Spaniards angry with 21 percent unemployment and seemingly endless corruption cases are voting in an historic national election – and the country’s traditional two-party political system may be broken up in this vote by strong showings for two new upstart parties. The result was so blurred that a German government spokeswoman said it was impossible to determine who deserved congratulations.
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Spain’s opposition Socialist party has said it will vote against having acting PM Mariano Rajoy form a new government, killing one of his options to stay in power after voters elected a fragmented parliament.
Newcomers anti-austerity Podemos and liberal Ciudadanos made big gains, coming third and fourth respectively, ending a decades-long two-party political system and ushering in a new and potentially volatile era of compromise politics.
ReutersPodemos (We Can) party leader Pablo Iglesias gestures to supporters after results were announced in Spain’s general election in Madrid, Spain, December 21, 2015.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told cheering supporters shortly after midnight Monday that he would try to form a government but didn’t provide any details of how he might accomplish that goal.
“But otherwise, I don’t yet see so clearly who one can congratulate in this situation”, Wirtz said, adding that no one from Germany’s government had contacted Spanish officials about the formation of a new government.
“Reaching a deal between the Socialists, Ciudadanos and Podemos is not going to be straightforward….”
Analysts stated the result will make it extraordinarily troublesome for the Popular Party bash to form a coalition or get voted in to parliament as a minority authorities since it doesn’t get sufficient seats by allying exclusively with Ciudadanos, its closest attainable ideological partner. But Sunday evening’s result brings with it uncertainty.
Many commentators have declared that the era of two-party politics in Spain has ended. Without a clear majority, it remains unclear who and how Spain will be governed.
Voter participation was 57.7 percent at the same time during Spain’s 2011 general election. “We have to wait”. “Other than that, we have said all throughout the campaign that we will discuss with different parties that have objectives similar to us”.
Spain’s political scene is traditionally dominated by the Conservatives and the Socialists – they have alternated power for more than 30 years.
“My worst fear is a union of all of the leftists”, she said. “Neither scenario is ideal for a country that is still looking to consolidate a much-awaited economic recovery”.
Going forward, King Felipe VI, the head of state, will nominate a prime minister after holding talks with the leaders of each party that has won seats in parliament.
Even then, it would mean forming a coalition with one of the separatist parties from Catalonia or from the Basque Country – something which seems unlikely after Rajoy’s recent legal fight against the Catalan independence movement.
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Rajoy’s People’s Party lost a third of its lawmakers even as it beat out the Socialists to take the most votes and earn the first shot at forging a government.
