The Galician Popular Party has won elections in Galicia and will take power back after PSdeG (Socialist Party of Galicia) and BNG (Galician Nationalist Block) ruled in coalition for the last 4 years. Feijóo's clear victory on Sunday shows that Galician voters have preferred to go back to the traditional formula rather than give another term to a leftist coalition which seemed to inaugurate in 2005 a new stage in Galician political life, traditionally monopolized by PP.

In spite of the electoral turnup, results have only slightly varied compared to the outcome in 2005. BNG and PSdeG have lost one seat each (nationalists have got 12 seats instead of the 13 they won four years ago, while socialists won 24 instead of 25). PP has won 2 more seats and has won absolute majority, getting 39 seats altogether.

As a result of the electoral fiasco, PSdeG's leader and acting president of Galicia, Emilio Pérez Touriño, has turned in his resignation as party leader -socialists lost more than 73,000 votes, around 3% less than in the previous elections. In the meantime, Anxo Quintana, the Galician nationalist leader, has announced a time for reflection within BNG.

The Galician on-line journal Vieiros has highlighted that one of the new executive's priority is to remove language policies favoring Galician language in education which were promoted by the outgoing government both in nursery (Galescolas) and university education. Such policies established that at least half of the subjects should be given in Galician. PP's general secretary in Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, has said that "Galescolas must become nursery schools without ideology".

Picture: Núñez Feijóo, winner of Galician elections.

Further information:

• Election results
• Vieiros: Sorpresa por uns resultados que se consideran un castigo ao bipartito
• A Nosa Terra Diario: Ampla maioría do PP contra prognóstico
• La Voz de Galicia: Touriño presenta la dimisión