The opposition conservative People’s Party (PP) is poised to succeed in Spain’s parliamentary elections, but cannot count on an absolute majority. It is unclear whether PP leader Feijóo would succeed in forming a government.
According to projections, the conservative opposition People’s Party (PP) won the parliamentary elections in Spain, but clearly missed an absolute majority. The previous head of government, Pedro Sánchez, came second with his socialist PSOE.
According to the projections, which are based on the counting of a good 83 percent of the votes, the PP can hope for 135 seats in parliament in Madrid. The right-wing populist Vox would have to accept losses and would only get 33 seats. However, it is likely to increase its political influence significantly if it works with the PP. Whether the two parties together would achieve an absolute majority of 176 seats is still unclear.
It is still unclear whether PP election winner Alberto Núñez Feijóo would succeed in forming a government. The Vox party, with which Núñez Feijóo has not ruled out cooperation, has already made it clear that it wants to be in government. You will not “give away” your own votes, warned Vox Secretary General Ignacio Garriga.
No government formation without a coalition
The PSOE came in second with 123 seats. Its partner, the newly founded electoral alliance Sumar, came in fourth with 31 seats. Should the PP and Vox miss out on an absolute majority, they would need the support, or at least the toleration, of smaller parties. This is unlikely given the opposition from other parties to the right-wing populists.
Like partner parties in Hungary and Poland, Vox has a very unique understanding of the rule of law. She is Eurosceptic and calls for cashing in on prestige left-wing projects in the areas of social affairs, the protection of minorities and the environment, and for cracking down on separatists. In some regions, PP and Vox already rule together. If the PP and Vox were to form an alliance, it would be the first time since the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975 that a right-wing party would have direct influence on government action.
Sanchez has ruled since 2018
The election was originally scheduled for December. Sanchez called new elections in late May after his party suffered a defeat in local and regional elections in May.
The PSOE has ruled Spain since 2018. Sanchez was the first politician in the country to overthrow an incumbent government by a motion of no confidence. Since January 2020 he has governed in a minority coalition with the left-wing Podemos party, which emerged from the protest movement against austerity policies.
A total of 37.4 million Spaniards were called to vote. At 4:00 p.m., voter turnout was 53.12 percent, which was almost four percentage points less than in the previous parliamentary election in 2019. However, the 2.47 million postal voters were not yet included in the voter turnout now mentioned. This number of postal voters is a record. It is due to the fact that the election was held for the first time in the middle of summer.