The regional elections of May 17, 2026 confirm this lasting reversal while revealing a new fragility of the Spanish classic right: its increasing dependence on Vox.
This is because the vote resulted in a paradoxical situation. The Popular Party (PP) of the outgoing president, Juanma Moreno, comes well ahead in the eight Andalusian provinces with 41.6% of the votes and 53 seats out of 109. However, this victory masks a certain decline since in 2022, the same Juanma Moreno had obtained a historic absolute majority of 58 deputies. Four years later, he lost five seats and failed in two government units alone. The consequence is immediate because he can no longer lead alone and will now have to negotiate with Vox, a “radical” right-wing group which is making slight progress and reaching 15 seats, one more elected official than four years ago.
Such a change sheds light on national political restructuring, tensions around public services and the difficulties of Pedro Sánchez’s government in maintaining its territorial influence.
2022-2026: l’ère Moreno, entre estabilité et usure
Juanma Moreno’s first mandate with an absolute majority had profoundly changed the image of the Andalusian right. Since the unexpected success of 2018 and even more so after his overwhelming victory in 2022, the conservative leader had succeeded in imposing a singular profile, namely that of a moderate, pragmatic Christian democracy, far removed from the aggressive tone of national politics.
His strategy was based on several pillars. On the economic front, its executive has increased tax reductions and deregulation measures in order to improve the economic attractiveness of the autonomous community. He stated that he wanted to remove Andalusia from its image as an uncompetitive territory by promoting investments and technological innovation. The stated objective was to increase research and development spending to 2% of gross domestic product in Seville.
In fact, economic circles have largely supported this orientation. The Moreno government also highlighted improving employment figures and dynamic growth in several sectors, including tourism, logistics and technologies linked to green industry.
However, such a trend also gave rise to strong criticism, with the opposition denouncing a strategy which mainly benefited the highest incomes, to the detriment of the resources necessary to finance public services.
Doñana, symbol of Spanish ecological tensions
The environmental issue was one of the other major issues of the past legislature. The Andalusian Doñana Natural Park, a protected area classified by UNESCO and considered one of the main ecological reserves in Europe, found itself at the center of a national and European confrontation.
The Andalusian executive initially wanted to extend irrigated agricultural areas intended for intensive strawberry cultivation (a key sector of the local economy) around this humid area located in the provinces of Huelva, Seville and Cádiz. Such a prospect greatly worried the European Union and environmental organizations, which denounced the overexploitation of groundwater.
Faced with European pressure, a compromise was finally reached in November 2023 between Juanma Moreno and Teresa Ribera, then vice-president of the Spanish government in charge of ecological issues. The agreement provided for the abandonment of the project in exchange for a plan of 1.4 billion euros, financed in equal parts by the central state and the regional cabinet, in order to support the ecological transition of the municipalities concerned.
This episode allowed Juanma Moreno to preserve his image as a moderate manager, capable of negotiating with Madrid despite national political polarization.
Public health, Achilles heel of regional government
If the economy constituted one of the strong points of the Andalusian PP, public health has on the other hand become its main weakness. The budget in the area has however reached record levels: more than 15 billion euros at the end of the legislature, or around a third of the total expenditure of the autonomous community and an increase of 65% compared to the last socialist budget of 2018.
However, such an increase has not prevented a profound deterioration in citizen perception. Average waiting times for primary care exceeded nine days while difficulties recruiting general practitioners in rural areas increased.
The crisis culminated in October 2025 with the “mammography scandal”. Between 2,000 and 4,000 women did not receive cancer test results on time due to malfunctions in the outsourced notification system of the Andalusian Health Service (SAS). The affair caused shock waves throughout Spain.
Initially, the regional government tried to raise technical and IT problems. However, faced with public indignation and legal proceedings launched by the Amama association, he finally accepted the resignation of the regional health advisor, RocÃo Hernández Soto.
Whatever the case, this affair has profoundly weakened the image of seriousness and good administration that Juanma Moreno had cultivated for several years.
A fragmented left in search of breath
Faced with the PP, the Andalusian left approached the elections of May 17 in a delicate situation. Indeed, the PSOE has been going through a deep identity crisis since its historic defeat in 2018.
However, to try to relaunch training, the President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, had sent to the front line MarÃa Jesús Montero, a major figure in his executive and former regional finance advisor. His arrival at the head of the regional socialist federation in February 2025 was to symbolize a reconquest.
The operation nevertheless failed. Following the recent election, the PSOE fell to 28 seats and 22.7% of the votes, its worst historical result in the autonomous community. The attrition of the national government, the controversial alliances of the socialists with the Catalan independentists in the Spanish Parliament and several campaign blunders weighed heavily.
In fact, in the last days preceding the vote, a maritime tragedy off the coast of the province of Huelva brutally disrupted the campaign: two civil guards died during an operation against drug traffickers. The event immediately took on a national political dimension around issues of security and immigration.
However, MarÃa Jesús Montero made a major error by publicly describing the deaths as “work accidents”, while the PP and Vox immediately denounced “assassinations” committed by organized criminal networks. This sequence dominated the end of the campaign and marginalized criticism from the left of public services.
The return of Andalusian regionalism?
The real political phenomenon of the election came from Adelante AndalucÃa, a left-wing regionalist party led by José Ignacio GarcÃa, which achieved a spectacular breakthrough with 8 seats and nearly 10% of the votes (compared to only 2 deputies in 2022).
The platform has in fact benefited from the growing rejection of major national groups. His speech essentially focused on the exclusive defense of Andalusian interests, criticism of Madrid’s elites and the protection of the working classes.
Conversely, the Por Andalucía coalition (which notably brought together Sumar, the United Left and Podemos) stagnated at 5 seats.
This fragmentation of the alternative left illustrates the persistent difficulties of the Spanish progressive camp in rebuilding a unitary dynamic.
A necessarily national reading
The political consequences of the vote go well beyond Andalusia.
On the one hand, for Pedro Sánchez, the defeat of María Jesús Montero constitutes a serious warning one year before the general elections scheduled for 2027. The central government sees the weakening of one of its main political figures and confirms its difficulties in several key territories.
On the other hand, for Alberto Núñez Feijóo (president of the Popular Party at national level), the result has a highly ambivalent dimension. Certainly, the right retains Andalusia and confirms its regional electoral domination. However, the disappearance of the absolute majority revives a major strategic problem: the PP remains incapable of governing sustainably without the support of Vox. However, this dependence complicates the centrist discourse that Feijóo is trying to construct on a national scale in order to attract moderate voters.
The Andalusia of 2026 thus appears as a revealer of Spanish political balances: a dominant but constrained right, a weakened and still fragmented left and a society crossed by tensions between economic growth, crisis of public services and reaffirmation of territorial identities.
The Andalusia of 2026 thus appears as a revealer of Spanish political balances: a dominant but constrained right, a weakened and still fragmented left and a society crossed by tensions between economic growth, crisis of public services and reaffirmation of territorial identities.
