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Center Right Wins Spain Elections

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

MADRID (Worthy News) – The center-right Popular Party (PP) beat Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists in Spain’s parliamentary elections. Still, it will need several junior parties to govern, official results showed. The outcome of Sunday’s vote was likely to spark weeks of political uncertainty in the European Union nation, analysts said.

Even though Sánchez’s Socialists finished in second place, they and their allied parties celebrated the outcome like a victory as their combined forces gained slightly more seats than the PP and the far-right.

The bloc that could likely support Sánchez totaled 172 seats; the right bloc behind PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo 170, results showed.

Yet Feijóo said he was “very proud” in a speech at party headquarters as his party’s vote share increased from 21 percent to 33 percent.

Despite a party-like atmosphere at the PP headquarters, opposition party supporters admitted they had expected a clearer victory.

The mainstream PP still hoped its first national victory since 2016 could unseat Sánchez. But it may need the help of far-right Vox to do so, analysts warned.

Such a coalition would return a far-right force to the Spanish government for the first time since the country transitioned to democracy in the late 1970s following the nearly 40-year rule of dictator Francisco Franco.

GOVERNING TOGETHER

The Popular Party and Vox agreed to govern together in some 140 cities and towns since May, as well as to add two more regions to the one where they already co-governed.

Feijóo has not ruled out a partnership at the national level.

Led by former PP member Santiago Abascal, 47, Vox opposes abortion rights, denies climate change, and rejects the need for government to “combat gender violence.”

A PP-Vox government would mean another EU member has moved firmly to the right, a trend seen recently in Sweden, Finland, and Italy.

Countries like Germany and France worry that such a shift undermines the EU immigration and climate policies.

Spain’s two main leftist parties are pro-EU. On the right, the PP also favors the 27-nation bloc, but Vox is not.

The next prime minister only would be voted on once lawmakers are installed in the new Congress of Deputies.

POLITICAL FUTURE

Sunday’s voting came earlier than expected.

Sánchez called the early election a day after his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and its small far-left coalition partner, Unidas Podemos (United We Can), experienced significant losses in local and regional elections on May 28.

Previously Sánchez insisted he would serve out his four-year term, suggesting that an election would be held in December.

But after the May defeat, he said it was only fair for Spaniards to decide the country’s political future without delay.

The election comes as Spain holds the EU’s rotating presidency. Sánchez had hoped to use the six-month term to showcase his government’s advances.

However, Sánchez could still see the PP taking over the EU presidency reins, though the prime minister appeared confident he could lead Spain for another four years.