Spain’s parliamentary elections on Sunday show that the mainstream conservative and socialist parties remain the favourite choices of the electorate even when far-right parties are on the rise in other European countries. The ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), under the leadership of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, sought a fresh mandate based on the government’s performance and promise of economic equity, while the opposition People’s Party (PP) offered pro-business and investment policies. The PP won 136 seats, from 89 in the last election, but fell short of a majority in the 350-member lower House. The far-right, anti-immigrant Vox party, a potential coalition ally of the PP, won 33 seats, down from 52 four years ago. The PSOE, which was expected to be punished by voters, got 122 seats, two more from the last election. But the Socialists’ coalition partner, Sumar, dropped from 38 to 31. Voters supported the Conservatives but not their potential far-right allies; they refused to punish the socialists, but voted down their leftist allies. This fractured mandate has left Spain in a political gridlock, pushing it into prolonged coalition building talks.
Europe has seen a clear shift towards the right. In southern Europe such as Italy and Greece, anti-immigrant and hard-right parties have secured victories in their most recent elections. Elsewhere in the continent, including France, far-right parties with neo-Nazi ties are on the ascent. But Spain’s case has been different. The PSOE went to the polls with a relatively good record. Mr. Sánchez’s government led the country out of the COVID-19 pandemic with an efficient vaccination campaign. When much of Europe was reeling under high inflation, partly due to the Ukraine war and the West’s sanctions on Russia, Mr. Sánchez shielded the economy from the crisis — inflation fell from 10.7% a year ago to 1.6% in June. The Left had also warned the electorate about the possibility of the Vox, whose members include supporters of the late fascist dictator, Francisco Franco, entering the government with the PP — it would have been the first entry of such a party into the government since Spain’s democratic transition in the late 1970s. The PSOE campaign was focused on its achievements and voter apprehension about the far-right’s entry seems to have helped the party avert the rout that most opinion polls had predicted. Given that no bloc has a clear majority, the focus is on the smaller regional parties, including the pro-independence ones in Catalonia and the Basque region. This gives Mr. Sánchez an edge in coalition building talks as he has a record of cooperating with regional parties.
