Madrid—With virus cases rising and its vaccination drive delayed, Madrid heads into an election campaign Sunday ahead of a vote likely to cement the right-wing’s hold on Spain’s wealthiest region.
If the latest polls are correct, the May 4 vote looks set to hand victory to the region’s right-wing leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso, whose Popular Party (PP) could end up governing with the support of the far-right Vox.
The vote could have important ramifications for Spain’s broader political scene, and particularly for the political future of some of the leaders involved, although analysts say it’s unlikely to have an immediate impact on the left-wing coalition of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Sunday marks the start of a two-week election campaign which ends on May 2, two days before the snap election which was called on March 10 by Ayuso after she abruptly broke off her coalition agreement with the centre-right Ciudadanos party.
At stake is the “jewel in the crown”—leadership of Spain’s richest region, with a population of 6.6 million, but which has suffered the most deaths and infections since the coronavirus epidemic began in March 2020.