Sunday’s regional elections in Aragón saw a clear shift to the right among voters, in particular for far-right party Vox, in a region which experts see as a barometer for voter intention in Spain’s general election next year.
On Sunday February 8th 2026, the Spanish region of Aragón held early elections.
Aragón – half way between Madrid and Barcelona – is home to 1.3 million inhabitants, more than half of them based in the capital Zaragoza (Spain’s fourth most populous city).
Crucially, Aragón is regarded as the ‘Spanish Ohio’ as it acts as a barometer for electoral mood across Spain, just as the US State does in elections across the pond.
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With 99 percent of the votes counted, these are the results:
People’s Party (PP): 26 seats (loses two), 34.3 percent of votes
Socialists (PSOE): 18 seats (loses five), 24.3 percent of votes
Vox: 14 seats (gains seven), 17.9 percent of votes
Chunta: 6 seats (gains three), 9.7 percent of votes
Existe: 2 seats (loses one), 3.6 percent of votes
IU-Sumar: 1 seat, 2.9 percent of votes
What does this mean in a nutshell?
Spain’s centre-right PP have won the elections again in Aragón, but their results have worsened compared to the previous vote, and they will be even more dependent on far-right Vox, who are the big winners of these elections as they doubled their seats.
Meanwhile, Spain’s Socialist Party have received fewer votes than ever in the region home to the provinces of Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel.
Alongside Vox, the only party that can claim a clear victory is left-wing Aragonese nationalist party Chunta Aragonesista, which increased its representation from three to six seats and recovered almost 30,000 votes.
Therefore, it was a bittersweet victory for the People’s Party, a promising night for Vox and a debacle for the Socialists.
So who will govern in Aragón?
The right-wing PP-Vox bloc already govern under Jorge Azcón (PP) and he looks set to remain in power.
However, Vox has confirmed its strength in the Aragonese government, doubling its seats and ensuring it has more influence regional matters.
The snap election was actually called by Azcón after Vox withdrew its support for his conservative government, and given that Aragón’s parliament is highly fragmented, the PP will have to bow to demands made by Vox’s Alejandro Nolasco if they wish to remain in power.
Together, both parties have enough for a majority in Las Cortes de Aragón (the Aragonese Parliament), exceeding the 50 percent voter threshold.
In Spain, a highly decentralised country, key matters such as education, health, and emergency management fall under the jurisdiction of the autonomous communities, meaning Vox will have a greater influence in how Aragón is actually governed.
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What do Aragón’s election results mean for Spain?
Vox continues to consolidate its place as Spain’s third political force, at the expense of the PSOE but in particular the PP.
Essentially, there appears to be a clear shift to the right among Spanish voters.
In Aragón, Vox has doubled its representation from seven to 14 seats, with an increase of 42,000 votes compared to 2023, and with its highest percentage of the vote ever.
READ ALSO: Spain’s ruling Socialists crushed in Extremadura regional vote
Its 17.9 percent of voter share surpasses the 17.7 percent Vox obtained in Murcia in 2023 and the 16.9 percent in Extremadura in December.
This is largely thanks to the boost from younger voters. An analysis of the vote by municipality in Aragón has revealed that support for Vox is higher in towns with a higher proportion of residents aged 18 to 24.
READ ALSO: Why do many young people in Spain think life was better under Franco?
Crucially, the results in Aragón showcase how the PP’s leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo will likely need Vox’s Santiago Abascal to govern the whole of Spain, if he were to beat the Socialists in the next general election in 2027.
READ MORE: Spain’s opposition says it’s open to working with far-right Vox if elected
The Socialists’ dreadful results in Aragón’s elections certainly don’t bode well for Pedro Sánchez and his party, already discredited by a number of corruption scandals involving his family and allies.
The PSOE framed the Aragón vote as an opportunity to fight against the right-wing shift in Spain and across the world, but if anything all it did was further evidence that political views are changing among Spaniards.
For foreigners, Vox’s ‘victory’ in the northeast symbolises that locals are increasingly more accepting of a party which is openly anti-immigration, even if this wasn’t the primary reason among aragoneses for voting for Nolasco.
Vox focused a lot of its campaigning in rural Aragón, where opposition against EU farming regulations is high. Interestingly, immigration in this part of ‘Empty Spain’ is proving essential to combatting depopulation.
This is the first of three regional elections scheduled in the first half of 2026 in PP-governed autonomies, with upcoming votes in Castilla y León in March and Andalusia in June.
READ ALSO: Is Vox’s rise in Spain due to anti-immigration or other reasons?
