IN ITS second general election in six months, Spain has moved much closer to breaking its political deadlock. The big winners in the vote on June 26th were Mariano Rajoy, the prime minister, and his centre-right People’s Party (PP). The PP did not recover the absolute majority it lost in December. But it gained both votes and seats compared with then, winning 33% of the vote (up from 29%) and 137 seats in the 350-member Cortes (parliament).
Mr Rajoy now looks likely to remain prime minister, but at the head of a coalition. “We claim the right to govern,” he told several thousand jubilant supporters.
The biggest losers were the pollsters. They wrongly predicted that Podemos, a radical new left-wing party, would overhaul the centre-left Socialist Party. In the event the Socialists clung on to their position as the largest force on the left, winning 22.7% of the vote and 85 seats (down five). That result is probably enough for Pedro Sánchez, the much-criticised Socialist leader, to keep his job, at least for the time being.
For this election Podemos, which campaigned against austerity and the traditional political class,...Continue reading
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