Juanma Moreno voted in as Andalusian president with support of Vox

In the regional election on 17 May, the PP won 53 seats but fell two short of an overall majority in the 109-seat parliament based in Seville.

From that moment, Moreno had been seeking a deal over the votes of the 15 regional MP’s Vox, the closest party to the PP, politically on the right, to secure his re-election as president of the Junta de Andalucía government.

With negotiations between the PP and Vox continuing behind the scenes, regional MPs voted down Moreno’s first bid for the presidency in the chamber on Tuesday.

“I am in talks with Vox, the only party willing to reach an agreement. I hope and trust that we can reach a deal as soon as possible and that it will lead to a productive parliamentary term,” Moreno said before Tuesday’s vote.

After several hours of debate, Vox spokesman Manuel Gavira called for the same formula of PP-Vox government that had already been negotiated in Extremadura, Aragón and Castilla y León. However, with the PP winning 41.6% of the vote in May’s election and Vox 13.82%, it was important for Juanma Moreno that any division of ministries reflected the PP’s much stronger position.

Without a deal, Tuesday’s vote was a failure for Moreno as expected.

Just two hours before the scheduled second investiture vote on Thursday - when only a simple majority of votes in favour over votes against was needed, ignoring abstentions - the PP-Vox deal was finally reached. MPs voted and Moreno took 68 votes, a clear majority.

Vox’s leader in Andalucía, Manuel Gavira, will become vice-president of the regional government and take charge of a new super-ministry with four areas of responsibility, including tourism, under the 150-point coalition agreement reached.

The new department, the only ministry to be held by Vox in the incoming government, will also oversee deregulation, local administration and justice. The regional president noted that the ministry is similar to the one previously headed by Ciudadanos leader Juan Marín following the 2019 agreement that brought Moreno to power.

Among the measures included in the deal is the principle of national priority, one of Vox’s key demands, under which applicants would need five years of residence to qualify for public assistance and welfare.

Vox’s spokesman and incoming vice-president of the Junta said the measures included in the agreement were “common sense”.

Gavira described the pact as a victory for logic and citizens’ wellbeing. “We have reached an agreement to form a government that defends common sense and works to improve the lives of Andalusians,” he said, insisting that the new coalition’s priority would be “to create solutions, not problems”, while also serving as “a bulwark against Pedro Sánchez’s mafia”, in reference to the national PSOE-led government.

He expressly thanked Juanma Moreno and the PP for “their willingness to reach this agreement”.