Spain Facing Political Deadlock Following Conservative Electoral Gains By Phillip Howard

Conservatives in Spain recently doubled their number of Parliament seats following Sunday’s election, while falling short of being able to form a coalition government. The conservative Popular Party (PP) and the far-right Vox party won 88 seats and 54 seats, respectively. The Socialist Party won 120 out of the 350 seats.  

Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hoped that holding a snap election after the April election would give him an advantage in trying to form a ruling government. The Socialists lost three seats this week. Sanchez called for all the political parties “to act with generosity and responsibility in order to unblock the political situation in Spain.”

Spain’s Socialists still face a tough road to forming a government with growing far-right sentiment and unrest in the Catalan region. Albert Rivera, the leader of the Ciudadanos party, said “Spaniards have wanted more Sanchez for this legislature, but Spaniards have also wanted more Vox and less of the political center.” Rivera subsequently resigned as party leader after winning just 10 seats this week, down from the 57 they held in April.

Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, said yesterday’s election was “a patriotic alternative and a social alternative had been consolidated in Spain that demands national unity and the restoration of constitutional order in Catalonia.” Vox was supported heavily by the Catalonians.

The Socialists need 176 seats in order to hold a majority, which will be difficult to attain. Socialists have won all four general elections in four years and rejected the prospect of again going to the polls.

Phillip Howard is a graduate student at Utica College