Scandals shadow Spain's ruling Socialists in regional vote

The snap polls in Extremadura, a rural southwestern region of around one million people, were called after the territory’s conservative government failed to approve a 2026 budget.

Polls suggest the conservative Popular Party (PP) will be re-elected but again fall short of a majority in the 65-seat regional parliament, while the Socialists are expected to lose support.

Sánchez's party could lose up to nine of the 28 seats it won in the last election in 2023, according to a survey published Monday in the daily newspaper El Mundo.

Socialist Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, who led Extremadura for 24 years, blamed current scandals for potential losses, telling the paper the party is paying for "all the crap" caused by officials now charged or jailed.

This is the first regional election since a court earlier this year ordered former transport minister José Luis Ábalos, a former top aide to Sánchez, to stand trial for corruption.

He is suspected of pocketing kickbacks related to the awarding of public contracts.

Prosecutors have demanded 24 years in prison for Ábalos, who is currently in custody awaiting trial. He has been expelled from the Socialist party.

Separate graft probes have targeted Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, and younger brother, David Sánchez.

Composer and orchestra conductor David Sánchez is accused of using his brother's political influence to secure a job in 2017 overseeing performing arts for the southwestern provincial government of Badajoz in Extremadura.

He is set to go on trial in May along with 10 other defendants, including the Socialist candidate to head Extremadura's government in Sunday's vote, Miguel Ángel Gallardo.

Sánchez, in office since 2018, has consistently denied wrongdoing by his wife and brother, calling the allegations politically motivated.

Multiple allegations of sexual harassment have emerged in recent months involving Socialist officials at various levels, damaging the party's reputation as a champion of feminist causes and its standing with women voters.

'Beginning of the end'

The PP's national leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has repeatedly called for Sánchez to resign and hold early elections over the scandals.

He said Sunday's election in Extremadura "can be the beginning of the end" of Sanchez's rule if the PP performs strongly.

But the PP faces growing competition from the far-right party Vox, which polls suggest could win more seats in Extremadura's regional parliament, giving it greater leverage over a new minority PP government.

Sánchez has warned that if the PP were to win a national election, it would likewise need to form an alliance with Vox to govern, calling this "the greatest historical mistake" Spain could make.

Three other Spanish regions – Andalusia, Aragón and Castile and Leon – are set to hold elections during the first half of 2026.