The divisions within Spain’s struggling centre-right broke wide open on Wednesday, with the collapse of two of the country’s regional governments because of infighting between conservative and liberal coalition partners.
The growing feud between the centre-right People’s party and the smaller, liberal Ciudadanos, who until Wednesday governed together in four of the country’s 17 regions, underlined the mounting challenges facing the right.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the leader of the Madrid government and one of the most powerful figures in the PP, announced on Wednesday she was dissolving the regional assembly and calling new elections on May 4, even as her political opponents sought to prevent a new poll by putting forward a motion of no confidence in her administration.
Díaz Ayuso’s actions also included dismissing leading officials from Ciudadanos, hitherto her coalition partner. They came after Ciudadanos brought down the PP-led government in the southern region of Murcia by switching sides and backing the Socialists in a vote of no confidence.
The Madrid leader, who has polarised opinion across Spain because of her reluctance to impose swingeing coronavirus restrictions, said her actions were the only way to provide a stable administration in the wake of the shift in Murcia.
“I cannot allow Madrid to be brought to a stop . . . for taxes to be increased, schools to be indoctrinated and businesses to be closed,” she said. Ignacio Aguado, the Ciudadanos politician who until Wednesday served as her deputy, accused her of treachery, irresponsibility and lying.
Meanwhile, Inés Arrimadas, Ciudadanos leader, said her party’s switch in Murcia came after it had failed to convince the regional PP to sign up to agreements to “fight corruption and the scandal of irregular [coronavirus] vaccinations”.
As Spain’s electoral landscape has fragmented, conservative voters have split in three directions — between the PP, the Ciudadanos and the hard-right Vox — putting the right at a disadvantage with the ruling Socialists of prime minister Pedro Sánchez.
For his part, Sánchez had counted on a prolonged period without regional or national elections allowing him to deal with some of the country’s most pressing and controversial issues, such as the dispute in Catalonia and the economic impact of the pandemic. In OECD forecasts published this week, Spain was predicted to be by far the worst-affected EU economy.
Ties between the three right-of-centre parties have been fraying for some time, with the PP announcing a dramatic break with Vox last year. Sporadic co-operation between Ciudadanos and the Socialists has also increased tensions with the PP. Both Ciudadanos and the PP recorded disastrous results in Catalan elections last month.
Despite the right’s difficulties on a national scale, some recent surveys have indicated that Díaz Ayuso could increase the PP’s representation in the Madrid region in a new poll. In the last Madrid regional election, in 2019, the PP came second behind the Socialists and only formed an administration thanks to the coalition with Ciudadanos and backing from Vox.
As of Wednesday evening, it was unclear whether Díaz Ayuso would succeed in convening new elections or her opponents would instead eject her. But the fallout from the PP-Ciudadanos split was felt elsewhere in Spain, with the Socialists also calling a motion of no confidence in the neighbouring region of Castile-Leon, where at present another PP-Ciudadanos coalition is in office.