Elche witnessed a decisive victory for the PP in the European elections held this Sunday, securing 35,017 votes which accounted for 39.15 percent of the ballots cast in the city. The party increased its support by more than 11,000 votes compared with five years ago when they obtained 23,964. Their percentage outcome also surpassed their performance in last year’s general elections, where the PP reached 37.66 percent of the votes, though that result stood at 47,376 votes in absolute terms. In any case, the Sunday win was clear, with an eight-point lead over the PSOE.
In Elche, the Socialists gathered 27,770 votes, representing 31.04 percent. That tally marks a drop of over 9,000 votes from five years prior and a noticeably weaker result than in earlier electoral cycles. When compared with last year’s municipal elections, the PSOE’s vote share fell by eight percentage points, and their absolute vote total declined by almost 16,000. Relative to July 2023 general elections, the loss is smaller since the PSOE carried 33 percent of the votes then, even though they had 41,506 supporters, about 14,000 more than now.
The PP’s substantial lead over the PSOE in Elche comes amid a political moment favorable to the far right, with the left suffering a notable setback, particularly to the left of the PSOE. Vox collected 10,621 votes, equating to 11.87 percent. Even though Vox increased its vote share compared with the previous European elections, by about 2,500 votes and 3.79 points, its advance is limited by the rise of the populist Se Acabó la Fiesta platform. The Santiago Abascal party lost about half of its support relative to July last year’s general elections, and also shed over 2,000 votes compared with the most recent municipal results.
The list led by agitator Luis Alvise Pérez attracted the backing of 6,098 residents of the city, or 6.81 percent of the votes cast. Slightly ahead of the combined support for Sumar-Compromís and Podemos, which together gathered 3,775 votes for their first option and 2,163 for their second, totaling 6.63 percent in Elche. The left-of-PSOE bloc fared poorly overall, yet it maintained a minimal degree of representation, a point some observers note as meaningful amid a broader decline. Ciudadanos drew 641 votes, a markedly lower figure than five years ago when they racked up 15,213 votes in Elche as the European capital of the Baix Vinalopó region. The animal-rights party Pacma also posted a modest tally, but their support fell by more than half since 2019.
In this electoral landscape, Elche’s results reflect a shifting political terrain where traditional parties face new challengers and the margins of support swing with national mood and regional dynamics. The numbers above illustrate how local voters weighed European-level concerns alongside national and regional political identities, signaling potential implications for upcoming municipal and regional contests.
Notes on methodology and attribution: the figures summarized here come from the official electoral board’s tallies for Elche. The analysis presents the relative and absolute changes over time to illuminate trends rather than to declare any one party as dominant across the broader region. Further data and context are available from the city’s electoral statistics office and subsequent summaries published by local media, with standard caveats about regional variances and turnout fluctuations.