MADRID: No one party or bloc would win an outright majority in Spain’s snap general election, according to preliminary results with 50 per cent of votes counted on Sunday, and the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) slightly ahead for parliamentary seats at 131.

The conservative Peoples Party was just behind at 130 seats.

The early count does not necessarily reflect the final outcome as it comes primarily from small towns. Voter surveys earlier showed the PP ahead, although short of a working majority in the 350-seat lower house, which it could achieve via a potential tie-up with far-right Vox.

The preliminary data put Vox on 31 seats. Far-left Sumar was on 30 seats.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the election early after the left took a drubbing in local elections in May.

Both the left and right blocs have the potential to form coalitions, which will need at least 176 seats in the 350-seat lower house of congress. A new parliament must be constituted by Aug 17, but negotiations between parties to form a government can go on for months.

An analysis of opinion poll data by Spain’s El Pais newspaper on July 19 when polling ended projected a 55 per cent chance of a PP/Vox coalition, a 15pc chance of Sanchez staying in power with a patchwork leftist coalition and 23pc chance of a hung parliament and a repeat election.

As Sanchez went to vote in Madrid he was greeted by one small group of people shouting “liar” and a similar-sized group shouting “prime minister”, TVE footage showed. He told reporters he had “good feelings”.

The prime minister’s minority government is currently in coalition with far-left Unidas Podemos that is running in Sunday’s election under the Sumar platform.

Feijoo, the Peoples Party chief, said he hoped Spain could begin a “new era”.

VOX leader Abascal said “the important thing today is whether Spain changes course” and thanked voters for “disrupting their rest” to cast their ballots.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2023