The elections in Andalusia from a Maghreb perspective
The regional elections in Andalusia have been closely followed from the capitals of the Maghreb. For different reasons linked to bilateral situations and the situation in each country, Rabat, Algiers or Tunis, they have followed the electoral campaigns step by step, the positions of each party in the race and the final result of the elections.
Broadly speaking, while Algiers does not hide its satisfaction at the 'punishment' inflicted by the voters on the Andalusian Socialist Party directly and the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez indirectly, in the other capitals they are more cautious.
Algerian government circles have gone so far as to say that 'Algeria's problem is not with the PSOE, but with Pedro Sánchez', something that does not hold water, because the Prime Minister is the secretary general of the PSOE and his decisions, which have not been well received in Algiers, are those of the Spanish government and the Socialist Party that leads it. The situation in Andalusia and the overwhelming result of the elections with the Popular Party's absolute majority victory do not directly affect relations between Spain and Algeria, but all the parties that took part in the elections, except the Andalusian PSOE, had criticised the substance and the way in which President Sánchez took the decision to support Morocco's proposal for autonomy as a solution to the Western Sahara dispute. Thus, although it has nothing to do with it, Algiers is convinced that what happened on 19-J in Andalusia 'is a punishment' of the Spanish government. Hence the restrained euphoria of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's government.
Morocco's attitude has been more cautious. Although the meeting held in early June in Rotterdam between the leader of the Popular Party Alberto Núñez Feijoo and the Moroccan head of government Aziz Akhannouch did not question the substance of the political decision taken by Pedro Sánchez, although it did question the form 'as it should have been made with greater consensus', Rabat knows that a hypothetical Popular Party government in the next legislative elections would maintain 'strategic relations with Morocco, based on friendship and cooperation in all areas'. What is more, Morocco expects the next Andalusian regional government of Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla to deepen relations with Morocco, which are increasingly diversified; and they would be very pleased if President Moreno's first international trip were to Morocco, where he would be received with great pomp. But Rabat also knows that the 'historic decision' to support Morocco's autonomy proposal for the Sahara was the work of Pedro Sánchez, backed and pressured by the White House as a 'sui generis condition' for the NATO summit to take place in Spain, with the consequent international backing for the Spanish president. Morocco will therefore do nothing to hinder the Spanish government's plans to end the legislature. Rabat also knows that the presence of a group of Spanish businessmen at the next meeting of the Economic Forum in Dakhla, the former Villa Cisneros, is with the implicit support of the government.
From the other capitals of the Maghreb, such as Tunis, Nouakchott and Tripoli, the Andalusian elections give more confidence that economic and trade relations and investment will intensify, which is the main objective of their governments in their relations with Spain as a country, and with the different autonomous regions, mainly Catalonia, the Basque Country and Andalusia.