Spain Enters Political Gridlock after Elections

By Staff, Agencies

Spain entered political gridlock on Monday, after no clear winner emerged from the country’s general election. The predicted victor did emerge with the most seats, but the right-wing party failed to garner enough votes to build a governing coalition.

The right-wing bloc came nearest the 176 seats required for a majority coalition, with center-right People's Party [PP] taking 136 seats and the far-right Vox with 33 seats. Meanwhile, the incumbent Socialists [PSOE] won 122 seats and far-left Sumar won 31 seats, for a total of 153 seats for the left-wing bloc.

The PP will be given the first attempt at putting together enough support in parliament for a prime-ministerial investiture vote, but being tied to the far-right Vox reportedly made it unlikely, according to Reuters, which means the left-wing incumbents could make a comeback.

“As the candidate of the party that won the most seats, I believe it is my duty to try to form a government,” PP head Alberto Nunez Feijoo told supporters outside the party headquarters in Madrid.

In power for five years, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez' Socialists possessed the upper hand in gaining support for a coalition, particularly from the Basque and Catalan separatist parties, but may face potentially unpalatable demands. An independence referendum could trigger political chaos much like what was seen in 2017 when Catalonia last tried to break away from Spain.

“Spain and all its citizens who voted have been absolutely clear: the backwards-looking bloc that wanted to roll back all the progress we made over the past four years has failed,” Sanchez said after the election.