Pedro Sanchez tells PSOE supporters the party has won a clear victory and assures those urging him not to cooperate with the conservative People’s party that “this time, yes, we will have a progressive government”.
He called on all the country’s other parties to be “generous” in helping to break the gridlock, and promised the PSOE would be too. It might be easier said than done.
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The leading dailyEl Pais sums up the results of a votethat was meant to break the deadlock in which Spanish politics has found itself since the last one seven months ago:
A poll that was meant to unblock the political situation inSpainhas served only to complicate it, with losses for the left, a recovery for the PP and a huge boost for the far-right
Pablo Casado, leader of the center-right People’s party which made good much of the losses it suffered in April’s election, has also appeared before party supporters:
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We have shown that we are strong, and that we will continue to serve the Spanish people. Sánchez has lost his gamble. We are going to see what propositions he puts forward, and then we will exercise our responsibility – this political gridlock inSpaincan no longer continue.
Albert Rivera, whose liberal Citizens party has lost 47 of its 57 deputies, says Spain had voted to “validate the PSOE’s victory.Spainwanted more Sanchez, but also more Vox – and less of the center. ”
Rivera added that his future was in the hands of the party’s members:
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What we got today was an unmitigated bad result – with no excuses. Given these bad results I believe that as leader it is my duty to call an urgent extraordinary meeting of the party executive.
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So what coalitions might be theoretically possible to form a majority government in Spain’s seemingly intractably hung parliament? El Pais columnist Jorge Galindo lists some of the options here – while noting that they may be mathematically feasible, but politically, probably not so much …
Center left wins, far right surges – but Spain’s politics remain deadlocked
With more than 99% of votes now counted, the center-left PSOE party of prime minister Petro Sánchez remains Spain’s largest party after the country fourth general election in as many years – but his left bloc has fallen well short of the 176 seats needed for a majority in parliament.
Despite the far-right, anti-immigration Vox party more than doubling its previous score and the conservative People’s party making sizeable gains, the right, too, was left without enough seats to form a government after the liberal Citizens party was all but wiped out.
Having been ruled since April’s inconclusive poll by Sánchez’s caretaker administration, which failed to forge a coalition with either Citizens or the anti-austerity Podemos, the country now faces many more weeks – or months – of political deadlock and uncertainty.
The major national parties ’final scores, compared with their tallies in April’s elections, were as follows:
Left (Seats)
PSOE: (down 3)
Podemos: 35 (down 7)Mas Pais: 2
Right 149 Seats
PP: 87 (up 21)
Vox: 52 (up 28)
Citizens: () down 47)
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The far-right Vox party’s leader, Santiago Abascal, is currently addressing crowds of supporters after its leap from 24 parliamentary seats to 52, making it the country’s third largest party.
“Let’s go get them!” The party’s supporters roar, as Abascal put its performance down to the fact it had “led a cultural and political change by opening up all the forbidden debates and told the left that the story isn’t over yet. ”
Abascal added: “They don’t have any moral superiority, and we have the same right to defend our ideas without being stigmatized and insulted as we still are by the media.”
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Not to be outdone, Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-right League party, has also congratulated Vox, adding:
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I bet the headlines are already ready – “extreme right-wing victory, racists, sovereignists, fascists …” Not at all racism and fascism, in Italy as inSpainwe just want to live peacefully in our own home.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far right National Rally, has congratulated Vox and its leader Santiago Abascal for the party’s “spectacular advance”:
Since its return to democracy in 1975, Spain had been considered immune to the advance of the populist, anti-immigrant and far-right parties that have seen such electoral success in much of continentalEurope.
Respected El Pais columnist Jorge Galindo says that era has now come to an end: the 10 November elections “confirm the end of the Spanish exception in Europe: the Vox vote is already similar to that of the far right in Austria or the Netherlands”, he says .
More than half votes counted
With more than 50% of votes counted, it looks like a pretty good night for the center-left PSOE; a very good one for the center right PP; a spectacular one for the far-right Vox; a disappointing one for the anti-austerity Podemos and a truly dreadful one for the liberal Citizens.
But above all, nether left the left nor the right bloc are anywhere near an absolute majority in the 350 -seat parliament.Guardian is now running live result updates which you can follow here.
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Here’sSpainand Latin America specialist Michael Reid of the Economist with his view of the results so far:
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Results are now starting to come in – andSpain counts votes fast …
With nearly 23% of votes counted, the parties’ scores and seats in The 350 – seat parliament look like this:
PSOE (center left) 2%: 121 Seats
PP (conservative) 4%: 81 Seats
VOX (far right) 6%: 46 Seats
Podemos (anti-austerity) 12 .4%: 32 Seats
Citizens (liberal) 35 .6%: 10 Seats
Mas Pais (breakaway left) 1. (6) %: three seats
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