Stopping the extreme right in the Spanish elections

According to the uncertain official results of the anticipated general elections held in Spain, the political parties of the ruling left or the opposition right did not achieve a parliamentary majority to form a government.

In Spain, voters went to the polls yesterday in early general elections to determine the 350-seat parliament, thus the central government. Turnout in the elections, in which approximately 37.5 million voters were registered, was 70 percent.

PARTY AHEAD

The right-wing Popular Party (PP), which won 136 seats, took the lead in the elections. Alberto Núñez Feijoo, who was elected president of the PP almost a year ago, increased the number of seats in his party by 47 compared to the last elections in December 2019.

The Sumar party, which was formed from the alliance of left-wing parties as an alternative to the Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) 122 and its junior partner Unidas Podemos, which has been in power with a minority in parliament for the last 3.5 years, won 31 deputies.

The far-right party Vox, for its part, suffered a huge loss compared to the previous elections, with the number of seats falling from 52 to 33.

Among the parties that operate in Catalonia, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) obtained 7 seats, Union for Catalonia (JxCAT) 7, EH Bildu that operates in the Basque Country 6, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) 5 and the other 3 seats in parliament.

The separatist parties are in a key position

While the total number of seats for PP and Vox in the right-wing bloc remained at 169, the total number of seats for PSOE and Sumar in the left-wing bloc rose to 153. Thus, neither the right-wing nor the left-wing parties reached the 176 deputies needed to form the coalition government.

According to the political cadre formed in the country at the end of the elections, the possibility of forming a government depended on the decisions of the Basque and Catalan separatist parties.

Given that the first party came out of the elections, it is most likely that King Felipe VI entrusts the task of forming a government to PP leader Feijoo, but it seems unlikely that he will succeed. Although Feijoo abstained from the PSOE and asked it to allow him to form a minority government, there are no parties in the current political landscape that support the PP, apart from Vox.

Based on the current results, it seems that the separatist parties operating in the Basque Country and Catalonia, which were harshly criticized by the right during the electoral campaign and even threatened to be shut down by Vox, are returning the left to government. (AA)