Elections in Madrid: Popular Party (PP) achieves a wide victory with more than 50% scrutinized

The Popular Party (PP) of Isabel Díaz Ayuso prevails with a wide margin in the elections to the presidency of the Community of Madrid, revalidating its position at the head of the party formation, but it would need to form a Government with the support of Vox, according to the first results officers.

With 41.69% of the polls scrutinized, the PP reaches 62 seats in Parliament, while the Socialist Party of President Pedro Sánchez suffers a sharp fall, obtaining 26 seats. The group More Madrid, meanwhile, would reach 24 deputies, and Vox, 13.

With these numbers, the PP would need the support of Vox to reach an absolute majority of 69 seats.

Thus, Díaz Ayuso would renew as president of the Madrid region, improving her results, after an electoral campaign based on her management of the coronavirus pandemic, with much more permissive measures than the rest of the Spanish regions.

The first official results coincide with the forecasts of the polls of the Spanish public television (TVE) and the Madrid autonomous region (Telemadrid), which indicated that the PP could govern alone with the abstention of the extreme right of Vox.

According to these polls, the PP would obtain between 62 and 65 seats, four of the absolute majority , more than double than in the 2019 elections, followed by the Socialist Party (PSOE) , which would be left with a maximum of 28, nine less than in the previous elections, while the leftist Más Madrid could obtain between 21 and 24 deputies compared to the 20 it had so far.

Vox could add up to two more seats, up to 14 -now it has 12-, while Unidos Podemos , the formation of Pablo Iglesias, would rebound and take between 10 and 11 compared to seven in 2019, while the Liberal Citizens would stay out of the Madrid Parliament and would lose the 26 deputies that it had until now.

Shortly after 18:00 GMT (8 PM, local time), the Madrid authorities reported the closure of the polls in elections with strong repercussions at the national level, and that they had electoral participation of 69% of the authorized register, some 11 points above what was registered in 2019. Polling stations are already closed, but those who are already in line are allowed to vote.

Despite the strict protocols, since the polls opened at 9 (local time, 7 GMT) , long lines of citizens have been registered amid strict safety and hygiene protocols due to the coronavirus pandemic .

The election defines the renewal of the Madrid regional Parliament and its leader, but all of Spain will have its eyes set on these elections with national implications, in which the socialists of the president of the national government, Pedro Sánchez, faced the right-wing barricaded in the slogan “communism or freedom”.

“We have no data that there has been any incident. Citizens’ compliance with the covid regulations has been exquisite, ” said Enrique López, Minister of Justice, during a press conference.

Among the prevention measures against COVID-19, the recommendation that those over 65 years of age vote from 10:00 to 12:00, and that people with symptoms or active disease do so during the last hour: from 19:00 to 20:00. The voter had to go only to the voting center, except in case assistance is needed, and the use of a mask is mandatory.

Madrid is the region with the most deaths from the pandemic in Spain , 19% of the total of the more than 78,000 deaths recorded nationwide, and has 45% of its intensive care beds occupied with covid-19 patients, the highest figure in the country, a situation that has given the opposition ammunition to attack the management of the Madrid regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso , a rising star of the 42-year-old Popular Party (PP).

But this in turn has held the government of Pedro Sánchez responsible, who he reproaches for having neglected the fight against the pandemic and having left the regions , competent in health matters, to their fate .

Díaz Ayuso has clashed with the government regarding the measures to be taken and has made the region the most permissive in the country, where bars, restaurants or cinemas have not closed since last summer, an almost unique situation in Europe.

The president, who presents herself as the defender of a “Madrid-style” way of life where people can go out for a beer after work, has argued that this has prevented a greater economic impact.

Although the polls give her as the winner but without an absolute majority, the fact that she probably needs to govern in Madrid the extreme right of Vox, an ascending party that already supports the PP with its votes in the mayor’s office of Madrid and other regions, they have led the left to warn of the “risk” of that happening.

“It is not about Madrid, it is about our democracy,” Pedro Sánchez proclaimed during a rally.

With information from EFE