PP and Vox to announce coalition deal in Castilla y León, returning Mañueco to power with 'national priority' clause

The agreement

The Partido Popular and Vox will sign a coalition agreement on Wednesday at 12:00 in the Cortes of Castilla y León, more than two and a half months after the regional elections on 15 March. Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, the PP's candidate and acting president, and Carlos Pollán, Vox's spokesperson in the regional parliament, will present the details of the pact that will allow Mañueco to be sworn in for a third term at the head of the Junta.

The deal follows similar agreements already reached in Extremadura and Aragón, making it the third regional pact of this electoral cycle. Negotiations intensified in the final days, with several meetings both in person and via videoconference. National leaders from both parties participated in the talks, including PP secretary general Miguel Ángel Tellado and Vox's deputy national secretary for Government Action, Montse Lluis.

'National priority' and programme

The agreement includes the concept of "national priority," a measure that gives preference to Spanish citizens over immigrants in access to public aid, subsidies, social services, and protected housing. Sources from both PP and Vox have confirmed the inclusion of this principle, which has also featured in the Extremadura and Aragón pacts.

The objective of this measure, according to Vox, is to give preference to national citizens in access to public aid, subsidies, social services and protected housing over the foreign population.

According to Vox sources, the negotiation was "tailor-made" with commitments on deadlines to ensure the PP does not shelve its agreements with the far-right party, as happened during the previous legislature. The programme is expected to include blocking the reception of unaccompanied minors, a law on intra-family violence, and a reduction or elimination of subsidies to trade unions.

Government structure

Vox will enter the regional Government Council with at least two ministries and a vice-presidency. Carlos Pollán is expected to assume the vice-presidency with a portfolio, and has hinted at an interest in Sports, which would need to be separated from the Culture department. Vox is also likely to request Agriculture and Livestock, possibly Family, and Culture or Education. The Environment portfolio could also be carved out, an area Vox has held in other regional governments such as Extremadura.

Electoral context

In the 15 March elections, the PP won 33 of the 82 seats in the regional parliament with 438,096 votes. Vox secured 14 seats with 233,757 votes. Mañueco's margin over the far-right party was 16.05 percentage points, the narrowest among recent regional elections. By comparison, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla held a 27.7-point lead in Andalusia, and María Guardiola a 26.2-point lead in Extremadura.

Investiture timeline

The investiture debate is expected to take place on 10 June, the date provisionally reserved in the regional parliament's calendar. If the schedule holds, Castilla y León could have its new government formed by mid-June. This will be the second coalition between the two parties, after the 2022 pact that made Mañueco the first European regional leader to ally with the far right. That coalition lasted until summer 2024, when Vox abandoned all its coalition governments with the PP.