The Socialist Party wins the elections in Spain, although it loses support

USPA NEWS - It was feared that the legislative elections held this Sunday in Spain - the fourth in the last four years - did not serve to unlock the political situation in the country and this has happened. The Socialist Party won the elections, although with worse results than in April, while the conservative Popular Party was in second position. But the highlight of the election day was the significant rise of the extreme right represented in Vox, which doubled its previous results and ranks as the third political force in the Spanish Parliament, and the debacle suffered by the centrist Citizens, who lost almost half hundred deputies to get ten.

For the Socialist Party, as recognized by its leaders, the result obtained (120 deputies) represents a failure, since it loses three deputies and does not get a sufficient majority to govern without support. The Socialist candidate and acting Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, assured during the days before the election day that the possibility of governing in coalition with the extreme left represented in Podemos did not let him sleep. And, as in the worst nightmares, if he want to govern he will need the support of Podemos, which obtained 35 deputies, and Catalan independence parties.

Because, from the political right, the Popular Party obtained 88 deputies (22 more than in April) and Vox achieved 52 deputies (28 more than in April). Between the two they form a sufficient minority to block the formation of a leftist government. The 10 deputies of the centrist Citizens could join a center-right agreement to form a solid block of 149 deputies. The deputy of the Cantabria Regionalist Party and the two deputies of the Canary Coalition could also be added.

The election day left other headlines: the victory of the Republican left of Catalonia (ERC in its acronym in Catalan), which won 13 deputies, and the entry into the Spanish Parliament of the coalition of the extreme leftist independence of Catalonia CUP, with two deputies. Together for Catalonia (JxCAT in its acronym in Catalan), another independentist formation, obtained eight deputies. The Basque nationalists (PNV in its acronym in Spanish) got 7 deputies, while the heir formation of the political arm of the terrorist organization ETA, EH-Bildu, achieved 5 deputies. For its part, the Galician Nationalist Block returns to the Spanish Parliament with a deputy.

First reactions

For the Spanish socialists, the election result this Sunday is a failure. The left-wing coalition Podemos also loses parliamentary weight. Among the winners, satisfaction in the ranks of the conservative Popular Party and, above all, among the militants and supporters of the formation of the extreme right Vox, which becomes the third force of Parliament. This Monday, all the political parties that have attended the polls will analyze the results and will probe the possibilities of pact that allow the formation of Government, in the case of the Socialists, or that of being a credible alternative in the case of the right-wing parties. Nobody wants a new election within six months, although the possibility of unlocking the Spanish political situation seems far away.