Across Andalucia there are four main political parties operating. These four run the Andalucian regional parliament. However, at the local level, independent groupings flourish in many areas. Here’s a bird’s eye view of Andalucian political parties:

Popular Party
The “Partido Popular” is Spain’s conservative party and its Andalucian contingent is no different. This party has been fighting for a chance to take charge of the Andalucian parliament since democracy took hold in Spain, but so far has been unable to win the necessary support. Certain cities in southern Spain are considered to be conservative as the Popular Party generally wins their mayors’ seats, but the party has difficulty connecting with a working class that has traditionally made up the bulk of Andalucian society.

Socialist Party
The “Partido Socialista” is the liberal party across the country and its Andalucian branch is very appealing to many workers across this region. In fact, socialists have ruled the Andalucian parliament since democracy took hold and show no signs of loosening their grip.

United Left
“Izquierda Unida” basically groups together the communist party and other far left factions under a united front. While some towns, and even a city or two, might be headed by United Left, this party is generally one of the smaller minorities along with such parties as the “Partido Andalucista”.

CA andalusian coalition
For the 2008 elections the “Partido Andalucista” regional party joined forces with the PSA (Partido Socialista de Andalucia, or Andalucian Socialists) as well as other smaller parties to form the Coalición Andalucísta. In the process of the elections, the Partido Andalucista lost all of its representatives in the regional parliament.

Independent Parties
While independent parties may have a very hard time making it into regional politics, they do often have a chance to make a big difference locally. At the least, they provide active opposition to governing parties as they represent the concerns of their backers while serving on town councils. At most, they might even end up running their local town hall, especially in the smaller villages.

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