Despite Sanchez’s win the Spanish elections remain inconclusive
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Spain’s far-right Vox party more than doubled its number of lawmakers in the country’s fourth national election in four years, which delivered a deeply fragmented parliament, setting the stage for very difficult government negotiations.
The Socialists of acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who had gambled that a repeat parliamentary election would strengthen his hand, finished first but with fewer seats than in the previous ballot in April and further away from a majority, the near-final official results showed.
POLITICO reports that acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez won Sunday’s general election, but his gamble to strengthen his support and make it easier to form a ruling coalition doesn’t look to have paid off, with Spain likely facing weeks more of political gridlock.
Sánchez’s Socialist Party won 120 seats in the 350-seat parliament — three fewer than it won in April’s indecisive election.
The conservative Popular Party (PP) closed the gap on the Socialists, winning 88 seats, up from 66 in April, and the far-right, anti-immigration Vox party vaulted into third place, more than doubling its seat count to 52, and taking over 15 percent of the vote in a dramatic realignment among parties on the right.
The report adds that the result leaves Sánchez as the only viable candidate for prime minister, but his chances of forming a working coalition appear more difficult even than after the April election, and he may need to rely either on some form of understanding with the conservatives or on the backing of the far-left Unidas Podemos — down from 42 seats to 35 — and Catalan pro-independence parties. The liberal Ciudadanos slumped to sixth place, losing 47 of its 57 seats.
National parties on the left won a combined 158 seats, while parties to the right won a combined 150 — both some way short of a majority.
“One way or another we’ll form a progressive government and unblock the political stalemate … We call upon all the political parties, except for those that work against coexistence and foster hatred,” Sanchez said.
The figures pointed to a legislative stalemate with neither the left nor right having a majority.
