Hung parliament in Spain after conservatives fail to secure majority in snap polls

The opposition conservative party of Spain, led by Alberto Núñez Feijoo, clinched the maximum number of seats in the snap elections but failed to secure a majority on Monday (July 24).

Although it was predicted that the opposition conservative People’s Party (PP) is likely to defeat the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and emerge as the winner in Sunday's elections, early results quickly reflected that the race was going to be much tighter.

Once the total votes were counted, the PP had clinched 136 seats to the PSOE’s 122. The potential coalition partners of conservatives, the far-right Vox party, had clinched 33 seats and PSOE’s allies in the far-left Sumar alliance had 31 seats.

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The vote counts showed that the polls have ended with an inconclusive result as the left and right blocs run almost neck and neck in their race to gain a majority of 176 seats as soon as possible.

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Negotiations and horse-trading in weeks ahead

Till Monday, PP and Vox had secured 169 seats in comparison to the PSOE and Sumar’s 153, which reflects that the country will see weeks of negotiating and horse-trading as options are being explored by rival parties to form a government.

The two blocs will start negotiations to form governments after a new parliament convenes on August 17. PP’s leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo will be invited by King Felipe VI and will be given an opportunity to secure the prime ministership. PP leader Mariano Rajoy had once declined the invitation of the king after a similar situation had arisen in 2015.

If Feijoo declines the invitation, the king will make the same request to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. No deadline for the process has been set by the law but if a majority is not secured by any candidate within two months of the first vote on the prime minister, the country needs to hold new elections.

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Sanchez expresses intent to form government

Late on Sunday, Sanchez said that the Spanish right's “reactionary” parties had failed at the polls. “We’ve won more votes, more seats and a bigger share of the vote than we did four years ago,” he said while addressing the crowds gathered outside the PSOE’s headquarters in Madrid.

“The retrograde, reactionary block that sought to undo the advances of the past four years has failed," he added.

PP’s leader Feijoo expressed his gratitude to all those who worked for the victory of the party and said that he wished to form a government as soon as possible.

“Our duty now is to stop a period of uncertainty opening up in Spain. As the candidate for the party that won the most votes, I believe my duty is to open up the dialogue as soon as possible and to try to govern our country in accordance with the election results and the election victory," he stated.

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