By Graham Keeley
MADRID, May 18 (Reuters) - The conservative People's Party won the election in Spain's southern Andalusia region but lost its absolute majority, results showed on Monday, forcing it to forge an alliance with far-right party Vox to remain in power.
Sunday's vote in the most populous Spanish region was a test of political strength ahead of a national election expected to be held next year. The same right-wing coalition hopes to oust Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez from the national executive's
helm after nine years of leftist rule.
In the Andalusia campaign, issues including public health shortcomings, drug trafficking and unemployment played heavily.
The PP garnered the largest share of the vote with 53 seats, down from 58 in 2022 and below the absolute majority of 55 in the 109-seat regional parliament.
The Socialists shed two seats for a total of 28 - the party's worst-ever showing in its erstwhile electoral stronghold - while Vox obtained 15 seats, up from 14 in the last election.
Left-wing regionalist party Adelante Andalucia surged to eight seats from the two it got four years ago, while the leftist alliance Por Andalucia kept the same five seats it already had.
"We said it would be complicated. We have fallen short," said regional leader Juanma Moreno of the PP, who had campaigned on the promise of a moderate government without Vox.
The PP has already formed coalition pacts with Vox in the regions of Extremadura and Aragon and is likely to do so in Castile and Leon in coming weeks.
The Socialist candidate Maria Jesus Montero - who had until now served as the country's Budget Minister and Sanchez's first deputy - acknowledged the bad results and vowed her party would learn from its mistakes.
Andalusia was deeply Socialist until 2018, when anti-establishment anger led to a surge of support for Vox. For the first time in Spain's democratic history, the PP reached an agreement with the far right to secure its backing, but the deal was undone in 2022 with the PP's absolute majority.
(Reporting by Graham Keeley, Victoria Waldersee and David Latona; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
