ELECTION night in Spain on December 20th ended with a disturbingly messy result. Neither the incumbent prime minister Mariano Rajoy, whose conservative People's party (PP) lost 43 of its 186 seats, nor the Socialists (PSOE) of Pedro Sanchez can form a government without the help of the new insurgents of anti-austerity Podemos or the new liberal party, Ciudadanos. Even that may not be enough. As many as five parties may be needed to form a new government.
That will not happen in a hurry. Mr Rajoy will try first but will probably fail when he puts his candidacy to the vote in parliament, where his party made many enemies during its four years with an absolute majority. After that, Mr Sanchez has two months to form a government. If he also fails, then new elections must be called. With the 2016 budget already in place, that is not as terrible as it sounds—but a vote for change may yet produce months of stagnation.
Sunday’s results confirmed the demise of Spain’s two-party system. PP and the Socialists took just 50% of the vote between them, down from 73% four years ago. The new insurgent parties are not yet strong enough to replace...Continue reading
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