The 51-year-old Sánchez had to mount a mutiny among rank-and-file Socialists to return to heading his party before he won Spain's only no-confidence vote to oust his PP predecessor in 2018.īut Feijóo would probably trade spots with his rival if he could.įeijóo claimed his right to form government as the most voted party in the election, adding he was "proud" of what his party's first national election victory since 2016. Instead, he stunned his rivals by moving up the vote in hopes of gaining a bigger boost from his supporters.Įven if this goes to a new ballot, Sánchez can add this election night to yet another comeback in his career that has been built around beating the odds. The backward-looking bloc that wanted to undo all that we have done has failed," Sánchez told a jubilant crowd gathered at Socialists' headquarters in Madrid.Īfter his party took a beating in regional and local elections in May, Sánchez could have waited until December to face a national vote. "Spain and all the citizens who have voted have made themselves clear. But Sánchez can likely call on the 31 seats of its junior coalition partner Sumar (Joining Forces) and several smaller forces to at least total more than the sum of the right-wing parties. The Socialists are set to take 122 seats, two more than they had. Even with the 33 seats that the far-right Vox is poised to get and the one seat going to an allied party, the PP would still be seven seats from the absolute majority. With 98% of votes counted, PP is on track for 136 seats. "We won't make Pedro Sánchez PM in exchange for nothing," Míriam Nogueras of Junts said after the results left her party holding the keys to power. If Junts asks for a referendum on independence for northeast Catalonia, that would likely be far too costly a price for Sánchez to play. The divided results has made the hardline Catalan separatist party Junts (Together) emerge as Sánchez's potential kingmaker. The next prime minister only would be voted on once lawmakers are installed in the new Congress of Deputies.īut the chances of Sánchez of picking up the support of 176 lawmakers - the absolute majority in the Madrid-based Lower House of Parliament - needed to form a government are not great either. The closer-than-expected election was likely to produce weeks of political jockeying and uncertainty over the country's future leadership. "I see a deadlock scenario in the Parliament." "It was a Pyrrhic victory for the Popular Party, which is unable to form a government," said political analyst Verónica Fumanal, adding the conservatives will now have to reach out to the far-right, and even then it won't be enough. The bloc that could likely support Sánchez totaled 172 seats the right bloc behind Feijóo, 170. Instead, the party led by candidate Alberto Núñez Feijóo performed below the expectations of most campaign polls.Įven though Sánchez's Socialists finished in second place, they and their allied parties celebrated the outcome as a victory since their combined forces gained slightly more seats than the PP and the far-right. The conservative Popular Party won the elections, but it fell short of its hopes of scoring a much bigger victory and forcing the removal of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. MADRID - Spain appears headed for political gridlock after Sunday's inconclusive national elections left parties on both the right and left without a clear path toward forging a new government.
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