ANDALUCIAN president, Juanma Morena, has announced that the province will head to the polls on Sunday 17 May.
Speaking at Sevilla’s San Telmo Palace, the home of the Andalucian government, Moreno declared that parliament would be dissolved on March 24 and the newly formed parliament would reconvene on June 11.
The last election took place on June 19 2022, and terms usually run for four years.
However, the 2026 vote has been scheduled earlier to avoid clashes with Pope Leo XVI’s visit to Spain (6-12 June).
Moreno worried the visit would dominate media coverage and negatively impact voter turnout, impacting his decision to move the elections forward.
He said: “I hope and wish that this decision will facilitate greater participation and allow the people of Andalusia to speak with maximum clarity and normality.”
According to the Andalusian president, May 17 is the ‘ideal date to facilitate the highest possible voter turnout.’
Moreno, of the People’s Party (PP) is seeking his third term in office after a historic election victory in 2018 which ended three decades of Socialist rule in Andalucia under the PSOE.
The PP, however, needed the support of centre-right party Ciudadanos.
Four years later the PP secured a second term winning an absolute majority.
In recent months, the Andalusian government has come under pressure amid a number of crises.
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The Junta admitted that 2,000 women were affected by failures in the early breast cancer detection program.
Hundreds reported that after their initial mammogram, they were not informed of suspected cancer, leading in some cases to delays of months or even years in treatment and allowing the disease to progress.
Furthermore, on 18 January, the province was struck by tragedy when the Adamuz train crash killed 46 people presenting unprecedented challenges for the Junta.
The opposing PSOE candidate, Maria Jesus Montero, is optimistic about her party’s chances.
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On X, she wrote that Moreno is calling the election early because ‘the public healthcare crisis is overwhelming him and because he fears a resurgence of the PSOE’.
Responding to the election date she wrote: “The sooner the better; Andalusia needs a government that will solve its problems. We like May 17th: the date for change is set!”
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