The Spanish extreme right is heading towards its first participation in forming the government since the end of Francisco Franco’s rule, after partial results were shown. for early legislative elections He has a very small lead over the Socialists led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who still has chances to stay in power through the game of alliances.
After just over 95 percent of the ballots were counted, the partial results showed that the Popular Party, led by Alberto Nuñez Viejo, won 136 seats out of 350 in the House of Representatives, and its only ally, the far-right “Vox” party, won 33 seats.
Thus, the Popular Party has strengthened its parliamentary bloc by 43 seats compared to the last elections held in 2019, but it has not reached the threshold of 150 seats that Ficho had set as its goal.
Thus, the outcome of the two parties is limited to 169 seats, a number that does not rise to an absolute majority (176 seats).
On the other hand, the partial results showed that the Socialist Party won 122 seats, and its ally, “Sumar”, the radical leftist, won 31 seats.
Polls had indicated that the Popular Party would be able to form a government through an alliance with the far-right Vox party.
Such a scenario would bring the far right back to power in Spain for the first time since the end of Franco’s dictatorship nearly half a century ago (1975).
After the turnout increased by 2.5% in the middle of the day, it reached 53.12% at four in the afternoon GMT, compared to 56.85% in the 2019 elections, and the decline is explained by voter turnout in the morning hours to avoid the heat.
The percentage does not include 2.47 million voters out of 37.5 million who voted by mail, which is a record number due to the elections being held for the first time at the height of the summer season.
Changing course in Spain.
After casting his vote in central Madrid, Nuñez Fijo, 61, said he hoped Spain would begin a “new era”.
In turn, the head of the Vox party, Santiago Abascal, said he was confident that the elections “will allow a change of course in Spain.”
As for the Socialist Prime Minister Sanchez, he told the press that these elections are “very important (…) for the world and for Europe.”
“This election is the most important for my generation,” declared the outgoing Labor Minister, Yolanda Diaz, leader of the radical left-wing Sumar party and an ally of Sanchez, adding that its outcome “will define the features of the next decade.”
With the European elections scheduled for 2024 approaching, the victory of the right, and perhaps the participation of the far right in governance in the fourth largest economy in the eurozone, after its victory in Italy last year, will be a severe blow to the European left parties.
This will be very symbolic in light of Spain’s current rotating presidency of the European Union.
Fijo was counting on winning 176 seats, which would give him an absolute majority in the House of Representatives, but no poll expected this result.
His only potential partner is the far-right Vox party, which was founded in 2013 as a result of a split in the Popular Party, which currently governs three of Spain’s 17 regions.
“A dangerous setback for the European project”
Fijo did not reveal his intentions regarding Fox, and stated in an interview with the newspaper “El Mundo” Friday, “Two days before the elections, the candidate should not say who he will ally with,” admitting, however, that forming a coalition government with the right-wing nationalist party is “not ideal.”
And Sanchez, who was prompted by the left’s defeat in local elections to call for this early ballot, made the warning of the far-right’s rise to power the centerpiece of his campaign.
The outgoing Prime Minister said in a televised debate on Wednesday that the formation of a coalition government between the Popular Party and Vox “is not only a setback for Spain” in terms of rights, but “a dangerous setback for the European project.”
He believed that the only alternative to such a coalition government is to maintain the current leftist coalition that was formed in 2020 between his Socialist Party and the radical left.
France 24/AFP
#Spanish #legislative #elections #partial #results #show #slight #advance #expense #socialists
2023-07-23 22:06:00
