Overview
- In the December 21 Extremadura vote, the PP won about 43%, the PSOE fell to roughly 25.7%, and Vox rose to around 17%, a surge widely read as a national warning for Pedro Sánchez.
- PP leaders face pressure over strategy toward Vox, with figures such as José María Aznar and Isabel Díaz Ayuso urging a harder line as the party likely needs Vox to govern in Extremadura.
- Coalition strain has intensified as Sumar presses for a deep reshuffle, Junts has broken with the government, and parliament failed to pass a national budget for a third consecutive year.
- Judicial troubles have widened: former minister José Luis Ábalos is reported to be in pretrial detention in a corruption case, ex‑PSOE official Santos Cerdán recently left preventive custody, and probes touch Sánchez’s wife Begoña Gómez and his brother David Sánchez, alongside internal sexual‑misconduct accusations.
- Sánchez insists he will serve to 2027 and has apologized for associates’ conduct, while commentators say the Extremadura result increases the likelihood of PP–Vox pacts and raises speculation about early general elections.