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Spanish election: deadlock remains with no clear majority in sight Spanish election: deadlock remains with no clear majority in sight
(about 1 hour later)
Neither left nor right bloc likely to win clear majority, amid strong gains for far-right Vox party Socialist party wins election, but poll fails to ease political impasse amid far-right gains
Spain’s ruling socialist party is once again on course to finish first in the country’s fourth general election in as many years, with the far-right Vox party set to vault into third place in the repeat poll. Spain’s ruling socialist party has won the country’s fourth general election in as many years but once again failed to secure a majority in a vote in which the far-right Vox party vaulted into third place and the centre-right Citizens party suffer a humiliating collapse.
The Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE), led by the acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is again expected to fall well short of a majority and perhaps lose some of its 123 seats. The Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE), led by the acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, won 120 seats, three fewer than in April’s inconclusive election.
With more than half the votes counted at 9.40pm, the PSOE was on 124 seats and the conservative People’s party (PP) on 85. The conservative People’s party (PP) rallied after its dismal showing last time, winning 87 seats, while Vox finished third as its seat count more than doubled from 24 to 52.
Fourth place was predicted to go to the anti-austerity Unidas Podemos with 35 seats, while the centre-right Citizens party seemed headed for a disastrous dip with only 10 seats. The anti-austerity Unidas Podemos came fourth with 35 seats, followed by the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left with 13 seats. Citizens slumped to fifth place as the 57 seats it picked up seven months ago dwindled to just 10.
A large tracking poll conducted for the public broadcaster RTVE between 25 October and 10 November suggested the PSOE would win 114-119 seats, the PP 85-90 seats, Vox 56-59 seats, Unidas Podemos 30-34 and Citizens 14-15 seats. Frustration and apathy appeared to have affected turnout, with participation dropping from 75.5% in April to 69.9%.
That would give the three rightwing parties between 155 and 164 seats – making them the largest bloc in congress – and leave the PSOE, Unidas Podemos and the breakaway Más País (More Country) party 147 to 156 seats. The result suggests Spain is no closer to ending its impasse and is again bound for months of negotiations and horse-trading to try to assemble a government at a time of unprecedented political fragmentation.
That poll – and others released after voting ended at 8pm local time – suggest that Spain is no closer to ending the impasse and is once again bound for months of negotiations and horse-trading to try to assemble a government at a time of unprecedented political fragmentation. Sánchez said he intended to form a progressive government and urged his rivals and opponents not to stand in his way. “I’d like to make a call for the rest of the political parties to act generously and responsibly to unblock the political situation in Spain,” he said on Sunday night. “The PSOE will also act generously and responsibly to unblock it.”
The PSOE was unable to form a government with the backing of Unidas Podemos last time, and Citizens – which firmly ruled out helping Sánchez back into power in April – now looks willing but far too weak to play the role of kingmaker. The PP leader, Pablo Casado, said the ball was now firmly in Sánchez’s court. “We’ll see what Pedro Sánchez suggests and then we’ll fulfil our responsibility because Spain can’t carry on being deadlocked,” he said.
The repeat election comes amid renewed tensions between the central government and the separatist regional government of Catalonia. Vox’s leader, Santiago Abascal, told jubilant supporters that his anti-immigrant party would not let them down. “We have led a cultural and political change because we have opened up all the forbidden debates and told the left that the story isn’t over yet and that they don’t have any moral superiority” he said.
In the middle of October, Spain’s supreme court jailed nine Catalan separatist leaders for sedition over their roles in the failed push for independence two years ago. He was swiftly congratulated by fellow far-right European politicians including France’s Marine Le Pen, Italy’s Matteo Salvini and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders.
The verdict provoked violent unrest in Catalonia and prompted rightwing Spanish parties to call for a tough response from Sánchez, whom they routinely accuse of being too soft on the separatists. Pablo Iglesias, the leader of Unidas Podemos, who has offered to help Sánchez back into office, said the repeat election had served “to reinforce the right and to give us one of the most powerful extreme right in Europe”.
The re-eruption of the Catalan crisis has fuelled the rise of Vox, which favours a radical recentralisation of Spain. Polls had repeatedly suggested that the party, which entered the national parliament for the first time in April – winning 24 seats – could finish third in Sunday’s election. Albert Rivera, the Citizens leader once touted as the poster boy of centrist Spanish politics, hinted that he might step down following his party’s pitiful results. “I want to be honest with the Spanish people,” he said. “There’s no excuse and now way to soften the bad result we had today.” He said he would hold a meeting with the party’s executive committee on Monday morning.
Vox’s leader, Santiago Abascal, wants to ban separatist parties and has called for “drastic solutions” to what he calls the “national emergency” in Catalonia. Iñigo Errejón, the former Podemos politician who now leads the new party Más País (More Country), said a progressive government was a “moral obligation” as the party won three seats in congress. “We can’t have a third election,” he said. “This repeat election is a warning about what happens when personal interests are put before national interests.”
As the votes are counted, Sánchez will be hoping that leftwing voters will once again rally in the face of a resurgent far right. Sunday’s election was triggered when the PSOE failed to find viable support for a new administration after its victory in April. The socialists were unable to reach an agreement with Unidas Podemos, while Rivera flatly refused to do anything to facilitate Sánchez’s return to office.
“On Sunday, we democrats have a foolproof weapon for curbing the far right, for breaking the deadlock, for building on rights and freedom, for securing the future and for ensuring that Spain moves forward without leaving anyone behind,” he wrote on Twitter. “Our vote.” The poll results came against a backdrop of renewed tensions between the central government and the separatist regional government of Catalonia, as well as growing concern over the economy.
Frustration and apathy are expected to hit turnout as many Spaniards decide to shun the ballot box. Early estimates suggested a turnout of 68.05%. Spain’s unemployment figures rose by almost 100,000 last month and the European commission has revised the country’s growth forecast down from 2.3% to 1.9% for this year, and from 1.9% to 1.5% for 2020.
In April, turnout reached 75.5% – well up from the 69.8% of voters who went to the polls in June 2016. In the middle of October, Spain’s supreme court jailed nine Catalan separatist leaders for sedition over their roles in the failed push for independence two years ago. The verdict provoked violent unrest in Catalonia and prompted rightwing Spanish parties to call for a tough response from Sánchez, whom they routinely accuse of being too soft on the separatists.
The election comes amid growing concern over the economy. Spain’s unemployment figures rose by almost 100,000 last month, and the European commission has revised the country’s growth forecast down from 2.3% to 1.9% for this year, and from 1.9% to 1.5% for 2020. The re-eruption of the Catalan crisis has helped fuel the rise of Vox, which favours a radical recentralisation of Spain.
Pablo Iglesias, who leads Podemos, again offered his support to help the PSOE govern, saying their recent disagreements were now in the past. The Catalan Republican Left hailed their showing on Sunday night as proof that the independence movement had responded to the sentence in “the only way it knows” – at the ballot box. It once again narrowly beat the Catalan socialists into second place in the region. The far-left, pro-independence Catalan CUP party picked up its first two seats in the national parliament.
“We’re reaching out our hand to the socialist party,” he said. “We’re leaving behind the reproaches so we can combine their experience and our courage.”
The PP leader, Pablo Casado, called for a “massive turnout … to try to guarantee political stability”, while Citizens leader, Albert Rivera, urged everyone to vote.
Abascal said he hoped the election results would “serve to strengthen the unity of Spain, the freedom of Spaniards and national harmony”.
Iñigo Errejón, the leader of Más País, said he hoped Sunday’s vote would head off the need for yet another election, but added: “We can’t rule it out, though.”