BFF-76 Spain’s Socialists face first poll test in December

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Spain’s Socialists face first poll test in December

MADRID, Oct 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Spain’s ruling Socialists face their first
electoral test since taking power in June after the leader of Andalusia on
Monday called snap regional elections for December.

Susana Diaz, president of the southern region, announced on Twitter that
she had called elections for December 2, after the Socialists lost the
support of the centre-right Ciudadanos party.

It will mark the start of a string of electoral tests for the government
leading up to May 2019 municipal and European elections nationwide as well as
regional elections in 13 of the country’s 17 regions.

The Socialists, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, have only a slender
parliamentary majority. In recent years, they have lost support to Ciudadanos
and to Podemos on the radical left.

Andalusia is Spain’s most populous region and has been a Socialist bastion
since 1982.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 2350 hrs