The conservative PP party is now the largest in parliament as a result of a substantial decline in support for the far-right, but it would be challenging to create a coalition.
The Socialists in power under Pedro Sánchez performed better than anticipated, but they still have a difficult time putting together a new coalition.
Another vote appears to be all but certain. However, this one did provide some unexpected effects; here are four things we discovered.
The far-right Vox party’s potential surge and admission into a coalition with the conservative People’s Party (PP) dominated all pre-election headlines.In the end, it received 500,000 less votes than in 2019.
The underwhelming result caught everyone off guard, especially given its impressive success in the local elections in May. Santiago Abascal, the leader of Vox, assigned at least some of the blame to the PP, claiming that it had been too triumphant in its right-wing advocacy.
He informed his fans, “They sold the bear’s skin before they even hunted it.” That is unmistakably the cause of the absence of voter mobilization.
Vox no longer meets the requirement to file legislative appeals before the constitutional court with only 33 seats, down from 52 in 2019.
Vox has flooded the court in recent years with appeals against laws passed by the Sánchez administration, including those pertaining to transgender rights, a bill legalizing euthanasia, and even the use of the state of emergency during the pandemic.
It is no longer equipped with this potent instrument for grabbing attention.
Alberto Nez Feijóo, the leader of the PP, is known for winning elections; in his own Galicia, he won four consecutive majorities.He may now add to that a victory in the general election, in which his party obtained 47 more seats than in 2019. But the PP fell short of a clear majority, and any potential coalition partners fell short of winning enough votes to make up the difference.
In the final week before the election, he rejected to participate in a televised debate, was questioned about false pension claims, and came under fire for his friendship with a drug dealer in the 1990s.
While the PP and Vox were negotiating the creation of numerous municipal administrations, the election was simultaneously going on. The left had the perfect opportunity to warn voters of a recurrence at the national level, which would have been detrimental to minority rights.
That may have frightened moderate right-wing voters while energizing the left.
Despite finishing in second place, Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez perceived this as a victory considering the low expectations that had been placed on him following a dismal showing in the May local elections.
With two additional seats, his party only trailed the PP by 14 seats overall. According to the outcome, the right will apparently be unable to form a government and Sánchez will remain in office for at least a few more months, which will be enough time for Spain to complete its term as the rotating EU presidency.
Throughout his relatively brief career in frontline politics, the 51-year-old has frequently overcome obstacles:
After being forcibly deposed, he regained control of his own party’s leadership in 2016.
He was appointed prime minister in 2018 after Mariano Rajoy was the target of a no-confidence move that few anticipated would succeed.
Through a pandemic, he maintained the first coalition government of contemporary Spain.
Add that to achieving an improbable election outcome that appears to be a win.
Six years have passed since Catalan secessionists attempted to leave Spain. The situation is still a thorn in the side of American politics.Because of his reliance on and accommodations to Catalan and Basque nationalist parties, Mr. Sánchez has become a target of right-wing vitriol and has dominated much of the campaign.
But now that the outcome has been finalized, the same parties may be crucial to the formation of a new left-wing government.
For Mr. Sánchez, the issue is that one of them is the ardently secessionist Together for Catalonia (Junts), a Catalan party, which has called this outcome “a window of opportunity” to achieve secession.
It is demanding a Scottish-style referendum on independence in exchange for any legislative cooperation, a concession that Mr. Sánchez has indicated he will never make. The self-exiled former Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont serves as its public face.
If that is the case, another election may be coming up in Spain.
Share your thoughts