“These are not good results for us,” María Jesús Montero admitted tonight, after personally congratulating Juanma Moreno Bonilla. “The citizens place us in the opposition,” the socialist candidate acknowledged, who showed no signs of giving up and expressed her commitment to “continue working for Andalusia.”
“We take note of what the Andalusians express to us through the ballot boxes. This is a party that learns,” she assured.
Montero, therefore, has already positioned herself as the leader of the opposition in the Andalusian Parliament. An opposition she guaranteed would be “serious and responsible.” “We are the only real alternative to the right-wing parties,” Montero reiterated.
Another bitter election night, in any case, no less heartbreaking for being expected. Pedro Sánchez has suffered, in Andalusia, the fourth defeat of this adverse regional election cycle for the PSOE, after those in Extremadura, Aragón, and Castilla y León.
It is the fourth socialist setback in the electoral calendar, but the most painful. Because it is the most populous autonomous community in all of Spain, once an uncontested stronghold of the PSOE for 37 years of democracy. And because the candidate was María Jesús Montero, until recently the all-powerful first vice president of the Government, Minister of Finance, and still the deputy secretary general of the PSOE.
The number two of the number one broke last night the historic electoral floor of the PSOE in Andalusia, reaching only 28 seats. Two fewer than those obtained in 2022 by the then candidate, Juan Espadas, who was sidelined to launch Montero into the electoral race as the better option.
Read more The mess of Feijóo and Sánchez’s mistake
The 30 seats obtained four years ago by Espadas already represented the worst historical result for the PSOE in what was once its electoral stronghold, the land of Felipe González and Alfonso Guerra, of Manolo Chaves and Pepe Griñán, which even with Susana Díaz – despite still winning at the polls – lost the presidency of the Junta in the early elections of December 2018.
The paradox is that although Montero gained almost 50,000 more votes than in 2022, she lost almost two percentage points – not even reaching 23% of the total – and two seats, due to the higher turnout in yesterday’s elections, of almost 65%.
The only consolation for the socialists last night was again the same as in the previous regional elections, since the actual count disproved the exit polls conducted yesterday that gave the Popular Party a broad absolute majority that would block Vox from San Telmo, the seat of the presidency of the Junta. Again, a sad consolation to mask another unmitigated socialist defeat.
The PSOE in any case saw its worst electoral forecasts confirmed. Expectations were never higher than holding on to the 30 seats from four years ago. In Ferraz, they detected on this 17-M a greater electoral mobilization in the Andalusian strongholds of the PP, and that many young left-wing voters opted for the Adelante Andalucía ballot, after recognizing a good campaign by José Ignacio García.
María Jesús Montero’s campaign, on the other hand, started late – the leader of the Andalusian socialists did not leave the central government until Juanma Moreno called the elections – and failed to take off. She ultimately did not achieve any of her goals: neither the mobilization demanded from the start was achieved, the spirit of comeback appealed to in the rallies was a mere mirage, nor was there a concentration of left-wing votes on the PSOE ballot, given the rise of Adelante Andalucía. Montero’s entire campaign revolved around defending public healthcare, which also did not work as a stimulus after the cancer screening crisis.
Read more Moreno is three seats short of an absolute majority with 69% of the vote counted
