Spain in political deadlock after inconclusive national election

Spain is in 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.

The conservative Popular Party (PP) 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.

Instead, the party led by candidate Alberto Núñez Feijóo performed below the expectations of most campaign polls.

Even though Mr Sánchez’s Socialists finished second, 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 bloc that could likely support Mr Sánchez totaled 172 seats, while the right bloc behind Mr Feijóo came in at 170.

The closer-than-expected outcome was likely to produce weeks of political jockeying and uncertainty over the country's future leadership.

But the PP insisted it could not be denied its shot at forming a government.

“Nobody would understand it now if (other parties) all came together to prevent the party that won the elections from becoming the government,” the PP’s deputy secretary Miguel Tellado told public broadcaster RTVE on Monday.

With all votes counted, the PP collected 136 seats of the 350 up for grabs - but even with the 33 seats that the far-right party Vox got and the one seat going to an allied party, the PP was still seven seats short of a majority.

The Socialists gathered 122 seats, two more than they previously held.

Mr Sánchez could likely call on the 31 seats of its junior coalition partner Sumar (Joining Forces) and several smaller parties to at least total more than the sum of the right-wing parties.

But, this also would fall four short of a majority unless Catalan separatist party Junts (Together) joined them.

“Spain and all the citizens who have voted have made themselves clear," Mr Sánchez told a jubilant crowd gathered at Socialists’ headquarters in Madrid.

"The backward-looking bloc that wanted to undo all that we have done has failed."

Mr Sánchez put together Spain’s first ever coalition government, which took power in January 2020.

The next prime minister would only be voted on once lawmakers are installed in the new Congress of Deputies.

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