Spain's far-right Vox doubles its seats in Aragon regional vote

MADRID, Feb 9 - Spain's far-right Vox party doubled its seats in Sunday's election in Aragon region, building on national gains and eating into the support of that area's conservative leaders.

The People's Party, the biggest group in the regional government in Aragon, called the vote in December following failed budget negotiations, hoping to consolidate its power in the northeast.

But the plan backfired, the PP lost seats, and it will now have to rely even more on the anti-immigration Vox movement to govern.

Vox remains the third biggest party in the region, but increased its number of seats to 14 from seven with 18% of the vote, in line with a rise in support seen across Spain ahead of general elections that must be held by August 2027.

"What happened in Aragon shows the shape of things to come," Eurointelligence analysts said in a newsletter on Monday. "There was indeed a momentum shift to the right. But Vox was the main, and sole, beneficiary."

The People's Party lost two seats in Aragon compared with the last election in 2023 and now has 26 in the 67-seat regional assembly, leaving it further away from an overall majority.

Vox will seek to become a junior partner in Aragon's regional government, spokesperson Jose Antonio Fuster told a press conference on Monday.

PP national leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo said his party was prepared to negotiate anything "within reason" without saying whether that included coalition talks.

The Socialist party of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez lost five seats, matching its worst result ever in the region.

He leads a minority national government that has been weakened by a series of corruption scandals in the past year.

The Socialists had the support of around 27% of the national electorate, in a poll by 40dB in mid-January, behind the PP which had 31%. Vox had 18%.

Vox also doubled its seats in the Extremadura region in December. REUTERS