The elections for the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia and Asturias which were held in Spain this Sunday have produced results which will leave neither of the major parties satisfied.

Although the ruling Popular Party (PP) managed to win the election for the Andalusia Parliament for the first time in 30 years, the party led by Mariano Rajoy was unable to gain an absolute majority and the Socialist (PSOE) Party will be able to continue governing the region, all be it in a coalition with the leftist Izquierda Unida party.

The result is a big disappointment for the PP, which was hoping to win an overall majority. However, on the day, they fell well short, polling 40.65 percent of the vote to the 39.52. The PP won 50 seats while the PSOE took 47, down 9 from the last regional elections. IU was the major winners on the night, doubling their number of seats from the six they won in the last Andalusian election in 2008 to 12.

Meanwhile the results in Asturias are slightly more complicated due to the presence of the regional FORO party, led by former PP Minister Alvarez Cascos. Cascos had governed in the Principality, but his party lost one seat from the results they had obtained in the last Asturian elections, which were held just 10 months ago.

The PSOE gained a seat, as did IU, but the two parties have not enough to form a government. Meanwhile the PP won 10 seats and will be able to form a coalition with FORO, if the two right-leaning groups are able to resolve disagreements between Cascos and members of his former party.

The elections can be seen as the first test of the public acceptance of the drastic austerity policies implemented by the reigning Popular Party since winning the General Election on November 20.

A key factor in both elections was the low turnout with around a 10 percent drop in voter numbers in both regions in comparison to the last elections. Given that low turnouts traditionally benefit the right wing in Spain, this makes the PP's failure to win an overall majority in Andalusia doubly disappointing for the party.

There are several factors which this low turnout can be attributed to, without some commentators even blaming the change of hour in Spain on Saturday night, which means voters had an hour less to sleep. The fact that the General Election was held just four months ago also had an influence in keeping people away from the polls. But perhaps above all is the general dissatisfaction with the entire political class that currently exists within Spain.

The results show that voters are unhappy with the program of austerity, cuts and labor reform being implemented by the PP government of Mariano Rajoy.

They at the same time blame the PSOE for the crisis and have yet to see any signs of the party recovering under the guidance of party leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba. The result of that dissatisfaction is that rather than voting for a party which does not appeal to them many voters simply chose to stay at home.

Meanwhile the challenge IU faces is to get those who stayed at home to make the effort to go out and vote for them.