Two Spanish elections this May

THERE will be two different elections taking place in Spain and the islands on Sunday May 28.

These are the precursors to a General Election which is likely to be held on a Sunday in December this year.

Every municipality that has its own council will be involved in the local elections whilst the regional elections are staggered with just 13 Autonomous Communities up for grabs.

These are Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, La Rioja and Valencia whilst elections will also take place in Ceuta and Melilla.

In the municipal elections, 35,414,655 voters will be able to vote, including 414,581 belonging to EU countries and countries with which Spain has signed a reciprocity agreement to exercise the right to active suffrage and who have expressed their intention to vote in these elections (and this includes UK passport holders resident in Spain)

In the regional elections 18,382,505 voters will be able to vote, of which 1,046,757 are Spanish residents living abroad.

In broad terms there are several political parties contesting the elections ranging from far left to far right with a number of small local candidates also taking part.

Basically, the PSOE (Socialist Party) will be fighting it out with the Partido Popular (like the UK Conservative Party) and it is more than likely that the PP may have to form alliances with the more right wing Vox Party whilst PSOE will try to obtain assistance from left wing Podemos and the less powerful centrist Ciudadanos.

The Government of PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez rules thanks to a coalition with a number of other parties and independents but all eyes will be on these two elections as they may give an idea of how the December General Election is likely to turn out.