Spain’s ruling Popular Party won the most seats during general elections on Sunday but lost its parliamentary majority and must now form a governing coalition.
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Prime Minster Mariano Rajoy’s PP is projected to win between 114 and 124 seats in the 350-member parliament, exit polls cited by Reuters show.
Throughout the campaign, commentators have suggested that the PP – always the favourite to emerge as the strongest single party – could overcome a hung parliament by striking a deal with the new centrist party Ciudadanos, which collected 15.2 per cent of the vote. “The two-party system has ended”. Once the session begins lawmakers have two months to elect a government.
As leader of the biggest party in Congress, Mr Rajoy will be asked by the king to form a government.
CENTRE-RIGHT PACT BETWEEN THE PP AND CIUDADANOS Such a pact would fall far short of the 176 seats needed for an absolute majority, totalling 163 seats.
“This result confirms Spain has entered an era of political fragmentation”, said Teneo Intelligence analyst Antonio Barroso.
The Socialists shared 22 percent votes to 90 seats, while Podemos won 69 seats and shared 20.6 percent of votes.
However, the likelihood of a PP-led coalition faded with the robust showing of Podemos who roared into third place, outpacing fellow newcomer Ciudadanos whose market-friendly policies had been seen as a natural fit for the PP.
The polls cap a year of electoral change in southern Europe after Syriza was swept to power in Greece in January and a coalition of leftist parties in Portugal pooled their votes in parliament to unseat the conservative government after an inconclusive election in October. To end the era of the two party system by conservatives and Socialists (PSOE).
Rajoy recognized his party had taken “some hard and even unpopular decisions” over the past four years.
The PP could allegedly need more than just Ciudadanos’ 40 seats to join their 122, as both parties together did not garner enough votes. He’s asking voters not to put the economic recovery at risk and has warned of the dangers of a pact between Podemos and the Socialists.
“It’s clear that parties will have to negotiate and forming a government could be pretty complicated”.
The pony-tailed Pablo Iglesias says Spain “is going through a new transition” as his party and another new upstart political party seek to take votes away from the nation’s traditional Popular Party and Socialist Party, which have dominated Spanish politics for more than three decades. Voting was brisk yesterday. Rajoy has boasted about his handling of the economy, done his best to skirt the corruption minefield and has vowed to halt the independence push. The Socialists also could ally with Podemos and smaller regional parties that won only a few seats – omitting Ciudadanos.
Rajoy’s administration has also been hurt by his U-turn on a promise not to raise taxes and by cuts to national health care and public education. The 60-year-old incumbent was leading the PP into an election for the fourth time. “The chances that we will have a stable government that can last four years are quite limited”, he added. Spanish political parties and leaders will have to discover a new language of negotiation, agreement and accommodation. Podemos, or We Can in English, was born from massive Madrid street protests in 2011 that drew mainly young Spaniards tired of corruption.
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Ciudadanos has the eloquent, media-savvy Albert Rivera as its leader.
