Without being a great election night, the PSOE catches oxygen. After two setbacks in Extremadura first and in Aragon later, the socialist candidate for the regional elections of Castilla y León, Carlos Martínez, manages not only to hold his own, but has added two more seats, putting an end to the disastrous streak of those of Pedro Sánchez in this electoral cycle.
The PSOE has risen one percentage point with respect to the 2022 elections, which has served it to increase the number of representatives in parliament, going from 28 to 30. Two seats, which is the same number that the winner of the night, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, has added, who has gone from 31 to 33 (although in his case, he has added 4% more votes). The good news for bipartisanship is that Vox has barely increased its presence by one deputy.
Andalusia and the doubts about the minister candidates
In Extremadura, the setback was expected since Miguel Ángel Gallardo was not a candidate to the liking of the President of the Government and on him weighed his indictment for alleged prevarication and influence peddling in the hiring of David Sánchez, Pedro Sánchez's brother, at the Provincial Council of Badajoz. However, Pilar Alegría's flop in Aragon, losing five seats, contrasts with the good result (given the circumstances) of Carlos Martínez in Castilla y León, which revives the debate on whether Sánchez's strategy of placing ministers as candidates is correct.
The leader of the Executive placed his trust in Pilar Alegría, in fact, he considered her one of the best possible candidates. A whole minister who left Moncloa to reap a good result that did not arrive. On the contrary, a territorial leader like Carlos Martínez has achieved encouraging data, although in his case, other variables impacted the campaign: that the PP has governed in the region for almost 40 years, the ‘No to war’ of a Sánchez standing as Trump's nemesis who would have mobilized part of his electorate and the fervor that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero still awakens in his land.
A territorial leader like Carlos Martínez has indeed achieved encouraging results that minister candidates did not reap
The next electoral appointment, the last of this cycle, leads to Andalusia in June, where the socialist candidate is once again a person from the Monclovite hard core. None other than the vice president and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero.
In recent years it has been a common practice for ministers to leave their posts to face electoral challenges. The first were Salvador Illa (president of Catalonia) and Pablo Iglesias, from Unidas Podemos. Also Carolina Darias (Canary Islands), Reyes Maroto (candidate for mayor of Madrid) and Teresa Ribera (head of list for the European Parliament). More recently, Pilar Alegría, the last to submit to the polls. And Montero will not be the last, as three others are expected: Diana Morant (Valencian Community), Óscar López (Community of Madrid) and Ángel Víctor Torres (Canary Islands).
Will Montero sow doubts again or will she change the narrative of minister candidates?
Concern for its left
A deep concern hovers over Ferraz. The forces located to its left, regardless of their nomenclature and composition, are incapable of consolidating a political space that expands progressive majorities. The IU-Sumar candidate in Castilla y León, Juan Antonio Gascón, who has been left out of the regional parliament, has gone so far as to blame his results on an electorate leak towards the PSOE due to the “useful vote”.
The socialists are aware that, in the current block politics, they not only depend on their results to form regional governments. They need a strong alternative left to be able to compete with the PP-Vox duo; and nothing invites optimism.
The parliamentary spokesperson for Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), Gabriel Rufián, one of the voices urging to find a formula to stop Vox, has written on his official X profile that, given the “zero seats to the left of the PSOE”, “not doing something or doing the usual is pure negligence”.
0 seats to the left of the PSOE.
— Gabriel Rufián (@gabrielrufian) March 15, 2026
Not doing something (or doing the usual) is pure negligence.#ElectionsCastillaYLeón2026
Next steps and… cascade of pacts?
The Cortes of Castilla y León that result from the ballot boxes will have to be constituted next April 14 at 11:30 hours, according to the foreseen calendar.
Once the Cortes are constituted, the procedure to elect the president of the Junta begins. The first investiture session must be held within the following 15 days, so April 30 will be the deadline for that first attempt.
In that vote, the proposed candidate will need the absolute majority of the Chamber to be invested. If he does not achieve that support, the Bureau of the Cortes, after listening to the Board of Spokespersons, will set the date for a second vote, in which it will be enough to obtain a simple majority, that is, more votes in favor than against.
The parliamentary regulation also contemplates the possibility of a political blockade. If within the period of two months from the first investiture session no candidate manages to gather the necessary support, the Cortes of Castilla y León will automatically dissolve and new regional elections will be called.
In parallel to all this process, se expects that the parties of Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal unblock the negotiations in Extremadura and Aragon already with the Castilian-Leonese elections in the rearview mirror.