The People’s Party (PP) led by Alberto Nuñez Feijoo provisionally holds 131 seats and the Socialist Party (PSOE) 128, according to state television RTVE.
(Photo: dpa)
madrid Judging by the mid-term results, the performance of the left and right camps in the Spanish parliamentary elections has been surprising. The opposition conservative People’s Party (PP) drew close with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Socialist Party (PSOE) on Sunday night after more than 67 percent of the votes were counted.
The People’s Party (PP) led by Alberto Nuñez Feijoo provisionally holds 131 seats and the Socialist Party (PSOE) 128, according to state television RTVE. According to interim results, the left-wing Sumar Rally movement received 30 mandates. To get an outright majority in the 350-seat House of Representatives, 176 seats are needed.
Even the right-wing populist party Vox, which had 33 seats, was not enough to give Feijoo’s BJP enough votes, according to the interim results. Like its partner parties in Hungary and Poland, Vox has a very unique understanding of the rule of law. She is also Eurosceptic and has called for exploiting prestige left-wing projects in social affairs, protecting minorities and the environment, and fighting separatists.
In some areas, PP and Vox already rule together. In Spain, a “grand union” is unthinkable. Fejo has repeatedly stressed that Sanchez does not even want to tolerate a PPP minority government, so he has “no choice” but to talk to Vox.
A poll conducted by GAD3 for media group Mediaset, based on the wishes of 10,000 voters over the past few days, showed PP would win 150 seats and Vox 31. That’s enough for most people. If the PP and Vox form an alliance, it would be the first time a right-wing party has had direct influence over government action since the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975.
The vote was originally scheduled to take place in December. But after the left’s crushing defeat in regional elections in May, Sanchez called for new elections. The socialists at the head of the government are currently in the process of forming a minority government with the leftist Usir Cana Party (UP). UP contested elections in leftist rally Sumar.
Part of the Senate, with the exception of the “Parliament”, the lower house, was up for election on Sunday. In Spain, however, the upper house plays no role in forming the government.
Parliamentary elections are actually scheduled for the end of the year. But Sanchez is leaning toward that approach after the leftist party’s crushing defeat in regional elections on May 28. The left-wing government has repeatedly warned that a right-wing government will undo the social gains made in recent years and set the country back decades. No one cares about her.
more: Spain before the right turn: How dangerous is Vox?