Spain general election: Conservatives likely to win

when Early parliamentary elections In Spain, the conservative Popular Party became the strongest force after almost all the votes were counted. “As the candidate of the party that won the most seats, I consider it my duty to form a government,” said People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Viejo on Monday evening. But Social Democratic Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez can also hope to stay in government.

With 99.5 percent of the votes counted, Figo’s People’s Party secured 136 seats in the new parliament, an increase of 47 compared to the 2019 elections. Sánchez’s PSOE won 122 seats. Both parties were far from the absolute majority, which is 176 seats.

The far-right Vox, as a potential partner to the People’s Party, had 33 mandates, so both parties together would have 169 seats. Somar’s Left Alliance, as a partner of the SWP, had 31 mandates, so together both parties would achieve 153 seats. Overall, turnout was around 70 percent, up 3.5 percentage points from the previous election.

Better chances for Sanchez

Sanchez said Spain’s far-right and far-right extremists were “defeated” in the election, after almost all the votes were counted in front of his supporters in Madrid. “The backward bloc, which wanted to undo all the progress made in the past four years, has failed,” the socialist said, referring to the lack of a parliamentary majority for a possible alliance between the People’s Party and the Vox party. “There are more people who want Spain to move forward than there are those who want to go backwards,” said the PSOE president.

Meanwhile, PP chairman Feijóo declared victory to himself. He said the People’s Party “won the elections”. He reiterated his intention to “form the government.” He urged the socialists not to “obstruct” such a government.

Both camps rely on the support of small parties to form a government. But Sanchez is off to a better start. It was judged to have a better chance of gaining the support of the Basque and Catalan regional parties, on which Vox had a chilling effect.

Two scenarios for Spain

Sanchez was able to assert himself better than many expected: polls predicted a clear shift to the right. Sanchez has ruled for five years, since January 2020 in a minority government with Podemos. Since then, the Left Party has joined Sumar’s coalition.

Political expert Antonio Barroso of the consulting firm Teneo called the Socialists’ performance “a real surprise”. “There are two scenarios,” he told AFP. Either “Sanchez remains in power or there are new elections.”

About 37.5 million Spaniards are invited to elect 350 deputies and 208 senators. “Spain can begin a new era,” Figo said on election day. Sanchez spoke of a “very important” choice for “the world and Europe”. Spain has held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months since July 1st.

Sanchez announced snap parliamentary elections at the end of May after his party suffered a severe defeat in local and regional elections.

(AFP/chk)View comments