Polls show Spain’s Socialist party would maintain lead
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Spain’s Socialist party would win a November election and gain more seats, two polls showed on Sunday, but it would fall short of a majority and would still need support from other parties to form a government.
The Socialists finished first in an inconclusive national election in April but acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has failed to form a government with other parties, meaning the country is headed to its fourth election in as many years on Nov. 10.
Spanish acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks to the media during a press conference after his audience with Spain’s King Felipe VI on the second and last day of his round of consultations with the political parties ahead a possible investiture vote, at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, Spain, 17 September 2019. Due to the results, Spanish people would be called back to polls for a new general election on 10 November. EPA-EFE/Ballesteros
A poll carried out by 40db and published in El Pais on Sunday gave similar results, with the Socialists and the PP gaining ground and the newcomers Unidas Podemos, Ciudadanos and Vox losing seats.
The Socialists would gain 11 seats to win 134, in a GAD3 poll carried out for Vanguardia newspaper, still not enough for a majority of 176. Podemos would lose 5 seats, the poll showed. The combined left-wing bloc of the Socialists and PSOE would again fall short of a majority.
The polls paint a picture of a country no easier to govern than after April’s election with no one party or political bloc winning a clear mandate to govern.
Despite Spain’s political stagnation, its economy is doing well, and ratings agency S&P raised its credit rating on the country to A from A- on Friday, citing balanced economic growth and improving budgetary condition.
