According to forecasts, Spain’s left-wing government will be voted out of office in the early parliamentary elections, and the conservative opposition will clearly prevail. Are right-wing populists now also moving into the government palace?
The opposition conservative People’s Party PP is on the verge of success in the early parliamentary elections in Spain. After counting a good 80 percent of the votes, the PP of top candidate Alberto Núñez Feijóo was in first place with 132 seats in the evening, ahead of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists (PSOE) with 125, as the electoral authority announced.
However, the race initially turned out to be closer than surveys and forecasts had predicted. Four years ago, the PP only got 89 seats, while the PSOE had 120 MPs.
As they are likely to miss out on an absolute majority (176 seats), the Conservatives may need to work with the right-wing populists from Vox when trying to form a government. They were initially in third place with 33 seats, ahead of the newly formed electoral alliance Sumar (31).
Will there be a political blockade?
Due to the relatively even race, observers on the state TV broadcaster RTVE warned of the possibility of a new “bloqueo”, a political blockade with months of negotiations to form a government, as Spain experienced twice in a row after the parliamentary elections of 2015 and 2019. In each case, a further vote was necessary.
On Sunday, parts of the Senate were re-elected in addition to the lower house “Congreso de los Diputados”. In Spain, however, the upper house plays no role in forming a government. The parliamentary elections were actually only planned for the end of the year. But Sánchez preferred it after the debacle of the left parties in the May 28 regional elections. The left-wing government repeatedly warned that a right-wing government would undo the social gains of recent years and set the country back decades.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
