[2] Monago was chosen as the PP candidate for President of the Regional Government of Extremadura in the 2011 Extremaduran elections.

The elections saw the PP emerge as the largest party in Extremadura for the first time,[3] although they fell one seat short of an absolute majority.

The outgoing President, Guillermo Fernández Vara of the PSOE, attempted to secure re-election by forming a pact with United Left (IU).

[4] However IU declined to support the PSOE and abstained in the Presidential vote with the result that Monago became the first PP President of the Regional Government of Extremadura.

[5] Nine months later, Monago's minority government is threatened to collapse after the IU agreed to re-negotiate with PSOE after parliamentary elections in Andalusia and Asturias on 25 March 2012.