SEVILLE, Spain — With just over a week left before Andalusia chooses its next regional parliament, a new “Digital Power Ranking” suggests the race for voters’ attention on social media is tightening between the center-left Socialist Party (PSOE) and the conservative Popular Party of Andalusia (PP-A).
Data compiled by local outlet Democrata.es and reviewed by two independent analytics firms place PSOE candidate Juan Espadas at the top of the online conversation, accounting for roughly 28 percent of all candidate-related interactions on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok during the seven days ending Monday. Incumbent regional president Juanma Moreno of the PP-A followed at 25 percent.
The study examined more than 1.4 million public posts and comments that mentioned the six major parties competing in the 19 June election. Analysts said the ranking weights each platform by user base and discounts automated accounts. “The goal is to gauge genuine voter engagement rather than raw volume,” said a senior researcher at Social Pulse, one of the firms that validated the dataset.
Far-right Vox candidate Macarena Olona, whose rallies have drawn large in-person crowds, registered the fastest week-on-week growth in mentions, up 17 percent, but remained a distant third overall. The left-wing alliance Por Andalucía and the liberal-centrist Ciudadanos rounded out the top five.
Andalusia, Spain’s most populous region, has long been a Socialist stronghold, but Moreno’s PP-A seized power for the first time in 2018 with support from Ciudadanos and Vox. Polls now show the conservatives leading in seats but still short of an outright majority, raising the prospects of post-election bargaining.
Campaign strategists increasingly view online traction as a proxy for volunteer enthusiasm and small-donor fundraising. “Digital clout doesn’t always translate into ballots, yet it shapes narratives that influence undecided voters,” said María Gómez, a political communication professor at the University of Granada.
Still, some caution against reading too much into the figures. A senior official in the regional electoral commission noted that “bot networks and coordinated party messaging can inflate numbers, even with filters in place.”
Looking ahead, parties are expected to flood social feeds with targeted ads once the legally mandated 48-hour campaign blackout lifts on Wednesday night. Observers will be watching whether Espadas can convert his marginal online lead into votes or if Moreno’s incumbency—and potentially an alliance with Vox—delivers the PP-A a second term.