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PSOE to govern in Spain's Andalusia without coalition: president-elect

Xinhua, March 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

The President-elect of the regional government of Andalusia Susana Diaz confirmed on Monday that she and the Socialist Party (PSOE) will govern in the region without forming a coalition with any other parties.

Diaz made her declaration on radio station Cadena Ser the morning after her party won Sunday's regional election in Andalusia.

"Those who know me know that I do what I say I am going to do and I am going to govern alone," said Diaz, effectively ruling out a return to the coalition government she shared with the United Left for the past three years.

Sunday's election saw the PSOE win 35.46 percent of the vote to take 47 seats in the Parliament; eight short of an overall majority of 55 seats for the 109 seat house.

The Popular Party won 33 seats with 26.7 percent of the vote (14 percent down on the last elections), while the recently formed left wing Podemos won 14.8 percent of the vote to claim 15 seats and the center-right formation Citizens (Ciudadans) claimed nine seats with 9.27 percent of the vote.

Diaz's coalition partners from the past three years, the United Left, saw their representation reduced to just 5 seats, as Podemos claimed many of their former voters.

Seen as one of the most powerful voices in the PSOE on both a national as well as a regional level, Diaz was also asked whether she would consider abandoning the Presidency of Andalusia to become national leader of her party.

"My passion at the moment is Andalusia and I have not considered anything else... Nobody has ordered me to work in Andalusia. I am her because I want to be and it is what I want to do. I have no other ambition that is not my homeland," she said.

These elections were significant as they were the first to be held in Spain in a year which sees local and regional elections in May, elections for the Catalan Regional Parliament (Generalitat) in September and a general election in November. Endit