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Supporters of the People’s Party gathered outside the group’s headquarters in Madrid
July 23, 2023
Updated 4 hours ago
Spain held early elections on Sunday (23/07), which were marked by extreme heat and delivered worse results than polls suggested.
With more than 95% of the votes counted, Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s conservative Popular Party (PP) has an advantage over current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE).
With these results, the PP would get 136 seats versus 122 for the PSOE.
The farright Vox party is third with 33 seats and the leftwing Sumar coalition is fourth with 31 seats.
The Congress of Deputies has 350 seats, so 176 are needed to achieve a majority. With the current results, neither of the two major parties can govern alone.
Negotiations on the inauguration pacts begin this Monday, and perhaps with the support of Sumar and smaller, independent forces, Sánchez can continue as Prime Minister.
Despite his victory, it is very difficult for Feijóo to become president. If there is no agreement, it is also possible that the elections will be repeated in a few months.
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Alberto Núñez Feijóo has achieved victory, but it may not be enough to form a government
The Deal Calculator
After the intense vote recount, which results in a narrower than expected result, the calculations begin on who will be able to form a government.
The polls predicted an overwhelming victory for the PP, albeit without an absolute majority, forcing them to turn to Vox for government support.
But PP and Vox do not get the majority needed to form a coalition, giving the Socialists the opportunity to form another government because they have more opportunities to form alliances with other parties.
“Seven years later we won the elections again,” said Feijoó, leader of the conservative PP, whose seats went from 89 to 136, but that may not help Spain lead.
“The Spaniards gave the PP the confidence and told us we should talk and as leader of the party with the most votes I have to lead the dialogue and try to govern by winning the elections,” said the conservative politician, who defends that the party that wins the elections should lead the government.
Despite finishing second, Sánchez celebrated that he had improved on results from four years ago and that the rightwing bloc had not achieved the majority needed to govern.
“We have more votes and more seats than four years ago,” Sánchez told his supporters.
But the party with the most votes may not be able to govern.
“There are a number of stubborn political forces that understand that this country has changed, moving beyond the bipartisanship it has lived in for about 30 years and now needs to adapt to a more diverse parliament with third parties and peripheral forces.”
Feijoó demanded that the PSOE not “block” the Spanish government, that is, he urged the Socialists to refrain from attacking a new government, which seems unlikely.
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The President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, has brought forward the elections following the results of the regional elections in May
An unusual election day
Despite the unusual nature of the call in midJuly, turnout was over 70%, slightly higher than the November 2019 general election level.
Many citizens used to vote to escape the scorching heat.
Many others were in favor of postal voting.
Elections have never been held in midsummer in Spain. In parts of the south, temperatures reached almost 40°C.
Electric fans were turned on at polling stations to cool people down.
“Voting at this time of year is terrible… it should be banned,” 80yearold Maria Suner told AFP at a polling station in Madrid.