MADRID (AP) – Two new parties have carved out a kingmaker role in many Spanish cities and regions following local elections that dealt a serious blow to the governing conservative Popular Party.
The result of Sunday’s vote – for seats in more than 8,100 town halls and 13 of 17 regional governments – hints of a significant shake-up ahead for Spain’s general election this fall.
The Popular Party won the most overall Sunday, capturing 27 percent of the vote, but it lost the absolute control it had in eight of the 13 regions, including in its traditional power bases of Madrid and Valencia. The party lost 2.5 million voters since the last local elections four years ago.
The opposition Socialists, who came in second with 25 percent of the vote, saw their total number of supporters drop half a million to 5.6 million.
But the left-wing We Can party and the centrist Citizens party, two organizations that only began operating on a national level last year, finished a strong third and fourth.