Simon Hunter
THE Andalusian branch of the conservative Partido Popular (PP-A) would comfortably hold onto power in the southern region were a new election to be held today.
That’s according to the latest poll from Centra, a research foundation that is overseen by the regional government’s Ministry for the Presidency.
The Andalusian regional government is currently headed up by Juanma Moreno of the right-wing PP-A.
He has been in power since 2019, when he agreed a deal with centre-right Ciudadanos and far-right Vox to gain their support at an investiture vote after an inconclusive regional election.
The arrival of the PP-A in power in Andalucia was something of a political earthquake, given that the Andalusian socialists, the PSOE-A, had governed in the region without interruption for the previous 40 years.
In June 2022, Moreno’s party won a historic absolute majority at the polls, after the premier called early elections.
The latest Centra poll predicts that the PP-A would win an election if it were held now with 46% of the vote, compared to 21% for the PSOE-A.
This would give it an even greater majority in the regional parliament than it enjoys now, having garnered 43% of the vote, and 58 seats, at the 2022 poll.
The PSOE-A, meanwhile, managed to secure 24% of the vote at the 2022 elections, meaning that the survey reflects waning support for the Socialists in the region.
Far-right Vox is predicted by the poll to remain as the third-biggest group in the parliament were an election to be held today. Its advantage compared to the last election would be minimal, however, going from 13.5% of the vote to 13.8%.
The survey was carried out between March 22 and April 9, and is based on answers from 3,632 people resident in the Andalusia region.
