A halted right, a hung parliament and hope for the centre-left

On Sunday 23 July, Spain went to the polls to vote in snap parliamentary elections. The decision to anticipate the vote was taken by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, after a set of poor results in the local and regional elections on 28 May.?The campaign that followed was vicious and there was a gloomy prediction that Spain would join those EU member states that are governed by a right-radical right coalition.

The result was far from that. With a turnout of 66 per cent, the outcomes indeed saw PP (Partido Popular) winning numerically by gaining 33.1 per cent and the largest number of seats (136) in the new?Cortes. The gain was smaller than foretold, not to mention that the?radicalisation of the PP and the prospects of forming the next cabinet with the far-right Vox was what the Spanish voters clearly rejected: Vox went down from 52 to 33 seats.

In parallel, PSOE – running under the slogan 'Adelante. Espa?a avanza' gained votes and seats. It increased to 122 and 31.7 per cent (which is less than 1.5 per cent behind PP). This is a very strong outcome for an incumbent party, reaffirming the support for the political course that Sánchez set through the most turbulent times, and it is one that indicates support for progressive and pro-European policies.?On all the issues that mattered in this campaign, PSOE had clear, coherent and unaverred standpoints.?Therefore, the votes cast for the party also reflect how strongly citizens feel about the agenda to uphold and dare more democracy.?

The Spanish party system has undergone several transformations that still led back to the architecture of the 'two-parties plus',?it is very likely that the?Cortes?gathering on 17 August will be a hung parliament.?PP and Vox can jointly count on 169 seats, while PSOE and Sumar (the left-wing coalition including Podemos, and which is led by the incumbent second deputy prime minister) together have 153. Both blocks fall too short of the required 176 – but it is still to be seen whether any of them will succeed in the difficult task of getting an agreement with the Catalan parties ERC or?Junts….?

Pedro Sánchez, the dam that contains the European right's taste for the extreme right

The pre-23 July picture was bleak. At a time when Europe swings towards the extreme right?–?either because the extreme right gains access to member states' governments or because the right wing relies on them to govern?–?the fear that the result of the Spanish elections would consolidate this trend and inevitably reshape Europe was evident.?Read more

Article written by Lina Gálvez Mu?oz, FEPS Vice-President, Chair of FEPS Scientific Council, MEP Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament

Spain, a European election

The results of the general election in Spain have been a hopeful message to Europe: Spain is not going to join Italy, Sweden or Finland, there will be no coalition government between the right and the extreme right. And what is also important for Europe, there will be no such government in the country that holds the presidency of?the?Council.?Read more

Article written by Oriol Bartomeus Bayés , Political scientist, researcher at the Institute for Political and Social Sciences ( Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ) and member of the board of Fundació Rafael Campalans

Winners cannot be losers: the uncertain outcomes of the Spanish general elections

As the election night unfolded in Spain, it became clear that the conservative PP would not have an easy go at forming a government while the left-wing block, led by the Socialists?(PSOE), might be able to do so. Nevertheless, both sides claimed victory and?called?upon the other to admit defeat. But: who really, was the winner on 23 July, and what are the consequences of the election for the wider Europe??Read more ?

Article written by Unai Gómez-Hernández , PhD candidate in the EU's external action at 英国爱丁堡大学 and 比利时荷语天主教鲁汶大学

BOOK – NEXT LEFT XIV

Crisis and progressive?politics

By Andreas Schieder, László Andor , Maria Maltschnig, Ania Skrzypek , and many more

In less than two decades, there has been a major financial crash, a pandemic and a war broke out following Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine. The 14th volume of the Next Left series depicts the?tough political choices Progressives face in these turbulent times and reflects on the alternatives we have.

This volume is the outcome of the work by the FEPS-Karl-Renner-Institut?Next Left Focus Group , for which members carried out research and debates under the leadership of Andreas Schieder, Chair of the programme and MEP.?Read more.