Right-wingers win Spanish elections, but lack majority to form government

(Patria) - The conservative People's Party (PP) is the winner of the Spanish parliamentary elections, but without a clear majority to form a new government, Spanish media reported.

The PP won 136 seats out of a total of 350 in parliament. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists won 122. The far-right Vox party won 33, and the far-left Sumar won 31.

Before the elections, a possible right-wing coalition was predicted, which would have overthrown Sanchez's government. However, smaller parties, primarily those from Catalonia and the Basque Country, hold the control mechanism for forming a government. Two Catalan parties won seven seats each, and two Basque parties won 6 and 5 seats respectively. One seat each will go to parties from Galicia, the Canary Islands, and Navarre.

All these parties have strong regional and national characteristics, except for the party from the Canary Islands, which is clearly oriented towards Madrid and regional autonomy.

After the elections, Sanchez can be satisfied, because together with his current partners from the Sumar coalition, he has some chances to gather the aforementioned smaller parties. The PP and Vox almost certainly do not have this possibility, as Catalan and Basque parties have stated they do not want to be in power with Vox, which has rejected the possibility of a coalition with them.

The conservative daily El Mundo writes that PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo achieved a "bitter victory," and its Monday edition's front page features an article titled "Puigdemont can make Sanchez prime minister."

As a reminder, Carles Puigdemont is a fugitive Catalan nationalist and separatist.

However, Spanish analysts warn that a coalition agreement may not be reached, and Spaniards may go to the polls again. Voter turnout in these elections was 70.4 percent.